Meet the HM's

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Bet you all thought this was going to be the third movie in the Meet the Parents series didn't ya? Well, it's not. So stop your complaining. This is where you can meet the HM's from the Idol contest.

So, anybody want to go first?

[mommie4a]

Um - Kevin - how's about you go first, since you posted this? Give us the prompts, we'll fill it in (well, for ourselves, not yours - though that might be interesting...)

Thanks

[Kevin Yarbrough]

That could be interesting Jill (is that your name, or can I call you mommie?). How about you guys fill it in for me? I would like to see that. Then I will fill it in myself later.

And, tell us about yourselves.

(Pssst, I don't like going first, that's why. Self image thing, long story.)

[mommie4a]

I think Jill is just fine. Whenever an adult male calls me mommie, I think of Ronald Reagan calling Nancy "mommy." I thought it was kind of creepy.

Ah - you're making me laugh at a time when I really need to be laughing. Thanks.

I'm rewarding myself with trips to the boards while I finish something due today/tomorrow so I'll pass on describing you (plus, we haven't been on the same boards much yet). But...I suppose each of us could re-read our entries and then provide an interpretation of each other by way of the entries?

Anyone else want to start?

[Sarita]

How about starting with Jenna's questions for the finalists and going from there?

First, let's get to know you.

Please post below. You may answer as much or as little of the following as you like:

Your real name/pen name

What you generally write

Publication history

What you're working on now

Your favorite writers

Why you write

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers

Career goals

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.).

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Kevin Yarbrough is my real name and the one I write under.

I write horror mainly, but can write thrillers, mysteries, YA, and sci-fi.

Have a book "printed" by PA called "The Fire Within".

Working on "The Eighth Day" the one I entered in the contest. "Under the Veil", a horror story that I am going to add to the "Just for fun" thread. "Bone Gap", a horror story that pretty much died on me, but am trying mouth to mouth in hope to bring it back. Damn, no pulse. Charge paddles....CLEAR!!!!! And messing aroun with the sequel to my printed book.

King, Koontz, Bentley Little, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Laurell K. Hamillton, James Rollins, Matthew Reilly, Steve Alten, Daniel Hecht, Dan Brown, and Jeff Long.

I write because I like to. I have some good story ideas that I think the reading public might like to read. Plus, I like to write books I don't see out there yet.

Read, practice, persevere.

To make enough money to write full time.

I'm 28 with two kids, one high functioning autistic. Go to nursing school (cause I think I look good in those white skirts and hats. Have nice legs.) No pets--well, if you want to count.....naa, no pets.

[Rose]

I'm not a finalist or an honorable mention. I didn't even enter the Idol contest.

I am interested in Meeting the Honorable Mentions, though. It's true, I really look forward to reading what all of you have to say. Call me weird (you won't be the first), but I find it inspiring and instructive to learn about the lives of other writers ... especially ones like you on your way to the big time!

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Rose, I'm on my way to the big time? Who told you that? I didn't get that letter. Damn move messing up my mail and crap.

[mommie4a]

Your real name/pen name
Jill Miller Zimon (like Hilary Rodham Clinton - no hyphen, just Miller as a middle name, it completely confuses medical records' people)

What you generally write
Nonfiction, essays, opeds, lists to remind me what I'm supposed to be doing

Publication history
Published in The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), The Sun Press, Chagrin Herald Sun, The Bahamian Sun, Writer's Digest Start Writing Now, The Writer (June '05 - final galley approved!), Connecticut Parent, Mid-Ohio Valley Parent, Metro Kids (Detroit and Ann Arbor), Absolutewrite.com, Fundsforwriters.com, writeathome.com
Bi-monthly columnist ("Mommy Matters" yes, Daddy does too just not in my columns - just joking)and contributing editor to Cleveland Family and Akron Family magazine

What you're working on now
Nearing the end of a year-long work for hire contract as Storyteller for the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, the Ohio implementing nonprofit for Bill Gates' $1billion high school reform effort. My role is to capture the personal story of change going on in one district's high school as it transforms from one large urban school into six small schools within the same building. This project is a perfect marriage of my interest in education, kids, policy and writing.

Your favorite writers
My 11 year old son, Andrei Codrescu, Maureen Dowd, Ellen Goodman, Anne Sexton, R.D. Laing, E.L. Doctorow, Ha Jin

Why you write
I started because someone who should've known better suggested I try it. I kept doing it because it was saving my life. I do it now because I can't stop.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers
Believe in yourself, don't listen to others if they're not supportive or don't give constructive criticism.

