Well, it's been a difficult year for me, but I have one thing to be very thankful for--we have a new Writer Beware team member! His name is Richard White, and he's a SFWA member. He's spent the last six months or so "apprenticing" and getting up to speed on Writer Beware matters, and he's now ready to fly solo, I assure you. Rich will be helping out when Victoria and I are unavailable, and we're still trying to think of ways to transfer some of the email volume to him. In addition, he'll be available to answer questions from folks here on the blog, and on message boards. He'll be taking on projects of his own as they crop up.
And, no doubt, he'll soon win the ultimate "accolade" for a Writer Beware team member--having some agent get foaming at the mouth mad at him, and bluster online. Fun and games!
Seriously, it's great to have another team member. Rich will also be helping us by serving on panels at s.f. and fantasy conventions. So many aspiring writers have first encountered Writer Beware via panels at conventions.
So please join me in welcoming Rich!
-Ann C. Crispin
Chair, Writer Beware
I asked Rich to give you a little background on himself, and here's what he sent me.
Hi, I'm Rich White, the newest member of Writer Beware. I'm a fairly new novelist but I've been following the workings of Writer Beware for a while now. I joined SFWA two years ago and offered my services to Writer Beware earlier this spring.
One of the things I think I bring to WB besides a lot of enthusiasm and tenacity (both of which are definitely needed for this job) is 15+ years training as an Analyst in the Military. I hope to be able to help Victoria and Ann spot trends that we see in the database as well as noting when things are "a little too quiet". I'm also a tech writer at my day job, so doing formal papers and reports is definitely up my alley.
As I said, I'm fairly new at the writing gig, but I do have one novel (Gauntlet Dark Legacy: Paths of Evil), a novella (Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #63 "Echoes of Coventry"), and a few short stories under my belt. I do not currently have an agent, but I'm certainly taking advantage of the information at Writer Beware as well as other sites like Preditors and Editors before I send out my queries.
As I joked with Ann at Capclave, right now, I see myself as the gofer for the team right now, but I expect to take on more responsibilities as I get more comfortable with the mission. I look forward to working with some of you and for all of you in the future.
Rich
Website: www.nightwolfgraphics.com/
Blog: nightwolfwriter.livejournal.com/