Cat Rambo had this on her site and, you know, I’ve longed for just this sort of thing.

I know very little about some of the people on my friends list. Some people I know relatively well. (Some I know too well. You know who you are.) I read your journals, or we have something else in common and we chat occasionally. Some of you I hardly know at all. Perhaps you lurk, for whatever reason. But you friended me and I thank you for your interest in my words.

But here’s a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: “Ah, there’s so and so…they listen in rapture to the love-music of she-turnips.” I might feel compelled to mock your musical taste, but I’ll certainly remember you.

I’d love it if every single person who friended me would do this. Yes, even you people who I know really well. Then post this in your own journal and see what gems of knowledge appear.

So, tell me about yourself.

Not if You Were the Last Short Story on Earth is doing year end summaries. Of Apex, he says:

The strongest stories this year were probably Geoffrey Girard’s multi-part Cain xp11 (not for the squeamish) and Mary Robinette Kowal’s Horizontal Rain.

I’m stunned. It’s not even a story that was in the magazine; it was in the online version.

A friend of mine just started a new business, AnthologyBuilder, which is the type of brilliant idea that makes you wonder why no one else had done it yet. It’s like iTunes for short fiction. You get to pick the stories you want for a custom print anthology. As a reader, I love the idea of having total control over the content.

As an writer, I’m really happy that there’s an easy venue for my published material. It’s a very simple, easy contract that lets me get my older stuff back out there.

I’m hoping, and sort of expecting, this to really take off.