Well, it’s been a week since I posted the first draft of “Under the Table,” and it has now been downloaded over 10,000 times.  I’m extremely grateful for all the attention it has received and would like to thank everyone who promoted it, who commented (both here and elsewhere) and who provided feedback.  Yeah, I wrote the thing, but the people who blogged and tweeted about it and who linked to it are the ones who are truly responsible for helping this first draft find so many readers.

Let me say again:  THANK YOU!

Yes, I know that the novelty, the gimmick, of having a piece of fiction structured within a spreadsheet is the fuel that made this all possible.  In a world with so many available diversions, one must do what one can to get people to read a short story!  But the pure idea of writing in this way preceded the notion that it might be an attention-getter, and I think that fact made it possible that this piece of writing could be something readable and good rather than just a cheap stunt.

I have received some criticism that I didn’t go far enough, that Excel is capable of being far more dynamic and interactive than I’ve asked it to be here.  It was never my intention to push Excel to its literary limit, but I agree that it would be interesting to see someone try and heartily encourage others to give it a shot!

In fact, there have been rumors that others are planning their own spreadsheet fiction.  It could even be happening at this very minute.  Stay tuned…  Update: It has been done!  Jason Rodriguez has written a story in a spreadsheet as part of his project to tell the same story in 260 (!) genres.

Apart from the short storyspreadsheet concept, I’ve received enough positive feedback about the effectiveness of the story itself to convince myself that I’m not completely delusional for kinda liking this thing.  Remember, it’s just a first draft.  I can make this a lot better.  So do I plan on using the feedback I’ve received to go through the dreary editing process and work toward a final draft?  Absolutely.

Do I still hope to have this published by the online version of a highly esteemed literary journal?  Hell, yes!  With the kind of traffic it (still) has the potential to deliver, I might even make them pay me for the privilege (but don’t let that scare you off, dear editor).

Will I ever write another short storyspreadsheet, or even a novexcel?  Nah!  Well…maybe.  You never know.  We’ll see what happens.

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