Career goals
Do more frequent columns, syndicate or self-syndicate, publish more journalistic work, accept and participate in journalism fellowships, complete the two nonfiction books I've started

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.).
I grew up in Connecticut, met my husband in Ohio and we settled here. I love Ohio but I miss the East Coast everyday. I'll be 43 this summer, married 14 years in December and am the mother of three delicious kids - 5, 8 and 11. I love tennis and being outdoors but I'm lousy with plants. Pets include fish but we're working on getting a cat. If I could read the whole paper from front to back every Sunday, I'd feel like I'd made it.
__________________

[Penelope]

My real name is

What you generally write - I generally write poetry, greeting card copy, grocery lists, checks to some different folks with the last names bill and note

Publication history - My poetry has been published by Shadow Poetry, Astropoetica, KotaPress Loss Journal, Poetic License Magazine, Poetic Voices, Saucy Vox and Skyline Magazine. I have one poem forthcoming in Capper's. My greeting card ideas have been accepted/published by Gallant Greetings, Oatmeal Studios and Sole Source Greetings. I also have book reviews appearing at Absolute Write, Amaze: The Cinquain Journal and KotaPress Loss Journal.

What you're working on now - This week I am working on some greeting card ideas, a book review and a couple of nonfiction pieces.

Why you write - I write because if I didn't, I'd cease to exist.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers - Keep on keepin' on.

I'm a 33-year-old wife and mother from rural Mississippi. And when I say rural, I mean rural. I do have a phone, lights and a motor car here, but no cellphone, cable or Starbucks. I've lived in this area all of my life just like my mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, etc. Our roots here run deep, and 95% of my family live within a 2-mile radius. There are times when I think I'd like to live in an area more exposed to culture and modern technology, then I look around and realize all that I am and everything I need and love is right here.

[Mark Anderson]

A chance to talk about myself? Right on!

Your real name/pen name
Mark Anderson, and I write different things under the pseudonyms Dan Coy and Fred Aker (Decoy and Faker, ahaha, I slay me).

What you generally write
Horror, SF and humorous fantasy

Publication history
Some poetry in magazines that have been defunct for years, online fantasy rpg stuff under the alias Agony Creed, Computer nerd stuff, business articles, and my story 'The Happy Glad Handler' appearing in the next issue of Anathematic (http://www.anathematic.com/).

What you're working on now
The horror story Scapegoat, a SF piece called The Boy Who Wouldn't Die, and a children's story.

Your favorite writers
Joe Lansdale, Dave Whitman, Richard Matheson, Ed Lee and Jerry Jay Carroll.

Why you write
I don't get a choice.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers
Backup often.

Career goals
Open my bookstore and write full-time.

Any personal info

I'm 37, recently from LA and currently in my home state of Oklahoma. I have 3 awesome kids (7,6, and 4), pretty much quit the computer industry to focus on writing and bookselling, and am one hell of a good cook, which remains unappreciated by the PB&J crowd here at Casa Anderson. I have a rat terrier, Scrufty, who is afraid of mice but pure-d hell on the cricket and cicada population.

I aspire to write well enough that being accused of 'selling out' will have a sting.

[trumancoyote]

I think Jill is just fine. Whenever an adult male calls me mommie, I think of Ronald Reagan calling Nancy "mommy." I thought it was kind of creepy.

I'm only 21 -- can I still call you Mommie? :D

[mommie4a]

That would freak me out, I think. What about, Hot Mama?

[Kevin Yarbrough]

That would freak me out, I think. What about, Hot Mama?
I seen your pic, Hot Mama is appropriate.

[mommie4a]

Bless your much younger than mine heart!

[trumancoyote]

That would freak me out, I think. What about, Hot Mama?

That's infinitely more cool.

Please mentally replace all past instances wherein I called you "Mommie" with "Hot Mama."

Thank you.

[Sarita]

:roll: Jill, do I get to call you hot mama too? ( I heard on the weather channel this morning that Cleveland had record breaking snow this year... really?)

[mommie4a]

The pleasure is all mine, I assure you.

[mommie4a]

Yes, Sara - you can call me Hot Mama AND Cleveland had a record-breaking snowfall this year.

