"How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can't even trust his own pants."

When I started this blog I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have anything to write about.  HA!  I'm a writer.  I ALWAYS have something to write about.  That was some insecurity leaking out and I didn't recognize it at first.  But I do now.  I've got too much to say.  Like last night, I stayed up WAY too late watching a movie I didn't think I was going to like.  I want to talk about it.  I probably will.  Just not today.

Today is the first day of a three day weekend for me and since it was so cold out I started cleaning.  Okay.  Since it was so cold out and my wife was cleaning and yelling at motivating the kids to get to work, I figured I should too.  It had to be done.  I did the usual, but then I tackled the studio/office.  It's got crowded now that I have  bulletin board to thumbtack index cards full of ideas onto.  And yes Virginia, there really are ideas on it RIGHT NOW.  Cleaning, tossing, and sorting took me all over the house and I made some interesting discoveries.

* A near mint copy of the 1991 Novel & Short Story Writer's Market.  All 620 pages of it.  There is not a single reference to the internet or a contact with an email address (but some WILL accept a computer printout of your manuscript!)

* Orson Scott Card's How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy.  The book is as full of good advice I didn't follow today as it was when I bought it.

* A draft of my novella Wasteland.  Yes, in 1991 it was tres cool to write novellas.  Everyone was doing it. Even Tracy Hickman was doing it.  WWDSCS?

* A trade paperback of Chris Claremont's Grounded.  You probably have never heard of him or the book.  He worked for marvel  on the Uncanny X-Men when this novel was published.  I'll admit I'm only a casual fan though Chris' work has had a profound impact on me, one that he will probably never know.  On the title page of the book is a handwritten note that says:

Jon,

Get out that pen and paper, pal, and start writing those stories!  Best of luck and fortune

-signature

I'm not a pack rat.  Not really.  I've thrown away a lot things that have actual value and yet kept these artifacts for 22 years through literally a dozen moves.  Why?

Well, I still hold out hope that someday I'll listen to the genius of Mr. Card.  And because the real secret of Grounded is that I didn't even meet Chris - the book was a gift from my parents - people who believed in my dream- who saw him at a signing, told him the story and he felt the need to offer his support.  The encouragement I received was real - from a stranger and from family - and I still feel it today, looking at that title page.

My novella may have been rejected in 1991, but I wasn't alone.