SFWA! – Raven Oak

SFWA!

When I was very young, I fell into fantastical worlds the way a young girl yearns for a pony (which I also loved!). I devoured films like Legend, Willow, Red Sonja, and Labyrinth. It wasn’t until I was twelve that I discovered the classics of science fiction & fantasy books, such as those by Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov.

Imagine a twelve year old me stumbling upon some of these greats online before the Internet was properly the Internet. As our limited hours allowed, I’d log into GEnie, a BBS that had a board for SFWA members and SF/F readers to connect. Talking with authors and other readers painted a very vivid picture in mind of what I thought the life of an author was like.

I’ve been published since 2015, but some days, I still don’t feel like an author. I’m not hugely famous (most authors aren’t), I only have a handful of books out (if I don’t count anthologies), and my royalty checks/payments definitely place me in the earlier part of my career than the latter. Most days, I’m fine with this–writing is a marathon, and every day I’m closer to achieving my goals and dreams–but some days it’s difficult to remember why I write.

Today is NOT a difficult day!

When I was twelve and writing my first full-length novel, I had two goals (besides get published):
1) Have my cover art painted by Michael Whelan
2) Sell enough stories to gain membership into SFWA, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America

Sadly, Michael Whelan retired, so goal #1 is quite unlikely–though we’re Facebook friends so never say never. But today, I received my official welcome email congratulating me on my acceptance into SFWA!

Yep, that was me earlier today. I spent a good few hours randomly bursting into tears. This is one of those huge, bucket list items for most SF/F authors. Achievement unlocked!

This also opens so many doors for me–ones I know I haven’t even thought about or realized yet–so I’m looking forward to the rest of 2018 and the rest of my writing future!


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



^