I stumbled across a term called “social listening.” It’s a technique that, boiled down, means going through social media and reflecting what’s either positively said about you, or is a trending topic for conversation.

Sounds disingenuous to me; however, the part about finding places where your “brand” is mentioned? Oh…yeah. Haven’t done that it in a while, because this one-man band has a lot on his plate. So, I gave it a shot…and found this. From 2019. Am I a lil’ embarrassed I just found it? Oh you betcha. Do I still think it’s cool? Oh you betcha.

I was lucky enough to get a story from Mary Rajotte, “The Culling,” into Black Buttons Vol. 3: A Family Affair. And that put it on a fiction editor’s list of must-read books for 2019.

Thank you, Mary, and thank you Ellen Datlow. Belatedly, d’accord.