Can't agree more. That really had me with a lump in my throat. I understand the urge to hold onto family history that's based in the land, but at the same time, if it means you can't have a family, then it's time to let go and homestead somewhere else.

Thank you Anne and Sail.

I think part of what I like so much about it is the nuanced way you feel for everyone in the story. From their individual point of view, no one is wrong. You can truly understand why each person feels and responds the way they do. And the gentle reveal that gets to such difficulty comes a bit at a time, so there's both a shock response to the dilemma, and an empathy response to the character. Thus the conflict is very natural, and also unresolvable.

I hate when the conflict is there, but for stupid reasons, like the characters won't communicate, or happenstance intervenes, or whatever. It feels cheap, like it's unearned. But this is earned conflict.

Which is a lot to accomplish in such a short story! And the worldbuilding is great; it makes me want to see more set in that world.

Uh . . . what Liese said. That seems simplest rather than writing it all again and trying to find different words.

Thanks, Liese and Connie.

I just got a rejection for a Cog query I sent in February. Maybe I should have sent an e-mail withdrawing it. I just figured it was already rejected since it had been so long.

If you accept representation from an agent, you generally let everyone else you queried know, but it's no big deal. And honestly, that response time is often par for the course.

Any thoughts about this livejournal post? [link]

I have bad eyes and a crappy computer, so that post is unreadable to me.

I know that person, so it's hard to say. But there does seem to be a fair bit of "Shouldn't I have succeeded by now?" in there. A feeling I know well at 51, combined with "It's not like I have a lot of time left to do this". Though Grandma Moses is an inspiration.