Two New Firsts for the New Year: Payments Received for Vultures, Vines

So, yes, one is “firster” than the other, the payment for “Hanging Vines” received from BLACK INFINITY (see January 1, December 11, et al.) for their just-published ROCKETSHIPS AND SPACESUITS issue recorded on January 8. But it being by PayPal which has a policy of not telling people when they’ve gotten money, I didn’t find out until yesterday, the 10th. But the only reason I checked up on PayPal was my receipt of the second, by check from Fahrenheit Books for “The Christmas Vulture” for AUTOMOBILIA (see December 10, et al.), yesterday as well.

So that’s two stories, the second not quite published yet but expected this month, with two payments, just two days apart. (And, yes, at the start of the 22nd year of the second millennium, but one can take this “twos” thing too far.) But that’s still pretty close and it’s worth celebrating, both being reprints (“Vines” from CONADIAN SOUVENIR BOOK, September 1994, and “Vulture” from the Fall 2010 issue of UNTIED SHOELACES OF THE MIND) but with a combined payout of enough to buy groceries for a whole month. Or perhaps even two.

But the thing is, also, that we all can use reasons for celebrations in these, the years of the COVID pandemic, however large or small, or coincidental. And for a writer, the first cash acquired in a new calendar year is quite reason enough!