I'm used to folks finding the fact that I write to be rather quaint; the only person non-writer person I know who really doesn't seem to feel this way is my mother, who will never miss an opportunity to brag to friends and relatives that I'm a writer. I had a rather interesting moment at my daughter's school today. She has the day off due to academic assessment, which is what we were there for (it was supposed to take 30 minutes but instead lasted an hour). I'd brought along the latest issue of Paradox, since I have one story left to read and I was hoping to get it read while waiting for her to do her assessment. Before she was to go in, we sat at a table in the hallway, waiting for her time to roll around, and one of her classmates came over and sat with us. I had my nose buried in my magazine. Dana was talking to her friend then suddenly she turned to me and asked, "Is that the magazine your story's in?"

"No. That was the last issue."

"Oh." But she then turned to her friend and said, "Guess what. My mom writes stories and they get put in magazines like that one."

And her friend looked at me all wide-eyed and he said, "That's so cool!" It's such a rare thing for anyone to look at a writer like he would his/her favorite basketball or football star or actor/actress. I'd never felt prouder of being a writer than at that moment.