In fact, it was Saturday night - I was hanging on the computer - literally - until 8:09 or so, waiting for the Idol lists (Joanne kept asking me if I needed to leave) and I HAD to go out to meet friends. While we were out, we heard on the news (bar where folks were watching the NCAA finals) that we hit an all time record snow fall. I couldn't sleep all Saturday night - not just because I was pondering the honorable mention versus the finalist list (I'm fessing up to that), but because the WIND was making every tree branch around our house scratch and bash the roof and windows.

Snows-a-melting now, lots of lakes in my backyard from the run-off but it's warming up.

BE GONE, SNOW!

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

Oh, well, if I hafta.

Your real name/pen name (See .sig, below)

What you generally write Urban supernaturals of varying degrees.

Publication history *blush* Not much of late. Hoping to change that soon. Most recently, articles of the personal essay variety in PanGaia ("Study Ritual for the Urban Pagan") and NewWitch ("Offering to Erato"); a new article, "Faith-Based Charity, Pagan Style," will be coming out in one of those two soon. Before that, a short story or personal essay here and there. Did some journalism at Rogue Community College and the University of Washington. That kind of stuff.

What you're working on now Bouncing around between the revision process on two different novels, one of which produced the excerpt I auditioned with. (They, and one more which I'm not editing just yet, are NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) products.) Not working on a short story at the moment; should probably start shaping up the story idea involving the Page of Wands from the Vertigo Tarot deck. It involves a golem in a strip joint and some nasty corporate juju. I've also got a few shorts and a picture book out there in various slush piles.

Your favorite writers Gaiman, McKinley, LeGuin, de Lint, Tepper, Pullman, Snyder, and others that will come to mind if the weather changes.

Why you write Because I write. (Roll the bones.)

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers If you don't write it, it'll die with you. Do you want to go to the afterlife with that on your conscience? I didn't think so.

Career goals To support myself and my husband, financially, with my fiction. Thereafter to be as lazy as I can get away with. ;)

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.). 28 F from New Orleans, LA (going home for Jazz Fest this year, yay!) married w/ two cats, used to do corporate web design for a living until April of last year when I became a stay-at-home writer housewife. Yay hubby! Started part-time work doing web design, database wrestling, other random administrative tasks at the Radio Reading Service (http://www.rrsr.org/) studio where I'd been volunteering. I knit socks. I have a private pilot's license. I've been writing down my dreams since I was 12. I have a blog (http://www.littlebull.com/nanowrimo/), but then again, who doesn't? I keep some web (http://www.littlebull.com/Story/) widgets (http://www.dreamvortex.net/), and sometimes I even update them.

That's all probably plenty more than anyone really wanted to know.

[Sarita]

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers If you don't write it, it'll die with you. Do you want to go to the afterlife with that on your conscience? I didn't think so.

I say this all the time! My procrastinating ways are why the karmic circle keeps me around. I'm so glad someone else thinks like I do :)

[edfrzr]

Okay, enough about you guys. Now, about me.

Well I...wait a minute.

WHAT?

Sorry guys, I didn't make the cut.

[firehorse]

Bet you all thought this was going to be the third movie in the Meet the Parents series didn't ya? I think the next one is going to be baby-oriented and called "The Little Focker." :D

[dragonjax]

Your real name/pen name: Jacqueline Morse Kessler. This is my pen name as well, for now. But I may do something like "J.M. Kessler" for my fantasy stuff and "Jackie Kessler" for my chick-lit stuff. Because, you know, if my teenage-boy fantasy-reader fan base were to accidentally read my stories targeted at twentysomething women, I'll probably get a lot of hate mail, no matter what my name is. ;)

What you generally write: Contemporary fantasy, middle-grade fantasy, and chick-lit.

Publication history: A book review published in Tenebres, but it was translated into French, so I can't read my own review other than my byline. A short horror story called "Guilty Pleasures" published in the Winter 2005 edition of Peridot Books. Numerous articles for a consulting company's internal magazine.

What you're working on now: My chick-lit novel (for a sample, read my audition; that was the start of my book), which I hope to complete (first draft) by May 1, 2005. Also my middle-grade fantasy novel, which I hope to finish (first draft) by October 1, 2005. And, of course, landing an agent for my completed contemporary fantasy novel. ((Fingers crossed))

Your favorite writers: Neil Gaiman, bar none. Also greatly enjoy George R.R. Martin, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Margaret Weis (both solo and with Tracy Hickman), and Laurell K. Hamilton.

