Comments on: Guest Post: The Monster in the Laundry Basket: Part Two http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/ Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Sun, 19 May 2013 20:02:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Melanie Lamaga http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/#comment-145733 Melanie Lamaga Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:20:57 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29448#comment-145733 I love what you said, “their path is not your path.” When we are living authentically we can’t trade a single step because everything teaches and makes us who we are, which in turn informs our work. Remembering and being grateful for that is sometimes all we need to escape the jealousy trap.

]]> By: Liz Argall http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/#comment-144120 Liz Argall Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:19:26 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29448#comment-144120 I often feel anxiety one of jealousy’s constant companions. I think I was 14 when I first looked at an author’s age for their first book and thought ‘I need to make it bigger than Dylan Thomas in under 6 years’… which has clearly not happened.

My best weapon against jealousy is looking at history. History can be a source of anxiety (aka Dylan Thomas), but I find comfort in examining cohorts as a whole.

The world is full of amazing people who knew each other _before_ they were famous and amazing. Poets that all went to the same cafe, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie sharing a crappy flat with Emma Thompson dropping in to steal their tea.

So by my calculations, every time someone I know gets success, my chances of being successful go up. We succeed as a cohort. When a Science Fiction book reaches a new audience all Science Fiction gets a boost… and lets hope there’s lots of other books and short stories that reward the new audience for their time.

I certainly feel jealousy, but I also feel excited. I feel like, yes, we are winning and shaping the fabric of the universe. Bwahahahahah… and selfishly if my friend wins that makes more space for me to win too.

I get more upset when stuff I think is brilliant doesn’t get love… that I get really pouty about. Damn you universe, I want to feel jealous of my friends, I don’t want my friends overlooked!

]]> By: Liz Argall http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/#comment-144117 Liz Argall Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:13:58 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29448#comment-144117 I often feel anxiety one of jealousy’s constant companions. I think I was 14 when I first looked at an author’s age for their first book and thought ‘I need to make it bigger than Dylan Thomas in under 6 years’… which has clearly not happened.

My best weapon against jealousy is looking at history. History can be a source of anxiety (aka Dylan Thomas), but I find comfort in examining cohorts as a whole.

The world is full of amazing people who knew each other _before_ they were famous and amazing. Poets that all went to the same cafe, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie sharing a crappy flat with Emma Thompson dropping in to steal their tea.

So by my calculation, every time someone I know

]]> By: J. D. Brink http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/#comment-142052 J. D. Brink Mon, 03 Dec 2012 20:16:55 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29448#comment-142052 The timing on my reading this was perfect, as I happen to be at one of those confidence-waning slopes of the on-going, painful cycle of the would-be writer. I just had a story come out a few days ago and something in me couldn’t figure out why i wasn’t instantly an independently wealthy and successful writer with no further need for a day job. That’s ridiculous, of course, but you know what I mean. Thanks, I needed this little bit of reassurance.

]]> By: Jonathan Vos Post http://www.sfwa.org/2012/11/guest-post-the-monster-in-the-laundry-basket-part-two/#comment-141895 Jonathan Vos Post Sun, 02 Dec 2012 21:18:43 +0000 http://www.sfwa.org/?p=29448#comment-141895 To some of us it IS Rocket Science. Besides me, my deservedly better known colleagues (living and life-challenged) such as Sir Arthur C. Clarke, Dr. David Brin, Dr. Robert Forward, Dr. Geoffrey Landis, Dr. Charles Sheffield, Robert Anson Heinlein (spacesuit-designer), Buzz Aldrin… We all learned collegiality (where cooperation trumps competition) in NASA, Air Force, Navy, university, or similar venues. Not that all Science Fiction and Fantasy needs rockets in it. But it is true that Dr. Milton Rothman structured the modern Worldcon on the model of the annual meetings of the American Physical Society (hotel, badges, mult-track programming) as he explained to me at his Princeton Plasma Physics lab in 1962. My ghod, 50 years ago.

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