… give the reader plenty of chances to get to know my work in short form.

The key, though, is to work toward writing short fiction with the appeal of a novel. You’ve got to write stories not experiments or clever bits of nothing. Short fiction used to be all about stories, but then the short fiction markets became more literary, and for the longest time even in genre, experiment seemed to win out over story. Well, you know, sometimes writing an experiment is good for your skills, and I don’t rule out writing that kind of story once in a while, but the plan is not to do that any more than necessary.

Finally! An author who is of the same mind as I! (Or truthfully, yet another author. I get a little over-excited with each new one I discover.)

This appears to be turning into a blog-meme of sorts. No one has (to my knowledge) tagged anyone else, but the topic does seem to be inspiring a chain of posts.

Joanna Penn blogged back in April on 7 things she wish she knew before writing her first book. Then yesterday, Alexis Grant wrote about 4 things she wish she knew before writing her first book, ending her post with the question: Writers: what do you wish you knew before embarking on your first project? I saw these posts when Joanna tweeted them on Twitter, which inspired me to write this blog post you’re reading now. And that brings you up to date.

So now, while sipping the last of the coffee my pot will ever brew, between whiffs of acrid electrical smoke, I will talk about the 7 things I wish I knew before writing my first book.