zoom

It's been a bit hectic, and I have to write a short comic about Jack Kirby and the Eternals for Entertainment Weekly before I can go to sleep (sleep for four hours, get up, pack, leave for the airport). It's been a wonderful Festival and I wish I could hang about and enjoy myself more. Today I did a panel with the extremely wonderful Audrey Niffenegger, which I think will show up on the web somewhere. I met Sherman Alexie and went off into fullblown babbling fanboy mode, and was thrilled that Sherman Alexie seemed equally as happy to be meeting me. I had a marvellous time. I wish Australia was nearer...

My thanks, as always, to the Campbell clan.

Hi Neil, I LOVE your work.
I have been writing for the past six years ever since in high school and I'm scared that since I'm young editors would steal my work, what do you suggest?
Thanks,
Becky Stoehr

That you stop worrying. Editors want to discover cool new talent. They aren't going to steal your stuff -- they just want to see if it's good enough to publish.

It's not that there aren't crooks out there -- I see from Making Light that "agent" (she's one of the 20 worst) Barbara Bauer is still causing trouble for decent folk -- but if you are sending your work to a legitimate publisher or magazine, you won't ever have any problems with people stealing your work. Your task at this point in your career is simply to get your work out there into the world.

The Twenty Worst Agents list, by the way, is now up at http://www.sfwa.org/beware/twentyworst.html.