The urge to create

[Albertosaurus Rex]

Concealed now by a layer of clotted-cream paint, these ramblings once took the form of Nikko-penned verses which catalogued the self-styled pinnacles the innocent youth felt she must attain before she passed from the world.

Though two decades have since slipped by, there are many of these undertakings still left for her to complete, one of which includes 'see a work of my own hand in print, published and on bookshelves' ...

I used to have a list of about three things I wanted to do later in life, although I never wrote it down:

1. Get married and have kids
2. Do genealogical research
3. Become a published author

Obviously, I can't force the first one, so we'll see about that. Two years ago, I finally started the genealogical research. It's not finished yet, but it gave me confidence that I could do item 3. The thing that finally put me over the edge was reading the Dreamsongs short story collection by GRRM. I rarely read short stories, mostly novels, but like we've said, that's too big to start with. Now I finally saw what short stories can do, and I realized some of my ideas might work better as short stories.

I have just written one of the magazines about submission guidelines. I have settled on the cavemen story, and I'll keep writing in the meantime.

Farseer, I wish you the best of luck too. Be sure to notify us of any major news.

(Of course, if I ever get a story published, it will be in Dutch and you guys won't be able to read it. But that concern is as yet very far off...)