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Not caught short (again)
Aug. 21st, 2009 07:24 pmIt is borne in upon me - as it has been borne in upon my friends & readers, times without number, long ere this - that I do not actually understand "short".
I am myself not-short (tho' not the tallest, even in genre: damn you, Geoff Ryman!), and have frequently confused shortness in others. To me, all people-shorter-than-me are pretty much short, of an equal shortness, less tall than me. What need further qualification? But it seems to matter to them. I am confused.
Furthermore - and more germane - is the matter of shortness in stories. I write a lot of short stories - or rather, I don't. I write a lot of long stories. As witness, this just finished: "Hothouse Flowers: or, The Discreet Boys of Dr Barnabas". At a little over nine thousand words. That ... is not short.
But at least it is finished, unlike too many things in my life. Finished and gone, to see if someone else likes it more than me. Now I am finished too: that was almost 4000 words today, and I do think that's enough. I'm going to finish this bottle of wine and watch some TV and not care any more.
I am myself not-short (tho' not the tallest, even in genre: damn you, Geoff Ryman!), and have frequently confused shortness in others. To me, all people-shorter-than-me are pretty much short, of an equal shortness, less tall than me. What need further qualification? But it seems to matter to them. I am confused.
Furthermore - and more germane - is the matter of shortness in stories. I write a lot of short stories - or rather, I don't. I write a lot of long stories. As witness, this just finished: "Hothouse Flowers: or, The Discreet Boys of Dr Barnabas". At a little over nine thousand words. That ... is not short.
But at least it is finished, unlike too many things in my life. Finished and gone, to see if someone else likes it more than me. Now I am finished too: that was almost 4000 words today, and I do think that's enough. I'm going to finish this bottle of wine and watch some TV and not care any more.