This is pretty big for me. Although I've never gone to the trouble of writing it down, in the back of my mind I've always maintained a list of things I wanted to accomplish before finally getting out of this life. I never heard the term "bucket list" until the movie, but there you are.

At the top of my list was to become a published author. Published and author have gone through some definition revisions in order to claim completion. The first time I saw my byline printed below a headline in the newspaper, I penciled a checkmark beside that list item, but I wasn't satisfied. Yes, it was published, and yes, I was the author, but I knew that wasn't what I had originally meant.

Next came a regular weekly column. Again came out the imaginary pencil and the sort-of faded check mark. This was closer since my column was more fiction than most of my news reporting, but since I was already working for the paper it just didn't feel like the accomplishment I was looking for.

Next came a couple of stories in non-paying markets. That felt closest yet to my real goal so I used one of those erasable pens on my mental checklist. There was only one final hurdle to clear before I could haul out that thick, black mental Sharpie.

I cleared that obstacle yesterday.

Jon and I were eating dinner when my phone started singing Queen's theme "Flash Gordon." I had an email alert with a subject line of "submission acceptance." I get a lot of adult spam so I tried not to get my hopes too high as I sped back to my computer to pull up the email account. It was not an advertisement for a new dominance website. A short story I had farmed out about eight months ago has been accepted for publication. When the anthology is actually published I'll give more details.