Well, I just received disappointing news. I was scheduled to do a reading—my first really significant public reading—in November, but now, due to circumstances beyond much of anyone's control, the gig has been cancelled.

There were five of us, "up-and-coming" "young" science fiction writers, who were going to participate together. I had compiled an email list of about seventy friends and acquaintances I was going to invite. It was going to be cool.

Originally we were all supposed to read in October. But then Ursula K. Leguin became available for a reading in the same series the same week, and most of the other participants decided they didn't want to compete. So our reading was delayed until November.

It didn't matter that much to me. I would have gone head-to-head with Leguin. Most of the friends I was inviting wouldn't have gone to the Leguin reading anyway. And now it's not going to happen at all.

I'll get over it. But it would have been cool, dammit.