As long time readers of this journal know, I have vacillated on whether I would join SFWA or not when the time finally came for me to join SFWA. On Monday, I took $80 and spent it on my Associate Membership.
BTW, have you bought YOUR copy of The Mammoth Book of Dieselpunk yet? Have you read Mountains of Green? If enough of you haven’t, I might be living a lie, so you might save me from myself and get out there and buy that book. Constable and Robinson thank you, and I thank you.
Okay, so SFWA. I belong to a union at work, the NEA, our state version the ISEA, and our local Kirkwood Faculty Association. As a matter of fact, I am this year’s President Elect, which means next year I’ll be President. Again. I did this in 2002-2003 in the salad days of my youth. So, I know that SFWA is NOT a union, but it is the closest thing that authors have to a union. It’s more like a solidarity organization for writers with a bit of clout in the strength of the membership.
It’s also seen a fair amount of news-covered controversy in the last few years, including that of the opinions of the few being represented as the opinions of the many (as Spock might put it). SFWAis growing and changing and expanding its ranks, and there are inevitable cultural changes and growing pains. Still, some of these stretch marks were unsightly, and I have enough work-related angst to know I didn’t want that in my life, so I was certain I would welcome SFWA into my life.
Reasons I’ve heard to do it and not do it.
1. All the cool kids are doing it. I’m cool, but I don’t need SFWA to tell me I’m cool. I don’t even need publishing to tell me I’m cool. Which is cool, because publishing doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to validate my coolness.
2. SFWA does nothing productive and the forums are toxic. Well, so far, the forums are remarkably quiet, although several nice people have welcomed me on. But maybe I’m not seeing the super secret toxic parts. And I’ve heard tell of toxicity, so there’s that.
3. SFWA is an antiquated organization full of dinosaurs. There are dinosaurs. There’s also some evolution. If I join, I think I’m one less dinosaur, although if I were a dinosaur, I’d like to be an augustasaurus, because have you seen the augustasaurus
4. SFWA now lets in self-pubbers. Inasmuch as I am not an augustasaurus, I am also not a self-published author. But I do appreciate the idea that SFWA becomes less elitist.
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So I’m committed for this year. We’ll see. I would be interested to see if SFWA sends any opportunities for work my way in terms of publishing, and I approve of its current officers. But this is an experiment. Experiments can fail as well as succeed. Let the professional affiliation commence.
Tomorrow, if I have time, you can expect me to talk about my weight loss. Or weight gain. Or more accurately, my weight loss and weight gain. I am ready to start being accountable about the health battle. I’ve lost a little ground since I haven’t been. Also, I want to talk to you about some great books I have read recently.
