It’s been a rough few years story sales-wise. The few stories that I sold have yet to be published. I have learned that a sale sometimes doesn’t mean that readers will see the story any time soon.
But — but — I did finish and successfully defend my dissertation since I updated this site. It’s more obvious to me now that in my fallow fiction years I was busy getting that huge project done. It’s been over a year since I defended and I still can’t say for sure whether it was worth it. I went into the degree acknowledging my love of learning, my love of writing, and thinking that would be enough to get me through it. I don’t know now if that’s true — if that was enough. I don’t even know if I really did get through it. I certainly left a lot of myself behind and the dismemberment (if I can be a little dramatic here) was violent. The brutality of it was at least 90% the lack of communication between those who were supposed to be communicating with me and each other. The disappointed expectation that people functioning at such a high intellectual level would be clear and forthright.
It is my goal now, as I work with writers and their projects through Stelliform Press, that I am as clear as I can be, that I am open about both my timeline and my understanding of their work, that I am open to correction from those I’m working with, and that I honour their work with my best editorial eye at all times.