Saturday, August 01, 2009

25 Hours of no Internet...

I have the computer switched off on Shabbat, from sundown Friday til sunset Saturday, and switching on the computer to see what's come in is always fun - 25 hours of no Internet is an utter joy and very relaxing, but enough is enough! So, tonight Gmail brought me:

  • It Begins with Birds in Flight, my second published flash story in Metazen this week.
  • A totally love email from organisers of a competition that I didn't win, just to let me know that one of the judges has said: "Wow--interesting! One of the only entries that I felt compelled to read twice. Odd, quirky, entirely original (and it's so hard to be original these days!). Her writing has such a nice, natural flow to it." That left me very warm and fuzzy and almost almost made up for not even getting an honorable mention :) Same story is out at a few other places, not comps - and delightedly is in the "hasn't been rejected yet" situation. Fingers crossed!
Together with my amazing deputy editor, Diane, we are working hard on the August issue of The Short Review, due in the shops (ok, on your screens) in the next 48 hours. Gonna be a good one, with a special interview with Chris Beckett, winner of the Edge Hill Prize, talking about his 20-year relationship with science fiction magazine Interzone, whose "constructive rejections" spurred him on.

Also: huge congratulations to the winner of the Guardian Weekend Short Story competition, Lisa Blower: this is her first published story. Lovely! Read stories by her, the runners up (Andy Knudson, Poornima Manco, Bernard O'Leary, Dan Purdue and Roger Stephens) and others in the Guardian's Summer Fiction Special.

5 comments:

Elizabeth Bradley said...

A break from the computer is always welcome, as long as it's voluntary. lol. Glad you enjoyed yours. Congrats on the good review.

Pippa Goldschmidt said...

Your flash fictions in metazen are great - so inspiring. Interesting what you say about Shabbat and how it helps to have that peace for one day. I get nervous when I take a day off from writing, in case the muse gets the hump and doesn't come back. Not that she's there every day anyway :(

Tania Hershman said...

Elizabeth, thank you, and yes involuntary Internet breaks are never welcome!

Pippa, thanks so much, they are such odd little flashes but I love them. Re Shabbat - that's the day my mind is free to make up stories, I believe it increases my productivity, and I don't worry that I can't write anything done. I feel like my Muses is sighing with relief!

Teresa Stenson said...

25 hours? Didn't you get itchy and twitchy and neeeeeed to find out a fact? Ha ha. Good work, I should try it. One day.

I know one of the Guardian shortlisted writers, Dan Purdue, and have only read his so far, but I shall go and inspect them all later today.


Amazing comments you got from the short story judge, and I can see why you were thrilled and then maybe a little perplexed at not being commended. But lovely words to hear all the same. Hope it finds a suitable home elsewhere.

Teresa Stenson said...

Someone, somewhere in a poweful place, must have read my comment up there. We had a powercut for most of the day and night yesterday - forcing me away from the internet and into reading by candlelight. Which was nice. :)