The Smartest Thing I Ever Did
Nov. 29th, 2007 03:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseI don't do a lot of things that are particularly smart, but there was one thing that when I look back on I think, "Thank god(dess) I did THAT." Do you know what it was? It was agreeing to interview Melissa Scott for focusPoint (a local GLBT magazine that's now defunct.)
Why? Because getting that one interview published has led to all the others. I had to trim the interview down to 1,000 words for fP (I'd gotten 4,000 from Melissa), and so I got the brilliant idea to send out queries to a bunch of other SF magazines to see if anyone wanted the entire interview. Science Fiction Chronicle (back when it was run by Andy Porter) agreed to run the unabridged version, and after that sale, I was able to talk Andy into letting me interview all sorts of SF/F professionals. This was a god-send because it meant that as long as I okayed it with Andy ahead of time, I could walk up to any SF/F professional and say, "How would you like to be interviewed for SFC?" This, btw, is a fangirl's dream. I got an hour alone with people like Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers, and Nalo Hopkinson and I got to ask them anything I wanted to about their work, their lives, and those questions that, at the time especially, were burning in my heart like, "how did you break in?" Very few people were difficult to interview because I was doing them a favor by getting them free publicity, and, well, as you've probably guessed, most authors love to talk about their work (and themselves.) Plus, I got some added benefits of getting a byline in a pro magazine as well as getting paid a small amount.
Quite a deal.
I find that I'm STILL leveraging that one good decision. After fretting about wanting to talk about Farthing, it occurred to me to go to the source. Jo Walton has graciously agreed to be interviewed by me (thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bluejo!). SFC has since changed hands and I burned some bridges with the new editor, but I've been able to find homes for other interviews I've done -- Strange Horizons and Internet Review of SF. Plus, in a moment of pure fangrrl clarity, I decided on a whim to email Ed Brubaker with a similar request and... and... he said YES. (I'm quivering in my fangrrl boots at the thought of both of these.)
I'm telling you, that first interview was the smartest thing I ever did.
Actually, if I trace that moment all the way back to its source it really all started by sending a press release about myself (I hadn't even published anything but a handful of short stories) to focusPOINT. From that, I met Rachel Gold who did a small article about me. We struck up a mutally benefical friendship. She joined my writers group for a while, and got me that interviewing gig because she couldn't make it down to WisCON that year. Isn't it funny how these things work out? You never know what decision tree you're on until you fall out of it.
Why? Because getting that one interview published has led to all the others. I had to trim the interview down to 1,000 words for fP (I'd gotten 4,000 from Melissa), and so I got the brilliant idea to send out queries to a bunch of other SF magazines to see if anyone wanted the entire interview. Science Fiction Chronicle (back when it was run by Andy Porter) agreed to run the unabridged version, and after that sale, I was able to talk Andy into letting me interview all sorts of SF/F professionals. This was a god-send because it meant that as long as I okayed it with Andy ahead of time, I could walk up to any SF/F professional and say, "How would you like to be interviewed for SFC?" This, btw, is a fangirl's dream. I got an hour alone with people like Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers, and Nalo Hopkinson and I got to ask them anything I wanted to about their work, their lives, and those questions that, at the time especially, were burning in my heart like, "how did you break in?" Very few people were difficult to interview because I was doing them a favor by getting them free publicity, and, well, as you've probably guessed, most authors love to talk about their work (and themselves.) Plus, I got some added benefits of getting a byline in a pro magazine as well as getting paid a small amount.
Quite a deal.
I find that I'm STILL leveraging that one good decision. After fretting about wanting to talk about Farthing, it occurred to me to go to the source. Jo Walton has graciously agreed to be interviewed by me (thanks,
bluejo!). SFC has since changed hands and I burned some bridges with the new editor, but I've been able to find homes for other interviews I've done -- Strange Horizons and Internet Review of SF. Plus, in a moment of pure fangrrl clarity, I decided on a whim to email Ed Brubaker with a similar request and... and... he said YES. (I'm quivering in my fangrrl boots at the thought of both of these.) I'm telling you, that first interview was the smartest thing I ever did.
Actually, if I trace that moment all the way back to its source it really all started by sending a press release about myself (I hadn't even published anything but a handful of short stories) to focusPOINT. From that, I met Rachel Gold who did a small article about me. We struck up a mutally benefical friendship. She joined my writers group for a while, and got me that interviewing gig because she couldn't make it down to WisCON that year. Isn't it funny how these things work out? You never know what decision tree you're on until you fall out of it.
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Interviews
Date: 2007-11-29 09:46 pm (UTC)Frank
no subject
Date: 2007-11-29 11:07 pm (UTC)Rock on! That's a good solution. :) Will look forward to reading the interview.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 12:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 03:33 pm (UTC)Somebody already had
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Date: 2007-11-30 04:06 am (UTC)Go figure.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-30 04:54 am (UTC)