This year I resolve to post something to this blog every day. If the past is any guide, the resolution will expire sometime after lunch on Jan. 27 — about the same time the treadmills start emptying out at the Y. But until then, fasten your seatbelts: You thought my posts were windy and narcissistic before, wait until I start doing them like clockwork.
So far, 2009 has been a good year. I got back from Montana to find a contract from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine in the mail. They bought my story “Dead Black Cadillac,” which I sent off six months ago. It takes forever for them to accept a story, and another forever for them to actually print it, but I love Ellery Queen. They buy almost everything I submit — as long as I send them only one or two stories a year. Unfortunately, the pay scale hasn’t changed much since the days of Dashiell Hammett. Let’s just say I’m not planning on a new Lexus anytime soon. And I’m not sure about the readership, but I’m guessing it’s gone the way of all print media: right down the toilet. Still, if there’s a better market for short crime fiction, I’m not aware of it.
Speaking of crime fiction, I’m still working on that novel I mentioned on this blog about, oh, a year and a half ago. It’s been tougher than I thought. Turns out any dummy can write a good beginning, and a passable middle, but a decent ending is what separates the true writer from the dilettante. I stand around at parties and tell people I’m a writer, but until I get this damn book done and sold I’m just a poseur. It’s getting a little embarrassing. Kind of wish now I’d kept my mouth shut. But when people are bracing you about your work, it’s such a buzzkill to mention you’re unemployed.
So: a writer I remain. And now I’d best get to it.
Thanks for the hope, Internet!
Reflections on some ancient tomes
Going postal
Stormy weather
Felicitations on the acceptance, but if you think most diet-and-exercise resolutions will last until Jan. 27, you have more faith than I in your fellow man.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
“Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Thanks Dave for the resolution. Now I don’t have to look in vain for a new post. It’ll just be there.
Thought about one of your earlier posts last Saturday. We were out for a ride and the lead horse took off on a gallop and mine followed along. First time at a gallop in all these years. (Wasn’t it Ronald Reagan who said that it’s OK to hang on to the saddle horn?) When we got stopped and I got my hat back I told our host that I would be bailing out on the ride and would just amble back to the stable at a slow walk. It was on the way back that I recalled one of your earlier posts about a time in your youth when an Knadler-elder observed you riding and commented something to the effect that “Dave Bob rides real well.” I am so jealous. It’s that kind of look-back that makes reading your blog worthwhile. Stay on the treadmill, we need you.