“

But the best news came from George. He wants to use the $1500 CCLM grant to fund a special issue of X, A Journal of the Arts devoted entirely to a collection of my work, a 40-page chapbook of my stories.

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Being a writer is terrific: in what other profession can you have an absolutely delightful day enjoying yourself and then come home at 11 PM to find that you have sold a short story?

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I opened it quickly, scanning the first line – “I’m glad to say that Robert Steiner, fiction editor, and I are accepting ‘Summoning Alice Keppel’. . .” – noticed a check for $20, and screamed, “Mom!”