"Letters from Gardner"

I've been picking up speed with "Letters from Gardner", my project where I recap the notes I got from Gardner Dozois in 2003 and 2004 when I was trying to break into science fiction writing.

It's an interesting hybrid - partly history because the way it looks back at that time near the turn of the century in the world of science fiction magazines; and partly writer's manual, as I explain what I was doing, what I was learning, and what Gardner wrote.

I also explain how I applied what Gardner wrote; all except one of the 15 stories I sent him during the period were ultimately published.

The book is also a collection, as I reprint those stories. In most cases, I have dredged up the original versions (I had to buy an external floppy disk drive because my backup files from that time are on floppies) and then explain the changes that were made. In some cases, I am publishing new endings or beginnings.

I completed Chapter Four tonight, and I'm up to 24,000 words.

One of the reasons I'm doing this is that I'm the last author Gardner bought a story from before he retired from Asimov's.