(This is part of the Brejcha Personal and Disability Resource Site, but for now, Welcome to:
I write for a lot of reasons (a little extra money, for one), but mainly it is because I need to be creative. I used to be an art major -- and even had a gallery interested in my work -- but rapidly developing M.S. destroyed those plans. My next field of study (after having to almost start over from the beginning), was Psychology. I did well with it, accepted quickly into the Honors Research program and serving as vice-president of Philadelphia's Temple University chapter of Psi Chi (the National Honor Society in Psychology) for several years. I also originated, edited, produced, and wrote articles for the monthly Psych Majors and PsiChi Newsletter. That gave me the nudge to try writing science fiction (a field I discovered at age ten as an immigrant from Sweden).
I never bothered with small press. I didn't know better and didn't have time for writing classes, so I started at the top with Analog and Asimov's. I even made the laughable effort of submitting an "Adam & Eve" SF piece to Asimov's. I got a very nice personal rejection, though -- which is what I still get. I have couple of dozen SF pubs for other mags, but I still can't seem to make it into Asimov's :-) (but it keeps my ego in check at least). But Stan Schmidt at Analog saw promise in me, and writing for him (16 pieces published), I have learned a lot and have made sales to other markets and in other genres (see my Bibliography). I even dropped out of school to pursue my writing because I had no time for writing, school, and a full time job (and disablity-related depresson - since conquered).
Which brings me to the point of my "rant": I have also been fortunate to have 10 of my stories recommended for the Nebula Award, and two given an Honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois' Year's Best Science Fiction (7th and 8th annual editions, St. Martin's Press, New York). But as much as I feel honored, I refuse to recommend anyone else's stories.
Why?
Because I do not want my name listed! My M.S. makes writing difficult, and I do not have time for writing, working full time, and my active disability advocacy -- and reading. I try to read some other magazines when I can (maybe a book or two), but I can't read much. But I refuse to recommend a story because my name would be listed, and I feel obligated to 'return the favor' -- especially to a few who regularly recommend my work. But that is not the way to honor a writer's work. Better to boycott the preliminaries, and vote (if I have time to read) in the finals when I can be anonymous.
If all Nebula recommendations were done monitored by Nebula judges, I would feel free to recommend when I happen to read a piece I feel is worthy -- but not until such time!
In the meantime: Thank you to those who recommend my work! I am not ignoring your own fine writing, just a flawed awards process that discourages impartiality.
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