Believe it or not, I’m still a little under the weather. I’m beginning to suspect I had the hamthrax. Five weeks out and I’m just now starting to feel like myself again. All it really means is that I’m sleeping way more than usual, drinking a gallon of water a day, and a bit behind in my correspondence.

So better late than never, I’m happy to announce that I’ve applied to Clarion and Clarion West. These are kind of a big deal as far as writing workshops go. They receive hundreds of applicants every year and only a handful are accepted. The odds are not in my favor but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Even if I do get accepted, there are a lot of obstacles standing in my way. There’s the house for sale in Illinois and a few lingering divorce debts that must be paid before anything else. I’m working hard at that and things are moving in the right direction. Then there’s taking six weeks off of work. I think I can pull that off, but it means I’m going to be pulling a lot of long hours in the months beforehand to make up for it. A worthy sacrifice, if I get the call.

I only have one hard deadline coming up in March. The next quarter of Writers of the Future closes at the end of the month and I plan to have a third consecutive story ready for them. Aside from that I’ll be doing lots and lots of editing. I’m calling a moratorium on new stories until I get some of these drafts revised and into a submission-worthy state.

Good luck shout outs to my tribe mates, Christie and John, who also applied to Clarion. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all of us.