Short thread: This is a thread about dreams. It ends in triumph, but begins in defeat. Approximately 8 years ago, a fiction story of mine was accepted to Weird Tales Magazine. This was the magazine so many authors I admired appeared in over its history, and I was ecstatic. 1/

But disaster struck! Weird Tales fell on hard times and had yet another ownership change. My story, on the cusp of publication, fell through the cracks. It remains the most disappointing professional moment for me, not money-wise, but for reasons of personal fulfillment. 2/

To say that I could stand in the same weird fiction lineage as Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, etc meant the world to me. Sadly, that dream died just as it seemed to be about to come true. 3/

I should mention that my entire college career was spent writing weird fiction. Screenwriting never occurred to me as a possibility until @BenjiSamit tricked me into going into Show Biz. I digress. 4/

I barely wrote fiction for eight years. My disappointment was profound and has basically never lessened. Maybe it seems like lingering on the past, but it really meant so much. Some things, even if they seem silly to others, stick with you. 5/

But! A few months ago, @FriedmanMJ, an author I grew up admiring so much for his fiction, especially his Star Trek books, and someone I have become friends with over Twitter (not a totally evil website!) asked me to contribute to his short story anthology: Pangaea 6/

I was scared to dip my toes back into fiction. It had been such a long time. Frankly, I was worried that I had lost my touch. I am confident person generally, but my confidence was a bit shot. I didn’t want to write something that sucked. 7/

I forced myself to give it a shot. I would work all night on my screenwriting and then at 3 or 4 in the morning, try to get even a paragraph of a new story done. It was grueling and difficult. Slowly, surely, it started to round into shape. 8/

It was hard. At the end, I was incredibly proud of my story, not just because I think it is neat, but because it was so difficult to create. Writing it has been one of the most satisfying moments of my career. 9/

I also learned I would be included in a collection with writers I have admired from afar for years, sometimes decades: @PeterDavid_PAD @ronmarz @GeoffThorne and many more. While the Weird Tales thing stings, this feels like an equal realization of my dream. 10/

I guess I am writing this thread to say that sometimes your dreams go away for a little while, sometimes they die out right, but every now and then, you get a chance to make up for the past a little bit. This is one of those times for me. But you have to go for it. 11/

So maybe it is better to think of it as keeping your dreams on a low simmer, just hot enough for when you are really ready to cook. Whatever it is in your own life, things can swing around in the blink of an eye. 12/

For me, this moment was crystallized upon seeing my short story actually published. It’s real. I can touch it. I hope to do a lot more fiction in the future, it remains my first love, but for now, this is throwing a log on the fire. 13/

For anyone interested, here is the link on Amazon for the collection Pangaea III. The first two collections are also available! 14/ https://www.amazon.com/Pangaea-III-Michael-Jan-Friedman/dp/0996927565?fbclid=IwAR0j7JEOIT5ymAtbVFDt5W_H0XQKXKDcfSWlZ3UIccD22ZfsLDc1rPzSwig

I hope that anyone reading this thread who harbors a tiny, secret, specific dream will find hope. Keep on slugging. Keep the fire going. In the end, to misquote The Smiths, maybe you are the light that will never go out. END