Hilary Moon Murphy

Journal Post-Script

I look up to see Ganpati-Baba floating above my computer. "What do you mean?" I ask, craning my neck to look at him.

"Doesn't this look suspiciously like a journal entry to you?" Ganpati asks, landing on my desk and pointing at the words on my screen with his trunk. "Admit it. You made another big short story sale, and you just could not wait to come back here and report it."

"No," I said, "this is not another journal entry. It's a goodbye. Though I admit that I have some mixed feelings doing this. When I announced that the journal was closing down, I got a lot of letters from people who told me that they would miss this journal -- especially the entries with you in it."

"Are we surprised?" Ganpati raises an eyebrow. "All your best lines come from me."

My muse has never been one for modesty.

I think that I've made the right decision to close this journal down in favor of writing more fiction. These last few weeks have been very productive ones for me. Like Ganpati-Baba said, I made my third story sale only days ago -- Mike Resnick will be publishing my story "Nine-Fingered Maria" in his anthology, New Faces of Science Fiction.

But I do think that I need to reserve a part of my website for personal updates as well as professional ones, so I'm making some changes around here. I'm putting in a new essays section. Some of the essays will be brand new, others will be excerpts of the best stuff from my journal. I will also start writing my holiday newsletter on a twice-a-year basis: once in the summer and once at the year's end.

When will I write new essays? When I feel like it. Anything new will be listed on the home page. And yes, some of these essays will feature Ganpati-Baba. Truly, my website and my writing would not be the same without him.

This journal will be still available, for those who want to reread all the entries. I thought about getting rid of it altogether, but I cannot. Too much of my history is recorded here. Anyway, the archives are below. Enjoy!

Hmm (written June 29th, 2002)

• Holiday Newsletter, 2001 -- Toddlers, Pacifism & Other Updates
  
• Holiday Newsletter, 2000 -- Since Cassie was Born
  
• Holiday Newsletter, 1999 -- Everything before Cassie's birth
  
• Holiday Newsletter, 1996 -- Everything leading up to Andy & Hilary's marriage