Yesterday was undeniably kind of crap. I had a terrible night at work, slept fitfully, awoke groggy, immediately fell partway down my stairs*, and opened my email to a form rejection letter. Yesterday was bullshit.

Today, however, is glorious. A few months ago, I sold a story to Shock Totem, which I’ve wanted to crow about here, there, and basically everywhere since I found out. However, there are these protocols — that absolutely nobody agrees on — about when you’re allowed to announce your work is going to be in a magazine. Since the editor issued an unofficial ToC on the website today, though, I decided it would probably be okay if I mentioned it here.

So. I sold my short story, “We Share the Dark,” to Shock Totem. It will appear in Issue Eight, which is currently scheduled for January 2014. And as excited as I am to see my work in a print magazine — this will be the first time, at least for a short story — I’m just as excited to see what the cover art will look like. Shock Totem has some of the most beautifully designed covers ever, which I believe are all created by Mikio Murakami. Certainly the cover of the last issue was, and let me tell you, people: I love this cover.

Oh, and in case you were curious as to the content of the story? Well, it’s the closest thing to a love triangle that I’ve ever written. I like to think my love triangles are less whiny than the average bear, though. This one in particular comes with mischievous ghosts and depressed psychics and stoic cowboys ranchers. Also, there’s a healthy appreciation for angst, humor, music, and peanut butter. I will, at any given opportunity, stop to appreciate peanut butter.

Today is good, you guys. And it will continue being good if I can make it up and down my staircase without any more comically klutzy/annoyingly painful incidents.

*Parentals: Stop worrying. I’m totally fine, although I do have a decent-sized bruise on my arm. I also have a weird, almost shadowy bruise on my palm from trying to catch myself. Since I wasn’t falling headfirst, I probably should’ve just let myself slide down with minimal resistance, but that’s not what I was thinking at the time. I was thinking, Holy shit, I’m going to DIEEEEEEEEEE. Thankfully, this was not the case.