Why you write: Because I have stories to tell.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers: Never be daunted by rejections. If you have to, put the piece down and get some perspective from distance. Really. Put it away for ((gasp)) at least a month and work on something else.

Career goals: Full-time novelist and either freelance editor or (better) acquisitions editor for a speculative fiction line at a big publisher.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.). Currently living in upstate New York, but planning on heading back the the NYC area. Married, two kids, two cats, one house, two cars. Senior editor for a business management journal. I'm 34, but willing to lie about my age almost as quickly as I am about my weight. ;)

[WVWriterGirl]

Since it's the "in" thing to do for the HM crowd, here's me:

Your real name/pen name
Linley B. Marcum

What you generally write
Fantasy and horror mostly, but I've been known to wax poetic on occasion. For money.

Publication history
(This space for rent)

What you're working on now
I'm currently soliciting my first completed novel, The Cona'Doar Chronicles: Of Gods and Children to agents without much success. I'm also working on the sequel to that book, from which my entry was taken (it's the prologue). I've also got 2 short stories out there in the mix, "Siren, 1992" (a horror piece) and "The Temptress" (a fantasy piece). I'm also in the beginning stages of another fantasy novel, another fantasy short story, and a horror novel (you know, making notes to myself, finding the right "theme music" and so on and so forth).

Your favorite writers
Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, the Dragonlance stuff, the Ravenloft stuff, Richard Matheson, Poe, Shakespeare...lots more, brain is dead...

Why you write
Because I breathe.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers
Don't lose faith, and keep it up. If you never used your arm, the muscle would die and pretty soon, you couldn't use your arm. Same thing with ye olde brain muscle.

Career goals
I would like for someone to read and enjoy my writing because I have stories in my head that plead to be told. If I could have one person tell me the words I put to paper changed their life, even a little bit, I'd be a happy camper.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.).
I am happily married with 1 natural child and 2 "inherited" children (stepsons), one of which lives with me. I work a full time job that's a one hour commute from my house in Southern West Virginia. I have two dogs, one cat, and two fish. I'm staring the big 3-0 straight in the arse, and I don't like what I see (insert whiney sound here). Oh...interesting fact...my husband and I were born on the same day, 12 years apart (October 29) and we got married on Halloween.

[brokenfingers]

Your real name/pen name

William X. But you can call me Bill, or brokenfingers if you prefer - either way.

I’m an easy-going guy.

What you generally write

I generally just write good ol’ fashioned escapist fiction – or what I refer to as Fantasticals:

Fantasy, SF, Mystery, Historical etc.

That’s one thing I like about the Idol competition - it causes you to stretch your muscles and go outside your comfort zone and do things you wouldn’t normally do.

I like that – in life as well as in writing..…

Publication history

I sent in two not-ready stories to some magazines a few months ago. It was more to get some kind of feedback on where I was at more than anything. Besides that, I’ve never submitted anything for public viewing before. A couple of prompts or challenges maybe in another Forum but that’s about it. Outside of a piece I sent into a critique forum, noone has ever really seen my work.

What you're working on now

I’m working on a Fantasy epic (of all things!)

Your favorite writers

Hmmm, there are a lot and I’m afraid my tastes don’t run to the literary. Some are:

Len Deighton, George R.R. Martin, Michael Connelly, Robin Hobb, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Elmore Leonard, John Sandford, Frank Herbert, John LeCarre, J.V.Jones, William Gibson, Dashiell Hammett, George Pelicanos…

Why you write

Hmmmm, let's see… that’s a good question. It isn’t like I’ve been wanting to write since I first scribbled the walls of my crib with a crayon. It’s something fairly recent.

After I got out of the Marines, I did a year of college at ECU in North Carolina and then transferred to a school in California. I was going to be an Illustrator, if you can believe it. On the way to California however, I wrecked my motorcycle and never did wind up going back to school.

It seems my life was just a series of adventures (and misadventures) after that until I woke up one morning (or actually afternoon) a few years ago. I was hung over, had just ended a relationship with a certified psycho-woman, was in exile from my family and had just found out I had a 6 yr old son.

I decided I needed a lifestyle change.

But if I was going to be spending a lot of time at home (something I wasn’t used to) I needed something to do. And since I hate TV (unless it’s Football) I figured: Why not write a book?

Little did I know…..

