About

Earlier today, I was lamenting to Yori that my about page was blank. Whenever I’d sit down to write something for it, I’d just sit there and I’d stare. I couldn’t get anything going. How do you really start writing about yourself?

Yori, who is also a science fiction fan, replied, “Just start at the beginning. You know, when you were cloned, where your home planet is. Stuff like that.” I couldn’t help but laugh. It’s a great way to start a page such as this.

I started seriously writing around 2001. I’d always written on and off before that point, but I think everyone has written a story or two in their lives. We’re all inherently storytellers. When we recall an evening to friends, we’re telling a story. I consider 2001 the year I started writing seriously because it was the year I sat down to write for an audience. I wrote for the intention of selling to a market.

Not coincidentally, it was also the year that I applied for and was accepted to Clarion West. I’d applied thinking that it would be a fun thing to do for six weeks. It’s like when I sign up for an art class or a dance class. I never thought about going pro with it. It was, more or less, a hobby. However, my experience in Seattle showed me that I could do this for a living. My stories weren’t very good by any means. It wasn’t that I thought that I could sell everything I wrote. It was that we did very little else other than writing. We woke up, talked about writing, wrote our stories, read each others stories and in between, we ate a bit and maybe went to a party or two. I hadn’t believed I could write for so many hours. The fact that I did convinced me to pursue a career in writing. I could see myself doing this twenty years from now.

Since then, I’ve attended several writers conventions, participated on panels, and sold a short story to a professional market. Even though I’ve had my crises of faith now and again and real life sometimes intrudes on my writing time, this is something that I always return to when things settle down. And hopefully, this short list of writing accomplishments is just the beginning of a long career.

See you in the future.

S. Ling