Awards Eligibility & Bonus Recommendations for 2014

In early January, Amal El-Mohtar reposted an excellent rant about eligibility lists, why they're important, and why authors shouldn't be embarrassed to post them.  And I thought, "Well, that makes sense.  I should do that thing."  But I had a 2-week-old baby and a new writing deadline, and so "eligibility post, no really," has been on my to-do list for nearly a month.

And, but, so.  I'm going to do some of the dithering El-Mohtar talks about, because most of the reasons in her rant don't so much actually apply to me.  My stories this year have gotten plenty of attention (some of which I'll mention below, because this is my living room and I get to boast here occasionally).  I'm also not ashamed to admit that I think they're pretty good, not that my opinion is particularly the one that matters.

I also don't think eligibility posts get anyone to change their minds about how good works were--I think they 1) remind people what came out in a given year, and by process of elimination what didn't, and 2) remind people what category works fall into.  As someone with a lousy memory and an iffy feel for word count, I appreciate this, and consider it a useful service when other people provide it.

What I published:

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What I liked:

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