I can’t remember if I’ve been numbering these things in terms of the number of times I’ve submitted, or the number of different stories that I’ve submitted. I think I’ll go with the latter, since that’s a more meaningful metric.
Anyway, I’ve been trying to find a good market for “Mutter” which is one of my favorites, a real dark horse from the contest. Nobody has ever said anything about it to me, which either means nobody’s read it or else nobody liked it. At this point I don’t want to know which it is.
Point is, Mutter is sort of a tough sell — speculative fiction about Minnesota white trash, based on a couple guys I know. It’s about a lot of things, but one of them’s class, so when I discovered that Tin House is doing their Fall 2010 issue on “Class In America” I just about pissed my pants with delight, not just because the market fits but because Aimee Bender sometimes teaches at a workshop Tin House runs in the summer. If you don’t remember, Aimee is one of a small number of People Who Changed My Life. It goes like this:
Aimee -> Clarion -> Writing
Meaning: no Aimee, no Clarion, no Writing. I dunno if I’ll “make it” in any significant sense, but I do know, without doubt, that I absolutely wouldn’t be in a position to make it without Aimee.
So cross your fingers, please.