MY FIRST SALE!

[ljgeoff]

I just got notification that Astropoetica has accepted one of my poems: ...if it is still available, we would be delighted to publish "String Theory" in Astropoetica.

I've had some work printed in the university newspaper, and another gratis piece that a local artsy magazine printed, but this is my first sale.

I can't stop smiling!

Also, Help!

"Please provide us with a brief bio to be published with your work."

Comments

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

How wonderful! Congratulations!

[viper-486.livejournal.com]

OMG!
Lis, this is WONDERUL!
Congrats!

(and I cant wait to get your autograph!)

[firecat]

Yaaaaaay!

(You can get an idea by looking at the other poets' bios.)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

Hrm. Bios are fun to write when you don't *really* know the person. How about:

"ljgeoff was raised by a roving pack of nomadic disc jockeys who had discovered her in a basket wrapped in a newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska in 1963. She is currently employed as a garden gnome in International Falls, Minnesota, where she spends her free time training for a new Olympic sport which combines karate and skydiving."

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

This is what I sent:

ljgeoff was recently fired from her gas station attendent job for writing poetry while on the job. She is currently attending nursing school, turning in physiology quizes and chemistry lab data sheets with strange bits of poetry on the backs or in the margins. Lisa makes her home in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This is her first published work of poetry.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

That's probably better for their purposes, yeah. :) I think i'll have to steal the blurb I wrote above for other uses, though. *grin*

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

Question: As an editor, what do you think of the SF-author gender issue, specifically, females writing with male pseudonyms or using their initials only? I've never been much attached to the name "Lisa". I was thinking of publishing under L.J. Geoff, since a lot more people know me by that than the long form. But now I'm feeling that though it might be practical if I want to sell books, disguising my sex and gender is a copout.

Your thoughts?

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

As an editor, I think that authors should write under whatever name they like. I'm not certain that, in the SF&F genre, it actually matters anymore, though it certainly did back when Alice Sheldon and Alice Norton adopted masculine names in order to get published. If you're writing in the romance field, I'm pretty sure a feminine name is still pretty much necessary, but in SF, there's enough big name female authors writing unambiguously under their own names* that I don't expect it matters.

In short, do what feels right. I don't think it'll hinder your chances in 2007 if people know you're a female.

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

This is good!

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

Wow! Congratulations!