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers

“There is no spoon.” A famous line from the The Matrix which, when translated, means:

Believe in yourself and your ability to transcend the meaningless B.S. around you

Career goals

I’d like to be able to write fulltime. I want to venture into non-fiction freelancing this year as well as get the majority of my manuscript completed.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.).

Just want to say “Thank You” to Jenna, Three-seven, Saritams8, Richard and all the Absolute Write Forum members – both those who participated and those who didn’t - for making this contest a wonderful thing and for making this Forum a wonderful place.

[Humourwriter]

Your real name/pen name: Bill Harper. I don't have a pen name, though I once said that if I write anything serious I'd call myself "William M Harper". Hasn't happened yet, and doubt it ever will.

What you generally write: Humour, though lately I seem to be writing a lot of cheques. Actually, looking at my bank account, they're probably the same thing.

Publication history: Columnist for Solo magazine (singles magazine based in Canberra -- now folded) and Absolute Write. Published in Canberra Times, Courier Mail (Brisbane), Single Life magazine (also folded -- are we sensing a pattern here?), BrizComm. Manuscript funny-uperer for Jenna Glatzer's "Outwitting Writer's Block" book (don't know how else to describe what I did).

Oh, and then there's my own column (details in my sig).

What you're working on now: Funnying up another book manuscript.

Your favorite writers: Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, Carl Hiaasen, Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton, Ben Elton, Stephen King, Mike Gayle... + about a gazillion others I can't remember right now.

Why you write: It's a lot cheaper than therapy.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers: Quit your writing gig, and when your editor asks how they're going to fill the space, say you know this great writer in Australia...

Just kidding! My advice is: Write for yourself first, and your audience second. 'Cause if you don't enjoying writing it, they probably won't enjoy reading it.

Career goals: To be a full-time humour writer/columnist, so I can quit my current job but still drink coffee all day.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.): I live in Australia, which means it was a miracle I got my audition entry in on time ("Midnight EST? What time's that over here?") As for my day job, I work in IT for the public service, but managed to be away on the day they removed everyone's personalities.

I live with my wife and a cat. My wife reads the draft of every column I write, and while she may not be a writer, she's a terrific editor and makes some great suggestions. My cat just asks for more food.

[JennaGlatzer]

Manuscript funny-uperer for Jenna Glatzer's "Outwitting Writer's Block" book (don't know how else to describe what I did).

I think that's a perfect way to describe it.

It went sort of like this:

Me: "Bill! My book's not funny enough. Help!"

Bill: "I'll save you, damsel in distress! Watch this... put in some parts about fibre and constipation, some parts about VCR manuals poorly translated from Japanese..."

Editor: "Jenna, this is too funny now."

Yes, I actually had to tame down the funniness once Bill was through with it.

[Zane Curtis]

Your real name/pen name. What you generally write.

Zane Curtis is a pen name that I'm reserving for writing surrealism and contemporary fiction. I haven't done much with it so far, though. I have a second pen name under which I write SF/Fantasy stuff with a philosophical bent. I also have a real name, strangely enough, some of which I use in my other capacity as a musician. I like to let these three people who are me lead a largely independent existence, so just call me Zane. It's simpler that way, and it's no less my name than any of the others (and not even my mother calls me by the whole of my given name).

I am one of those rare people for whom there is no simple answer to the question, "What is your name?" Go figure.

Publication history

To date, I've published more non-fiction than fiction, but that's something I'm committed to changing in the near future.

What you're working on now

At the moment, I'm writing a story about a bunch of students from the far future who are looking back at our western civilisation, and finding the whole thing completely mystifying... But that's the other guy who's me, not Zane Curtis.

As Zane Curtis, I have a different idea still in the development stage. It's about a bunch of office workers in a tower block who discover that, what with all the mergers, de-mergers, take-overs, and funny book-keeping going on, they have been completely misplaced by their employers. In fact, they don't even know exactly who their employers are anymore, or where their budget is coming from, or what they are actually supposed to be doing with their money and man hours.

Your favorite writers

I have a taste for the more literate end of the SF/Fantasy genre, and, I'm afraid, I'm a shameless Anglophile when it comes to reading. I like Terry Pratchett, Michael Moorcock, Mervyn Peake, M. John Harrison, H. G. Wells, and so on. I also believe that, in spite of all his imperfections, Spike Milligan is the fount of all that is good, worthy, and stark raving bonkers in the world today. But that's just me.

