Susan Forest

So cool to see what the story is going to look like in print! Everything is sent off to Edge Press–just waiting to see the book when it comes out. The cover is awesome!

Just got home from the Calgary Public Library’s writers’ conference (which was, as always, fabulous) and learned that I sold a story to The Urban Green Man anthology coming out this summer from Edge Press! I’m pumped! My first sale for 2013!

Nice, over the holidays, to have a few quiet days–finished three and a half scenes out of the next (four-scene) chapter. That’s fourteen! January may be a less productive month as I have my own grant applications (just one, this year, though I should check to see what grant applications I am missing) as well as those for When Words Collide (three). Also, I am teaching eight half-days as an artist-in-residence–in a French school! Have to brush up on my French. And, start letting people know I am eligible for the Aurora, Hugo and Nebula awards. At least I already updated my website with access to all the stories I can. Oh, and–this just in–I made it past the first cut of the Green Man Anthology! Yay! (And if I find a little time, I have an idea for a series of watercolour paintings…) Oh, and did I just volunteer for positions on the Robin Herrington Short Story Contest committee, and maybe SFWA? Hmm.

And, the day after I got home from the motorcycle trip to Washington, I hopped a plane for Chicago. Chicon was wonderful. I got my “Analog Mafia” pin, and was there to congratulate Stan on his retirement and Trevor on his new position. Got to meet the author I work with as an editor for Edge, in person. Sat on two panels (moderated one) and had a reading and a workshop–some good stories, there. Met new people and explored a bit of downtown Chicago, the edge of Lake Michigan and the Chicago Institute of Art with old friends. Good times!

Where do I start to rave about When Words Collide? Our numbers were up–over 400 attendees. The Keynotes were inspiring, especially Adrienne Kerr’s and Anthony Bidulka’s. Personally, I sold 4 paintings, read at my own reading, two book launches (and had a new story come out in OnSpec) and IFWA’s Bedtime Stories, attended a really well-run Aurora Awards banquet (I didn’t win for best short story, but congratulations to Suzanne Church, who did! Woot!) and some really fun parties. AND, I launched my first collection! But of course, the best part, as always, was the incredible energy of the participants from so many different genres of writing. And exhausting, but very satisfying weekend.

Woot! I sold “Digging Deeper” to Hayden’s anthology through Bundoran Press, Blood and Water! My first sale of the year!

Yay! I was nominated for an Aurora Award in the short fiction category! My story, “Turning it Off” in Analog last December was eligible, and now I am on the short list! Thanks to everyone who nominated me, and congratulations to all my worthy opponents–some awesome names on that list!

I also got a second, side-ways nomination: the novel I edited, Technicolor Ultramall, by Ryan Oakley, was the first novel I edited for Edge. Also very exciting!

So the Write-Off–IFWA’s semi-annual writers’ retreat–was awesome. Managed to revise a whole short story and re-submit, as per the editor’s request–fingers crossed!

It is so cool to google “Analog Science Fiction reviews” and catch new reviews that have come up for “Turning It Off” in December, and “The Most Invasive Species” in April, and find ***+ out of **** or 4.5/5, as well as the reviewers’ kind words.

So, of course, I put them on my website–but !!! sometimes the website can be really tough to update. Pages go missing or show up under the wrong menu, and then can’t be deleted, or the entire review has to be re-typed rather than cut-and-pasted because some hidden command inside of it makes the website reject it… grrr! So if my site looks a little funny right now, don’t worry–the material is all there under one heading or another. I just have to get the menus straightened out. Email has gone to my guru!

Spent the morning going over 3 related novels to ensure consistency: which magic wielder is in each city, and which talisman does each use? Amazing how they differ when you’ve been working on a project for a long time. Consistent now, though!

And, last night I got two new pages up on my website, representing 2 new stories that are currently out. One story I won’t be able to post (the contract for “Lucy” is 7 years, exclusive–but hey, it’s only $1.99 on Amazon), but the other I’ll be able to post in about a month (“Turning It Off,” December Analog). Also, I discovered that only my webadmin has the password to put the photos up for those pages, so they will be coming shortly–but they’re not there yet. However, in preparing the pages, I found three really good reviews of my work. You can read the review of “Lucy” here.