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Nov. 17th, 2004 12:12 amSo, the reading went really well. Lots of people came. Given the choice between a chapter from Freedom's Apprentice that might contain spoilers for Freedom's Gate, and a short story, several people expressed a preference for the short story, so I read "Honest Man." It was a hit. This made me quite happy. I love the story -- I don't feel that way about everything I write, some stories I find merely satisfactory (and some I hate and shove into desk-drawer oblivion), but I love "Honest Man."
"Honest Man" was my birthday present to my grandmother (who turned 80 this summer). The whole family went out to Ohio and we spent a week at Lake Hope State Park, where Grammie used to go every summer with my grandfather. When we first started talking about a family gathering at Lake Hope, I started toying with the idea of writing a story about her as a birthday gift. I don't normally write stories about real people, but I thought it would be fun to write a story with her as the protagonist. I finally sat down to write it last June and finished it in about two days -- it was the first time in a long time I got so absorbed in a story I was writing that I completely lost track of time while working on it.
At Lake Hope, after Grammie opened her presents, we built a campfire and, as the campfire story, passed around "Honest Man" and took turns reading. Grammie really liked it; I think everyone else did, too. Then again, everyone knew my grandmother (and the other real people who appear) and that enhances the story. So it was very nice tonight to see a room full of people respond so well to the story, even though most people present had never met my grandmother.
As part of the gift, if I do manage to sell the story (and I think I will be able to sell it somewhere), I'll be donating the money to a charitable organization that Grammie volunteers for in her home town.
"Honest Man" was my birthday present to my grandmother (who turned 80 this summer). The whole family went out to Ohio and we spent a week at Lake Hope State Park, where Grammie used to go every summer with my grandfather. When we first started talking about a family gathering at Lake Hope, I started toying with the idea of writing a story about her as a birthday gift. I don't normally write stories about real people, but I thought it would be fun to write a story with her as the protagonist. I finally sat down to write it last June and finished it in about two days -- it was the first time in a long time I got so absorbed in a story I was writing that I completely lost track of time while working on it.
At Lake Hope, after Grammie opened her presents, we built a campfire and, as the campfire story, passed around "Honest Man" and took turns reading. Grammie really liked it; I think everyone else did, too. Then again, everyone knew my grandmother (and the other real people who appear) and that enhances the story. So it was very nice tonight to see a room full of people respond so well to the story, even though most people present had never met my grandmother.
As part of the gift, if I do manage to sell the story (and I think I will be able to sell it somewhere), I'll be donating the money to a charitable organization that Grammie volunteers for in her home town.
