Yet Another Holiday Newsletter -- 2002

December 31, 2002

Dear Ones,

Yes, it is once again time for the Annual Murphy Holiday Newsletter. As this letter is going to be late, I'm presuming that the holiday that I'm referring to will be New Year's... Or maybe Martin Luther King day.

This year's big news is that we are expecting our second child, William Duncan Murphy (yes, we already know it's a boy) with a due date of March 3rd. This has meant big changes and adjustments for everyone so far, with more changes scheduled to come. My pregnancy has gone well, despite my health care provider's continual references to my "advanced age." I'm 36, but you would think I was ninety from the number of comments the medical staff have made about me being a "mature mother". I find the whole thing very amusing.

Those of you who remember my last pregnancy probably remember how miserable it was. Between the nausea and the "stealth vomits" I lost weight throughout, ending up fifteen pounds lighter at the end of my pregnancy than when I started. This pregnancy has been mostly nausea-free, so I have actually gained nine pounds this time round! Speaking of round, that is definitely my shape now. I'm only in the seventh month, and have already acquired a bit of a pregnancy waddle. I feel like a walrus now, and am dreading what I will look like come February... A barge? An oil tanker?

Career wise, it has been an eventful year for Andy. He lost his job with eBenX in January - a job that had been high stress and made him very unhappy. While I believe that leaving that job was a good thing, the stress of having Andy unemployed was hard on all of us. I went back to work full-time while Andy parented Cassie and job-hunted in the middle of a very bad job market.

About two weeks before Andy's unemployment benefits were due to run out, Andy got a great job offer from HealthPartners, a Minnesota HMO with an excellent reputation. Andy has been a Senior System Analyst with them, and seems very happy so far. He does auditing and system validation, which means he gets to find out where people goofed and then tell them about it -- and he gets paid to do this!

In his off time, Andy still pursues his favorite hobbies. He is still running an art show for the science fiction convention, Convergence, though he has been officially promoted from his cherished role of "Greater Peon" to the head of the thing. This work has included revamping a database, creating a book of protocols & procedures, and handling myriad other issues. He has even had to negotiate some political disputes, and has managed to come out of this sane so far.

He also continues to volunteer with the Boy Scouts, and has been running a fairly interesting gaming campaign involving tall ships and sea adventure. This has been a great outlet for him, allowing him to put all his historical and nautical knowledge to good use. It also lets him chuckle evilly about pirates and other terrors of the sea. The research for this has also been fun, giving us an excuse to watch all the episodes of A&E's Horatio Hornblower series.

I have returned to my prior part-time schedule after Andy went back to work, working at Minneapolis Library half-time while also parenting Cassie and writing stories. This was a banner year for my fiction. My first professionally published story, "Run of the Fiery Horse," came out in the June 2002 issue of Realms of Fantasy magazine. That same weekend, my second story, "The Grand Cheat," appeared in the local Science Fiction Magazine, Tales of the Unanticipated. A few months later, I sold "Nine Fingered Maria" professionally to the anthology, New Faces in Science Fiction.

So how has life changed since becoming a professional author? Mostly how other people view me. Basically, I see myself as the same insecure person that I was before my stories saw publication. I still write, send stuff out, and get rejected. However, other people see me differently. I am now a real writer, as opposed to the fake writer I had been before.

Friends and co-workers who never showed the slightest interest in my hobby prior to this point are now introducing me to others as a published author. I've even been asked by a few teachers if I would be willing to talk to their classrooms about my experience. It's nice to be suddenly taken seriously, but it is also a little strange as well.

So far, "Run of the Fiery Horse" has been reviewed in four different places, all of which have given it glowing praise. Locus even picked it as one of its recommended stories of the month! I've also done a couple of readings since then, one of which happened at the World Fantasy Convention this year. I'm pleased to note that I filled the seats at both readings - a rare feat for a mostly unknown writer. Of course, honesty compels me to note that I also shamelessly promote my readings, offering bribes of homemade cookies and bread to all attendees.

Speaking of shameless self-promotion, I am officially announcing the start of my campaign to get myself nominated for the Campbell award for best new SF writer in 2003. For those of you unfamiliar with the Campbell awards, they are offered to recognize the debuts of brand new authors. Once a writer receives professional publication, there is only a two year window of eligibility. While anyone who attends (or even just supports) the World Science Fiction Convention may nominate for this award, very few people do. In previous years, writers have made the Campbell award ballot with fewer than sixteen nominations.

While I'm not egotistical enough to think that I might win (the competition for this award is very fierce) I would dearly love to make the ballot. So, if you attended World Con last year, or will be attending this year -- and you liked my stories - please, please nominate me!

You only have until March 31st to do so, so act now! There is a nomination form at http://www.conjose.org/wsfs/2003HugoNomForm.pdf.

If you have not gotten to read one or more of my stories, let me know and I will happily e-mail them to you. Then you can decide for yourself.

And now, for the section of my newsletter that all of you have been waiting for: the cute Cassie stories. Cassie turned three December 21st, and has become even more charming and inquisitive. By May, she had learned to recognize all the letters of the alphabet, and her numbers too. She is even starting to try to color between the lines, though she still lacks the coordination to do this properly.

Cassie has become very aware of the new baby, though Duncan is still a somewhat abstract concept for her. When we first told her about Duncan, she had two interesting responses:

• "I have a baby in my tummy, too!"
• "When the baby comes, we will play with it and then send it back to its own house."

Obviously, more explaining needed to be done. Cassie's concept of who Duncan is and what having a little brother will mean continues to evolve. She tells us all sorts of stories about him, and what he is doing. She has already complained, "Duncan is pulling my hair!" and has told us sometimes about Duncan leaving Mommy's tummy to do things elsewhere in the house. And of course, Cassie is full of anxiety about how Duncan will change her life. She happily moved into a "big girl" bed, but worried, "Will I have to go back to the crib when the baby comes?"

She has grown into a very enthusiastic helper, wanting to join in on projects, especially the cooking ones. She also likes to pretend to cook on her own.

One day, after she and Andy had bought groceries, Andy left the kitchen for a few minutes, only to hear Cassie exclaim, "Daddy, I've got egg on my sock!" Cassie had opened the refrigerator door, very carefully pulled out the new carton of eggs, and had begun to crack them into her little toy pot. She had cracked nine of the eggs (eight with their yolks still intact) and then carried the shells to the garbage can, dripping egg white the entire way. As Andy stated, "She cracks eggs better than I do!" While we were impressed with these new skills, we made it clear to Cassie that she should only crack eggs with Mommy and Daddy. It is still her favorite job in any cooking project.

One advantage of this newsletter being written so late is that I can include a holiday Cassie story. This has been the first year that Cassie has truly been aware of Santa and all the other cultural traditions that come with the season. On Christmas Eve, when we were returning from Andy's Grandmother's house, we explained to Cassie that we would have to be going to bed soon so that Santa could come to our house. Cassie's eyes got wide, and she exclaimed, "I hear `Ho, ho, ho!' He's on his way!"

For the rest of the trip home, she told us of Santa's progress: "He's at Grace and Sovigne's house!" "Now he's at Meridian's!" "I think he's visiting Ian now..." When we finally got home, it was a race to put out cookies and climb into bed, because she was sure that Santa was already at the next door neighbors.

Here's hoping that all of you had a happy holiday season - no matter what traditions you follow, or how you celebrate them. Best wishes for the New Year, and stay in touch, okay?

Hugs,
Hilary Moon Murphy