Live and let live

Looking back on Soonercon, I was reminded that ever since I was outed as a Sad Puppy in 2015 there are people who won't talk to me any more. Of course, if you are a guest or panelist at a convention, you are asked - confidentially - if there are people you do not want to be on panels with. But you still sometimes can't avoid colliding with them in a hallway or someplace else.

There were people who used to be friendly with me who now go the other way or ignore me. Not a big deal. You really weren't a friend in the first place. If you are a liberal and put ideology above camaraderie, I really don't care what you think of me anyway. If you are scared of being ostracized because of being seen with me, I feel sorry for you, and it says a lot about the current atmosphere in literary s-f that people are afraid of being spied upon, reported and denounced.

One thing that puzzles me is that I could never have told who would and wouldn't snub me. Some people seem to have a live and let live attitude, and the others - well, I don't know what they think, they don't talk to me any more.

Life is too short to worry about such bullshit.

Done for another week

This week's paper has been put to bed, ready to be printed tomorrow.

This has been a busy ten days. Last week we had our largest issue of the year, with 16 pages. It included many articles about scholarship awards and 144 photos of graduating seniors from the four Red River County school districts.

As I mentioned previously, I was very sick last Monday and Tuesday, so it was a real slog. But we got through it.

This week we are back to a more normal dozen pages, but that includes coverage of the Clarksville High School graduation, which was last Saturday. There are a dozen photos from the graduation as well as a write-up of the program.

As usual, the rest of the paper is packed with local news. I'm proud of it, but I'm looking forward to things slowing down a bit as summer kicks in.

I'm also looking forward to the rain stopping. We've had an astounding wet winter and spring. Just about everyone I know I Red River County is sick with allergies because of all the lush growth.

The rain causes other problems. We had a viciuous thunderstorm yesterday, and our internet cut in and out all afternoon as a result.

Fast copy

My first panel at SoonerCon will be Friday at 1 p.m. I am the moderator for "Creating a Short Story: Harder Than You Think".

You know, I've set the world record for the shortest lapsed time between starting to write a short story and getting an acceptance from an editor.

On Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018, I sat down after breakfast to write a short story for Dawn Witzke and the forthcoming Earth anthology - part of the Superversive Press Planet series.

I had promised Dawn I would submit something. I had been very distracted recently because of my buying the local newspaper on Jan. 1, 2018.

I started at 8:30 a.m. and wrote up the story, "This Planet is a Hole", in an hour - 1,395 words. I emailed it to Dawn, who was on-line and who read it immediately.

She accepted it at 9:58 a.m. An hour and a half from start to acceptance.! I guess I learned to write good copy fast working as a journalist for 40 years.

The anthology was published last June.