Fiction solicited for the first time in years

So a good friend asked about my following vague-posting about getting solicited.

Feeling kinda' chuffed - got solicited for the first time in years and didn't have to be walking down Somerset Ave. in our fine LGBTQ1+ village, wearing a tight black T and denim to get solicited. And it's the (marginally more) respectable kinda' solicit, involving writing fiction.

Here's what happened.

I am trying out an editing gig and decided to be clever. I joked that Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) rules say that 33 per cent of the anthology I am looking at should be Canuck content.

The person I am working with replied, 'Well, you did not write me a story."

I answered that I may have missed the submissions call. Or did they ask for the stories from the authors? This is a common practice for editors in the business to ensure they curate a collection of quality work.

"The call for submissions was on the website for a year!" they exclaimed.

The Internet shook.

Then they flipped the script on my joke and asked for a 2,000-word piece of fiction on a particular prompt, with a real deadline and everything, kiddies.

Not long after, I even got the call from the person I am working with, likely chewing on a cigar in their glassy skyscraper office in another city.

"Just write it, in get met the story by next week!" they exclaimed.

It was like J. Jonah Jameson had assigned me work.

So, I had no idea my sense of humor would land me in this position, which is rather interesting and arguably enviable.

And that, fair readers, is as specific I can get until the ink dries on the contract.

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