26 June 2022

The Aftermath


This will be my last post on the Edgar and/or my Edgar story. I promise.

Okay, so I've been wondering why "The Road to Hana"? I've read the other nominated stories and they were all great, so why mine? I can't say that my style of writing was literary or exemplary, because in my mind, the way I write is like me telling stories in a bar to friends over drinks. Or maybe like swapping stories with fellow cops (in a bar over drinks) after a raid or large operation. Seeing who can tell the best ones based on what happened during that raid or operation.

I've thought about it a lot because I would like to duplicate whatever it was that I did. The problem is that I can only come up with the possibility that the story resonated for some reason with the reader. I can't tell you how many people came up to me before and after the Edgars to say they have been on that road and the story made them feel it all over again, plus the few who said they could feel the road in the story even though they had not driven that road themselves. If that's the case, then I'm screwed for coming up with another story which resonates with the reader to that same degree. How to come up with a story situation which has the same impact, or resonates with the reader? I am working on it though, cuz Michael Bracken has already challenged me to meet him as a Nominee at the Edgar Awards Banquet next year. Talk about pressure.

Now, on to other items in the aftermath.

About two days after we flew home, I received an e-mail from Hiroyuki of the Hayakawa Publishing Corporation, Tokyo.  They were interested in publishing my Edgar story in their Mystery Magazine, June 25th issue. I have no idea if this is a new thing, or if they have been doing this for some time with the Edgar Best Short Story. Their contracts for reprint rights are very, very simple and they pay more than U.S. editors tend to pay. I don't read Japanese, but do plan on getting a copy or two of that issue for my personal library.

You see, I once thought I was published internationally when I sold a story to Swimming Kangaroo where the editor was named Dindy. But then the check came from Texas and that took care of that. I think we got to keep an eye on that Texas contingency.

Just to keep me humble, the woman sitting across the aisle from me on the 4-hour airplane ride from LaGuardia to Denver coughed on me all the way back. She wore no mask. Yes, I know the airline companies claim that their air circulation systems screen out all the germs and viruses, but those little fellas didn't make it direct to the filtration units. First off, they crossed the aisle to me.

A few days later, the severe head cold hit with a vengeance. Kiti finally dragged me to one of those little mobile huts in the shopping mall parking lot and we both got the lower side of our brain swabbed for Covid. Four days later, the results were negative, but I was still coughing and blowing. Almost healed now. I think I'll live.

I still have to write a story good enough to get nominated in 2023. May have to ask that Naked Singing Cowboy, whose photo I showed you in last month's post, how he keeps from catching cold in that cold, damp weather they have in Times Square and Central Park. Especially if I'm planning to go back there again. What a way to make a living.



11 comments:

  1. Congratulations again on your win, RT. I've won a couple of awards and not quite won several others, and I'm still trying to figure out the winning formula so I can bottle it and sell it. Or not.

    The more I look at awards and actually help judge a few, the more I delude myself that I actually know what's going on. I'm going to be discussing what little I may have learned on my own post next week.

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    1. Steve, you are right. Same story, different judging panels, different results. I submitted "The Road to Hana" for the Derringer Awards and it didn't even make the nomination list. Figure what you may from that.

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  2. Catching cold might be the least of the Singing Cowboy's threats. Things become brittle in extreme cold. Brittle things tend to snap off.Good thing he doesn't live in Canada or Northern Minnesota. Yeouch!

    And once again, congratulations. I'll order popcorn so we can watch the Bracken/Lawton gunfight.

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    1. The guy actually sang and played his guitar. It wasn't Nashville quality, but he tried.

      I like butter on my popcorn, but it does make the gun handles a little slippery. I may also be otherwise handicapped in that AHMM ran 5 of my stories in 6 of their issues last year and I've heard nothing about one coming out this year. Plus Linda has already rejected my next story which was in the e-slush pile.

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  3. I understand the challenge of repeating a successful story. Knowing exactly what makes my most successful stories what they are is quite difficult. Occasionally, I can see what it is, but I have no idea how to replicate it.

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    1. If you ever do find the answer, pu-leeze let me know.

      The way I write, I have long found that it is easier to read a story and dissect it than it is to try to put all that stuff in while creating the story. Of course, there are a few times while editing that I may receive an OH, YEAH Moment and in it goes.

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  4. Congratulations again - I'm in awe of you, RT.

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    1. Eve, thanks for the compliment, but the awe is overrated. Kiti makes sure I do the dishes every morning.

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  5. R.T., I think all of us suffer the same problem, in trying to figure out how to recreate a winning story, time after time. As for your Edgar winner, I do suspect the setting had at least something to do with its appeal. The road to Hana is known to most folks who are familiar with Hawaii and to many who aren't, whether they've traveled the road or not--it seems to be fascinating to everyone--and for you to have written such an interesting story about it is extra special.

    On the subject of which stories get recognized with awards, nominations, etc.--well, that remains a mystery, at least to me. Some of my stories that I never dreamed would get recognized, did, and others that I thought were extra special did not. Just keep writing the way you do, and I predict your accolades with continue, even if/when they're unexpected.

    I enjoyed this post, as always.

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  6. John, I've been looking for another famed road to set a mystery on, but I don't think that will cut it for the next go-around. So, I guess I'll just have to write whatever comes into my head next and try to fluff it up with swatches of literary-ness for the intellectuals and emotional appeal for the rest. In my last acceptance from AHMM, the editor mentioned that she "admire(d) my diversity." That was before the Awards Banquet, which was followed shortly after by a rejection. When I look in my computer files, it seems I have a whole pile of rejected diversity. What's a guy to do?

    Write on, Brother !!! [picture an upraised arm with a fist here]

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  7. You bring an underlying sense of humor to your work, R.T. I think that will see you through.

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