Miscellaneous items - women and the Hugos, SFWA and update

[catherineldf]

Terrific post by Cheryl Morgan on the Feminist SF blog about getting more women writers and artists and editors on the Hugo Ballot - http://blogs.feministsf.net/?p=1320 
Please read and link and follow through if you can and pass it on.

Am debating on whether or not to rejoin SFWA. The current ticket  (Scalzi, Kowal, Sterling, etc.) is very tempting and could actually shake things up in a good way. I resigned my active membership a couple of years back due to a whole slew of issues including, but not limited to, sexual harassment and the lack of policy against such, the treehouse mentality that says that the organization must be kept as small and not particularly useful as possible, the endless infighting and the lack of clue that there are publishers and publications outside the magic circle of Tor, Baen, Penguin, and whoever the lucky 4th is on any given day.
I'm trying to decide just how relevant the organization is to me, which is not the same as saying it's not relevant to other people. Should I or shouldn't I - thoughts?

Spent Sunday wrestling with a nifty combo of Hell Cold and a migraine, after quality time with friends on Friday and Saturday. Sigh. This month could be over soon, really.
On the bright side, I'm finally unstuck on a story I've been poking at off and on for a year now so new fiction is happening on all fronts, including Silver Moon. Yay!
 

Comments

SFFWA

[tagwn.livejournal.com]

I'm still pissed at their voteabout 15 years ago to not count poetry towards being a member . Even if I ever to qualify otherwise I probably wouldn't join.
On the other hand, I'm glad your story unstuck.

Re: SFFWA

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if they would take a clue from RWA and at least set up tiered memberships. RWA has catchall categories for publishing/bookselling/librarian professionals who aren't romance novelists, which come to think of it, are also open to fans. This is turn makes RWA the largest writers' org, I believe. With 1/87th the circling of the wagons to keep out 'intruders' like poets.

[rachel-swirsky.livejournal.com]

1) Scalzi, Kowal, Howe, and Sterling-Casil is definitely a ticket worth supporting.

2) I would be surprised if they did not consider the sexual harassment issue.

3) I have been critical of SFWA in the past, and am still critical. However, given recent conversations with lit-folks, I have come to the conclusion that SFWA plays an invaluable role in creating a norm wherein science fiction writers are paid for their short story work. I find that very important, and it changes my perspective on what the organization's uses are.

[catherineldf.livejournal.com]

I believe it's in their platform, which is quite cool.
On #3, I get what you're saying. But I thought (and still think) that the .05 + a word criteria just served to make the organization smaller and less effective overall. Not to mention that the "professional" criteria are not applied in a particularly consistent manner - you can win a Nebula for a book or story published by Small Beer, for example, but that sale wouldn't qualify you for membership, as of the end of last year.
Thanks muchly for your thoughts - I will noodle on this further.

[jean-roberta.livejournal.com]

It's hard to give you advice on SFWA, not being thoroughly familiar with all the issues, but here are some questions you could consider: - Would rejoining SFWA enhance your writing career by leading to more publications or at least important connections/influence in the field? How much of your time would it take up? Is this time you can spare from other things? Have at least some of the issues which drove you away in the first place been resolved? Answers to these would prob. point you in one direction or the other.