{"id":711,"date":"2012-01-20T03:47:58","date_gmt":"2012-01-20T03:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress65\/?p=711"},"modified":"2012-01-20T03:47:58","modified_gmt":"2012-01-20T03:47:58","slug":"being-older-newer-writer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/being-older-newer-writer\/","title":{"rendered":"On Being an Old(er), New(er) Writer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or, brief thoughts on my 2nd year of Campbell Award eligibility.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nHow can someone this old be a new<\/u> writer?<\/em><\/p>\n

\nThis is what comes from having second or third careers: the experience of once again being “new” at something. It’s actually a pretty familiar feeling for me, having gone from assignment to assignment in the Air Force … especially since so many of my assignments were wildly different from one another. But it’s also odd to be pushing 50 years of age and yet be a newbie.*<\/p>\n

But when it comes to this science fiction and fantasy writing game, I feel newer than new.<\/p>\n

I’ve made some progress with the writing thing: to date I’ve published five short stories in the genre, with two more on the way this year. I’m pleased with that, and in some respects I’ve reached a level of success I wasn’t sure I would ever achieve. But I know I have a very<\/u> long way to go, so much so that it seems unreal that my limited success has placed me in my second** year of eligibility for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you visit the Campbell Award page via that last link and scroll down, you’ll see all the Campbell-eligible authors listed. I am in some wonderful company, as I know several of the writers who are both first- and second-year eligibles. Everyone eligible has the option of putting together a personal profile with a bio and such, and I have my own Campbell Award profile<\/a>, too. In a few months we’ll find out who received enough nominations to go on the final ballot. (I may receive a nomination or two, and I’m grateful to the folks who brought my name up this past weekend at illogiCon<\/a>, but I feel that most of the others on the list have better credentials for being on the ballot than I do.)<\/p>\n

The whole thing — the publishing success as well as the award eligibility — seems very strange, as if it’s happening to someone else and I’m just spectating. I wonder how long it will take for that feeling to wear off, if it ever does. Because not only do I know that I’m still very new at this, but I feel as if I’ll be “new” at it for years to come.<\/p>\n

And maybe that’s not all bad. In the same vein as “you’re as young as you feel,” maybe I can get away with continuing to feel “new” at this science fiction game for a long, long time.<\/p>\n

___
\n*Holy moley, am I really that<\/u> old? It used to be that I was younger than I looked. Maybe I still am.
\n**And final!<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Eternal Rose Photography, 2010.<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>by <\/span>\"feather\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or, brief thoughts on my 2nd year of Campbell Award eligibility. How can someone this old be a new writer? This is what comes from having second or third careers: the experience of once again being “new” at something. It’s actually a pretty familiar feeling for me, having gone from \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,164],"class_list":["post-711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-air-force","tag-fantasy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grayrinehart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}