Hey, all.
J. D.'s the name. Writing's the addiction. I call it an addiction because I have tried to walk away from it several times over the past twelve years and been sucked back in. I used to hang out on Orson Scott Card's Writers Workshops years ago (as 'Inkwell'). I guess that's where I started really thinking about submissions, rejections, and publication in general. Got a lot of that new writer awkwardness out of the way there (let's face it...they chewed me up and spit me out until I was just a piece of wordsmithing gristle).
Submitted to the Writers of the Future contest around that time...year 2000, I think it was. They lost the submission in the mailroom and sent me a nice letter two years later, asking what I wanted done with it. I said to put it in the current quarter of the contest. Now, please bear in mind that
that story was complete drivel.
Complete. Somehow it managed to make it to the quarterfinals (I think they call it Honorable Mention, now...not entirely sure about that). I still don't know how. Maybe a secret patron paid them off just to get it that far, though I doubt the existence of such a benefactor as I haven't seen his, her, or its hand in any of my subsequent endeavors. I really haven't submitted any material since then. Decided I wasn't going to try until I felt worthy of making even the most meager attempt.
Somehow, I burned myself out about three years ago. Took eight months off from writing. Came back and wrote, of all things, a 70,000 word short novel set in the Halo (video game) universe. I mean...how stupid is that? I
knew it was stupid at the time, but I loved the characters and story so much that I was compelled to finish it. I now consider it rehabilitation and practice, if nothing else...and I did manage to find my 'voice' (such as it is) whilst writing the bloody thing (which you can find through a link in my profile, if you have a lot of free time on your hands and enormous patience and/or literary charity). I guess it's not a total loss.
Spent another 20,000 words in that universe on a novelette before calling it quits. Spec work is really a stumbling block to professional writing and publication.
Just graduated from college with a B.A. in Media Communication, Emphasis in Film Studies (to satisfy my alter ego as a screenwriter/producer/cinematographer). I've been more successful in
that regard than my speculative fiction writing. Then again, I have this potent aversion to submitting anything. A strange condition I am desperately trying to exorcise this summer.
Current status? Active. Like that volcano at the end of the film...uh...
Volcano. Not doing anything
yet, but definitely brooding. Oh yes.
Looking to submit to some e-zine markets this year. Perhaps Baen's Universe, IGMS,
et al. Print isn't out of the question, either. It's all a matter of how much material I can crank out and polish.
90% motivation, 10% perspiration, 11.48% inspiration, 400% caffeine, 2% glycerin, and
voila...coherent garbage. (Did I mention I'm terrible at math?)
C'est la vie.
~J. D.
