"I Know What To Do" was written when I was married and my (now ex-)husband was
still getting annoying calls from his first wife.
The dog in the story was based on my real dog at the time (Chanci), as was the
Chicago apartment and the bug problem. Some of the more harmless things in the
story actually follow my own true life reactions to those disgusting little
creatures-- yes, that was me standing on the kitchen counter in the wee hours of
the morning and ripping dishes out of cabinets. I can never think of this story
without remembering one well-known male editor who rejected it and told me in no
uncertain terms that "the woman in the story didn't seem real and would have
never done that."
"I Know What To Do" was my first sale to a professional anthology and also my
first appearance in a hardcover book.
й Yvonne Navarro 1990, 1998
"I Know What To Do" was first published in Women of Darkness II (Tor Books,
1990).