Why you write

I have always been drawn to the more creative side of things (in part, because of health problems that make me pretty much useless for anything else). One day, I sat down and looked at all the detritus of my varying interests, and I said to myself, "This is ridiculous! Unless I rationalise and choose one thing, I'm never going to get anything done in a single lifetime." In the end, I whittled it down to two: music and writing. I've been doing those ever since.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers

Be brave. Writing is not for the feint of heart. It's not been that many centuries since writing could get you excommunicated, or chained up in a dungeon somewhere. There are still rather a lot of people who would prefer to return to that state of affairs. So, you'd best make use of the freedom you've got while it lasts. Don't blow your chance by being timid and conventional.

Career goals

As far as writing and being published goes, I just want to throw my line in the water and see if anyone bites. Human beings, after all, are a social species: we don't want to be alone with our opinions and our points of view. I write for the same reason that people have always written: to connect, to communicate, and perhaps to persuade (even if it's only to persuade a reader to see through the eyes of a fictional character for a while). I have discovered it is not so hard to influence opinion, in a modest way.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.).

I'm from Sydney, Australia. I don't move around much, and still live within a few miles of the hospital where I was born. I'll be 35 this year.

[SeanDSchaffer]

Your real name/pen name: My real name is Sean D. Schaffer. My pen name is presently Sean D. Schaffer, although I was thinking of using a pseudonym on my next work.

What you generally write: I generally write Fantasy, mostly in the realm of Knights, dragons, unicorns, and the like.

Publication history: The only Publication History I have is a book printed by PA entitled Wyverinia Chronicles. (However, I do have a short story that I recently entered into a competition called the 'Absolute Write Idol Contest.' The story is entitled simply, Bested. It received an Honorable Mention.)

What you're working on now: I just started working on a new manuscript the other day, of which the working title is 'The Knight.' Also, I have another WIP almost completed entitled Kindel the Changed, which unfortunately I have sent in for Copyright Registration. This, if I understand correctly now, will make it more difficult to sell the book to a publisher. Oh, well. You live and you learn.

Your favorite writers: Anne McCaffrey (Dragonflight; Dragonquest; The White Dragon); Jane Yolen (Dragon's Blood; Heart's Blood; A Sending of Dragons); Robert Louis Stevenson (Treasure Island; Kidnapped); Gordon R. Dickson (The Dragon and the George; The Dragon on the Border); A. E. van Vogt (The World of Null A; Voyage of the Space Beagle; Slan); C. S. Lewis (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Last Battle); Piers Anthony (Dragon on a Pedestal; Heaven Cent); Edgar Allen Poe (The Tell-tale Heart; Masque of the Red Death); William Shakespeare (Macbeth; Julius Ceasar)

Why you write: I write because I've always enjoyed it. I decided to be a professional writer around the age of eleven, when my Dad, who loves writing himself -- I think someone in the family told me he had been published in an occasional magazine .-- looked at some of my work and said, "Sean, you could become a good author someday." I never forgot those words of encouragement, and as I've always hero-worshipped my Dad, I took his words as Gospel-truth.

Also, I took up: Drumming, Janitorial, and artwork. I find the drumming and artwork to be a toss-up for the most enjoyable of these other things I have taken up in the past.

Your best piece of advice for fellow writers: Always, always, always be open to criticism. In the writing world there is really no better way to improve one's writing prowess than by heeding honest criticism of your work. I know it's painful to listen to someone nit-picking your finest triumphs, but in the end you'll be able to make your writings even better than you ever thought they could be, if you listen to and take heed of honest criticism of your work by other writers.

And don't ever give up. Like the old preacher used to say (And as I say on my signature line with every post I make) "Winners never quit, and quitters never win."

Career goals: I want to eventually be able to live entirely off my writing. I have no desire to become filthy rich, just to be comfortable financially by doing what I love.

And any personal info you'd like to include (where you're from, how old you are, family, hobbies, day job, pets, etc.)

I presently reside in the city of Clackamas, Oregon. I'm a 33-year-old man, and my favorite hobby is model railroading in O Gauge -- that and listening to my vinyl collection throughout the day, every day.

I have no job at present; rather, I am a Disability recipient (I suffer from several mental illnesses which prevent me from being able to hold down a substantial job.) Though I am not ashamed of this, and though the money I receive every month is enough to live on, I have no intention whatsoever of laying down my life-long dreams of becoming not just a published author, but a career writer, in order to keep a monthly check coming in.


Sean D. Schaffer