The entire blog A Writing Life is one long “about the author”, so this is mostly a summary.
When I was a farm kid, I built barns and granaries, drove tractors, herded cattle (afoot, we couldn’t afford a horse), shoveled grain, and repaired farm machinery, all alongside my dad, of course. Then I was a college student, trim carpenter, cabinet maker, surgical tech at a Naval hospital, college student, writer, college student, county Red Cross director, college student, middle school science teacher (27 years), writer, and now blogger – pretty much in that order, with some overlap.
No, I wasn’t a bad student who kept quitting. I finished every program I started. I have a BS in Anthropology from Michigan State, an MA in Social Science from the University of Chicago, and a second BA and MA in History from California State, Stanislaus that I got while I was writing full time. When it became apparent that I was going to starve as a writer, I went back to the University of the Pacific long enough to attach a teaching credential onto everything else.
I am ridiculously overeducated, and I loved every minute of getting that way.
Over forty years, I have written nine novels and innumerable parts of novels, many of them unfinished rather than abandoned. My first publication was a novella in Galaxy, followed by novels from Ballantine and Pocket Books, one of which was published in German translation. My latest novel Cyan, is out now from EDGE, and available on Amazon.
I’ve done everything a writer can do except make a living. Now I am a blogger – but only sort of. A Writing Life is not made up of day to day ruminations, but of polished mini-essays on all the things that have made me the kind of writer I am.
Serial is just what it’s name implies, some of my work made available in serial form.
I see my task in the metaphor of a baker standing outside his business with a plateful of donuts, giving them away and saying, “There are even better things for sale inside.”
A Writing Life 
Boy, have I missed you … now, at least, I can get my Syd fix virtually! xoxo K
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Syd! I wondered if I could ‘dig you up?’ as I’ve been ruminating on our brief careers in that business in Bay City. Happy to find you here, and find you here as a writer, with a long and winding path, which I can certainly relate to. I’ll be back to read some more… hoping this finds you well! You can find me at http://www.storyconnection.com and blogging on wordpress at storytellerscampfire.com
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Hi Bob — unless you are Liz — since one of your urls led me to a dual website, the other to a single owner site, and you didn’t sign your note.
I assume “dig me up” and a mention of Bay City was your way of making sure I was the person you remembered. I probably am, since I was there doing salvage archaeology in 1967 and again all summer of 1968. What was your connection, since I don’t remember the name Kanegis.
Syd Logsdon
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YEs, that was me Syd…summer of 1968 and the beginning of 1969 season… along with Mike Seraphinoff (still a good friend) and Eric Skidmore (who followed me up to Alaska and floated the length of the Yukon with me… stayed there until his death last year… Bill Lovis, and Bob Maimfort also on that crew… maybe I”m missing someone. Moreau Maxwell called us all dilletantes… I remember that well… I think I might have taken it as a badge of honor. It was interesting to read about your farm life before MSU.
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Now that I have the story straight, here is more on my half of it. In 1967, Bill Lovis and I and three others whose names I can’t remember were on survey all over north-western Michigan. Our last two weeks, the call came in to MSU to salvage the Fletcher site and we were the crew available. It was a huge hurry up job since we were waiting for the bulldozers to empty out a basin to catch sand that was going to be dredged up from the Saginaw River to deepen the channel. Instead, the site was so rich that it was diked off and made into a field school. I was there the second year as well.
Bill Lovis (now Doctor) became a major force in archaeology at MSU; Bob Mainfort, who was also my college roommate, got his doctorate and spent his career in Arkansas. You know what happened to me because you have seen my blog.
It’s rare but fun to get this kind of blast from the past. Thanks.
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Hello,
This is a bit of a long-shot, but I’m doing a lot of research on Judy-Lynn del Rey of Del Rey Books, and I see that you published your first novel with them, Jandrax. Would you be willing to answer a few questions?
Best,
Dennis
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I know little about Judy-Lynn del Rey but I am willing to share what I know. Send me details of who you are, what you are trying to do, and what you want to know, then give me a bit to check my files. I am in the middle of another project now, so expect a few weeks delay.
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Thank you so much! I’m an academic at the University of Arizona, and I’m studying SFF publishing in the 1970s/1980s. My current book is about Del Rey/Ballantine, in particular its editors, Lester and Judy-Lynn. I’m particularly keen to know about your interactions with DRB (was it with Judy-Lynn? Owen Lock?) and any information you could provide. If there’s any surviving correspondence …. well, that may be a pipedream, but I’ve lucked out with a few author’s I’ve asked.
At heart, though, I”m just trying to get the clearest idea possible of DRB’s operations, its editorial philosophy, its tastes in books, and anything else. For instance, as Jandrax a slush pile submission? What was the acceptance letter like? Were there any changes required? That sort of thing.
Much appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from you again. My email is dwwise [at] arizona dot edu.
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Hi Dennis, I tried to reply and my computer said:
“dwwise@arizona.edu.” does not appear to be a valid email address. Verify the address and try again.
I will try again as soon as I hear from you what is wrong.
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