* Age when I decided I wanted to be a writer: I genuinely have no recollection of *not* intending to be a writer. I was six the first time I got published (in a school anthology).
* Age when I “wrote” my first story: Certainly not more than 8 or 9 when I first tackled something that was meant to be large-scale.
* Age when I got my hands on a typewriter: I learned to type properly on a typewriter when I was in 4th grade, so I was…*counts on fingers* 8. But I’d used a computer before that, and we had a typewriter at our house, so when I first got my *hands* on one? Who knows.
* Age when I wrote my first novel: 19. Apparently I was a late bloomer, from reading this meme on the flist. :) I started at least two or three (the first one at age 8 or 9), but I was 19 when I actually wrote one.
* Novels written between age 4 and age 34: Um. All except WALKING DEAD, so that would be…sixteen.
* Age when I first submitted a short story to a magazine: I’ve only ever submitted one. I think I was about…27.
* Thickness of file of rejection slips prior to first story sale: Far fewer than 25.
* Age when I sold my first short story: Um. 31? My first short story sale was a commissioned story for Harlequin, Ill Met by Moonlight. (after adding up other things, I must’ve been 32, because it was the summer URBAN SHAMAN came out.)
* Age when I first came close to selling a novel: I had a “sorry but we’ve stopped publishing this line” when was 25 (for IMMORTAL BELOVED) which I like to think would’ve been a sale if they hadn’t stopped publishing the line, but, y’know, there’s no actual telling. :)
* Age when I killed my first market: N/A
* Age when I was first told I had no talent (by an editor): Never, but I had one tell me I was a dangerous writer because my book proposal was entertaining enough that she forgot to look for problems.
* Age I was first told I had no talent (by a reader): Not yet.
* Age when I first sold a non-fiction book: Hain’t done that yet.
* Age when I first sold a poem: Sold? Never. Published? Age 6.
* Age when I next wrote a saleable novel: 27. I *sold* it when I was 30.
* Age when that novel was published: 32
* Age when the second saleable novel finally sold: 30 (multi-book deal), but I was 31 when I sold my second series on spec.
* Age when a work was first shortlisted for a Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy or Stoker award: To quote
* Age when the second saleable novel came out: 32
* Age when the third saleable novel came out: 32
* Age when the fourth saleable novel came out: 33
* Age when I first won a Hugo award: Haven’t yet, but that’s okay, honestly. There’s one award I want. It’s not a Hugo. Not that I’d turn a Hugo down, mind you, but it’s not the one I’m after.
* Age when I finally shut down the day-job and became a full-time novelist: If by “shut down the day job” you mean “got laid off and didn’t go back to work”, I was…33? I have a hard time remembering how old I am, much less how old I was when books came out. I sold US in Nov 2003, so I was 30. It came out in June 2005, so I was just 32. Oh. So I was 32, because it was at the end of 2005 that the web design job went away.
* Age when the money coming in matched/exceeded my previous employment: It *might* this year, if I get that last paycheck technically due me in 2008.
* Age when I returned to the day-job because of economic implosion: Not yet, and I hope never, because damn, I wouldn’t know how to do a day job anymore. o.O
* Age now: 35
* Number of books sold: 15, I think. 6 Walker Papers, 3 Old Races, 3 Strongbox, 2 Inheritors’, 2 Truthseeker. How many is that? 16! Plus “Banshee Cries”, which is a novella and which I tend to count as a book with regards to publication credits, and there’ll be a couple short stories out next year. And a graphic novel.
* Number of titles in print: 11, assuming the Strongbox Chronicles still count as ‘in print’, which I’m not entirely clear on.
* Number of titles fallen out of print: Well, that depends on what’s up with the Strongbox Chronicles. I should ask Jenn. :)
(Aside: With the mass market release of the Walker Papers, the two new books (PRETENDER’S CROWN and WALKING DEAD), the 1 or 2 anthologies, and the graphic novel, I will have 8 or 9 releases next year. Plus monthly comics for at least four months. My little mind, it boggles. o.O)
that’s all incredibly interesting. It’s amazing to think how much work one puts in to doing what they love, and how long they must go before that equates to making the same kind of money that a soul sucking day job can pay you :D This is my first year as well, where, SOMEHOW, I’m going to make more than I have from any other job I’ve ever had. Now if I could figure out a way to do EVERYTHING I want to do yet in life and still make this claim, I’m figuring I’ll be in good shape.
I’m looking at the age between when you wrote your first novel that sold and when it actually came out…27 and 32, respectively.
O.o
I’m about that age…
Ouch. Thank you. I really, really needed a healthy dose of reality, because I’m sure as hell not handing out realism packets around my own watering hole. Oi vey. Anyway, thanks.