Author and freelancer - the juggling act

This one falls in the ODDyssey category. I now have a new and improved back, but no job. I think I mentioned here before that the magazine I worked for couldn't wait while I had surgery and recovered from same. They were already down one writer.

I figured it was meant to be. Now I can go freelance like I wanted to do in the first place (but couldn't because we needed the benefits) while on unemployment and subsidized COBRA. Yesterday I spent an hour composing a proposal at elance.com only to have the job awarded while I was typing. Very frustrating. Why is it that no one wants to pay artists what their worth, by the way?

And I just paid $15 to have my employment verified. Why did I do that? Can't people just google and find that stuff? Harumph. I did it because I need to get noticed. That's all I've been doing for the past six years when I haven't been writing. I'm not vain. I know it's not enough to be a good writer. You have to be seen and get connected. But all of that was for my fiction, which, face it, until I hit the bestseller lists won't pay the bills by itself.

Hopefully, I can juggle both without developing a multiple personality disorder. Enough whining. On to science fiction.

Anyone who has been following me for long knows I love lists. So does Brian Gilmore over at Ranker. He sent me this one: Top 10 TV Shows That Overstayed Their Welcome. It fits here because many of them are speculative in nature. Of course, I think there are even more that were cut before their time - Firefly, Invasion, Torchwood and Jericho come immediately to mind. I still miss Max Headroom. That was British - from the 80s I think.

The discussion about Romance and Sci-fi rages on over at Tor where Heather Massey quotes my recent entry on the subject.

And because I love it when people send me stuff, especially when it isn't a request to review a book in a different genre, and like to give artists a break, here is an independent film for your enjoyment entitled The People Outside.



vote it up!

Great Resources for Published Authors

I hate to just link and run, usually, but this was such a terrific find that I had to share. Enter the Octopus is the blog of Matt Stagg's , who is a publicist for the arts.

I especially enjoyed this post: Long Live the New Flesh: the internet, tribalism and book publicity.

I found him when I was going through my backlog of some 30 "Science Fiction Book Review" google alerts.

Just a reminder and to any new readers, visit my site for book reviews and where to find a reviewer: Ann Wilkes' Science Fiction Reviews List.

Shall I give you one more? Can you take it? There was great stuff over at Contrary Brin. When he puts together one of his link lists is mostly fascinating stuff to do with science and science fiction. And if you haven't read his books, you're really missing out. He's one of my all time faves. Especially the Uplift War series and Practice Effect.