you know what word I hate? "arguably" Two nights ago I was watching the nfl draft, and every player was arguably something. Arguably the fastest, strongest, best prospect, whatever. Every time anybody has an opinion these days, they feel like they have to qualify it. I think its part of a larger problem of political correctness. People are so afraid of conflict and disagreement, they make sure there's zero possibility of offending anyone. Grow up people. Rational adults can have differing opinions without anybody being wrong. Stop pussyfooting around and say what you think.

Man, every time I promise myself I'll really try to be good about blogging..... this happens. I turn on the comp and realize its been close to a month. So let's see, what's happened since then? I took third in a national-level wrestling tournament, which was cool. Not one of the big ones, with people who have a shot at the national team, but still. I know I don't have a future in wrestling, as a competitor anyways, beyond next year. Might as well enjoy it while I can. Other than that, I sold a short story for an anthology from a major publishing house (details to come when its officially announced). Its not the novel, but at least I've got a foot in the door. The important thing is to establish a professional relationship with these people and impress the hell out of them, enough so that they're interested in a long future together. One of the hardest things to figure out is how much I should push them. I'm a punk kid, just starting out in the writing world, which means that most people dismiss me automatically. I honestly believe I have talent, and know I have the dedication, but both of those are useless if nobody will let me show it. Ah well. The nice part about being 22 is that I can whine about this stuff without any real consequences....

Christ its been a while since I posted here. I went into high burn on a couple of writing projects, plus school and spring break, so its probably not something to whine about. Ah well, I like bitching. I've mentioned here a couple of times that I'm an aspiring writer. I've had about a dozen short stories published, and I'm working on my first novel with some interest from a major publishing house. It doesn't pay the bills, by a long shot, but there's a chance it could turn into a career someday. That's the dream anyways.
      My first short story was published in a small magazine and read by family and basically no one else. The second, which was approaching novella length, was actually in an anthology, from a publisher some of you have probably heard of. It got slammed by every critic. Badly. Like "Who the hell is this kid and who did he bribe to get this crap in a book?" Reading reviews like that hurt, a lot. But for every review, I tracked down the critic and did my best to send a thankyou email. Just thanked them for taking the time to read and promised to improve with my next piece. Its' amazing how far courtesy can take you, in this and every other business.
      All of this is preamble to the following link, which I saw on Neal Gaiman 's twitter feed a couple days ago (he's a great read).   http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html#comments     Read it and weep. I've honestly never seen anyone ruin their career so quickly.
      When I sent emails to the people who'd reviewed my story, the response was so positive I nearly cried reading it. Even the guy who wrote the single harshest review replied in a day, told me it was nothing personal and that he admired my passion and professionalism. Most importantly, he told me to send links to anything I got published in the future, and that he'd read everything and only write about it if he had good things to say. Since then, he's written enthusiastic reviews of three of my stories, and introduced me to the editor who could be publishing my first novel next year (I'm praying). Point is, keep your temper under control and show people some respect. Good things happen.