Well it’s been a doozy of a couple months here. Pretty much my entire November was spent screaming, “I’ve got a job! A real life, cubicle with a desk and everything, job!” Which perhaps, may not be all that exciting to most people, but when the job market was immediately decimated by a pandemic when you graduated, it’s a lot.

I think I had let out a breath I’ve been holding since the 2008 recession made a terrifying impression on junior high school me about the fragility of our economy and the hopelessness of the future.

Anyway, the point is, I spent so much time celebrating the fact I’m graphic designing for real for a living and not just doing the starving commission artist thing, I didn’t check my other email. The author email.

Remember that post about being a speculative fiction category finalist in the NJRWA’s PYHIAB 2021 contest? Me neither! Totally slipped my mind. Which is why I didn’t get any of the “Hey you won that category” emails or the “please confirm your pen name so we can get it right” emails, but I did just narrowly get the “where do we mail this” email.