Here's a meme that's been going around:

Describe the first story you ever sold to any publication. What was the title of the story? The name of the publication? The plot? The public reception to your work?


My first story sold to a publication was "Messages" to Realms of Fantasy. This probably seems redundant with some additions to my journal as of late.

Anyhoo, "Messages" basically is a story about children dealing with mortality. I like to think I captured the feeling of childhood friendships. The fantasy element was so slight in that story, I didn't send it to Realms Of Fantasy until it collected fourteen rejections from other places. One other interesting item of note: it was my first submission ever to Realms.

Public reception to my work? Trey pointed me in the direction of a review, which I belive was by Paul Melko. Overall, it was a positive review.

My biggest surprise was seeing my name and story mentioned in Ron Collins' journal. Ron hasn't been updating much lately but I have enjoyed and appreciated his entries about writing over the years. One of my favorite journals of all time in fact. I had met Ron and his wife, Lisa, at World Fantasy in Providence, 1999. Apparently he remembered my name and meeting me, and he also enjoyed the story enough to mention it in his Feb. 5, 2001 entry. It was the first thing he mentioned in his entry and it was the first thing I read that morning. He liked the story and I was pleased.