Nearly sixteen years ago, I finished a short story for an online thing that I was into.  It was entirely my own creation and it was one of the many steps I took in deciding I wanted to write one day.  It was a um... unique story, and a genre that I thought dead.  Silly me.

I found a publishing company (the original one, mind you) that takes submissions for these things.  Though I finished the original story in just three days, I'm taking my time this time to get it done right.  I've already completed several steps in order to do it.  The originals were locked away on a 3.5" disk and I had to build a computer just to read it and copy it, for example.

Anyway, the writing was done sixteen years ago and I'm in the middle of the first major rewrite since then.  Then I'll rewrite it again.  And again probably. 

Trouble is, I'm broke.  I'll have money again in a couple weeks, so I figure that's as good a deadline as any.  I want the book done by then, and I want it mailed a couple days after that.  I'll allow that much time for the vagaries of time and space and the post office.  Unfortunately, I'm not in control of such things.  It doesn't mean that it'll get published, but I'm hoping so. 

That process will take much longer, I'm afraid.

- Jim