Another Lost in Translation blurb

I’d say the writing part of writing is, inevitably, a solitary occupation often best undertaken in a cabin somewhere off in the woods (if you have access to such a thing), but most writers have connections to other writers through workshops or writing groups or correspondence or (especially in the SF and fantasy field) contact made at conventions. I first met Rob Sawyer at the annual ConVersion SF convention in Calgary, where I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know, at least a little bit, other well-known writers like Joe Haldeman, Ben Bova, Connie Willis and Allan Steele, just to name the ones that stick in my mind. And when you go to the World Science Fiction Convention, you’ve got a pretty good chance of running into…well, just about anybody. I’ve twice been on panels with Terry Pratchett, for instance. Always lots of people at those panels, but I don’t think they were there to see me… 🙂

Writers’ organizations also help keep writers from being completely solitary. SFWA in the U.S. and SF Canada in Canada are two such organizations. SF Canada exists primarily as a listserver which is pretty active, so I’m reading messages from, and occasionally posting messages to, other Canadian SF writers almost every day.

Ian,

Both. The publisher sends out something they call “solicitation copies” to gather what blurbs they may; I don’t know what if anything they’ve received yet from that effort.

I approached Rob Sawyer and Kathy Tyers directly because I know them personally and hoped they’d like the book enough to say something nice–which they did!

In Kathy’s case, we’ve known each other since long before either of us was published, through the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Workshop, a critique-by-mail (probably by email these days) organization that brings wannabe writers of SF&F together.

Kathy critiqued an early draft of Lost in Translation for me, and I think I was one of the first people to read and critique the original version of Firebird for her.