It’s officially out, the poster that proves I won a writing award. So what if I look like a convict? I. Won. Something. And Alligator Juniper, one of the best literary journals in the West, is now taking pre-orders for the 2013 issue (where my story, How to Be Analog, appears).

This journal is truly a beautiful work of art (read a superb interview with founding editor Melanie Bishop here), and I’m thrilled to be in it. As writers know, it’s hard to get up the verve to apply to another contest, to send out yet another beloved piece and open ourselves up to rejection. But it is the writer’s burden, and although many of us aren’t so hot at math anecdotally I understand it’s easier to get a publication or acceptance the more one tries.

As we also know, one yes is never enough to satisfy our deep-rooted need to be accepted and understood. So while I’m awaiting my pretty issue of Alligator Juniper I’m back to it…