A story near and dear to my heart was picked up for publication at a little lit mag. This story isn’t my best. I’ve changed a lot as a writer since I penned this at 19 for a workshop. That being said, it started something. It set me on the path of writing myth-inspired fiction, introduced me to one of my favorite characters, and told me I could do this wild thing–I could write stories!

Of course, you’re probably thinking, well, just rewrite the story if you like it so much! But here’s the thing, dear reader, I tried. Several times. I’ve tried to start from scratch, tried to revise in the doc, tried to totally reimagine it. The story refused.

Part of my writing process is listening to what the story/characters want, usually due to these kind of shenanigans. So I let the story live. Submitted it to places I thought might be interested. Just kept it on the back burner. Finally, it found a home.

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the story. The biggest thing is that it’s written in third person objective, a pretty outmoded POV these days as it does not allow for any interior thoughts–just observing. Frankly, I agree, as it makes my main character Mary appear flat, but as the writer,  I see a young woman desperately trying to impress a god she wants to work for by not reacting. The objective POV also gives the story the distance of myth or legend, which was the atmosphere I wanted. Does it fully work for this story? Probably not.

Anyway, dear reader, I hope you can accept the story the way it is. I still love it.

 As a student of Runic Magic, Mary had written her triple-checked Spell of Greeting next to Loki’s name on her wrist, and when she arrived at his shop, she traced a Welcome rune in the winter condensation on the glass door….

–Trickster Shop