sovay: (Default)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2014-09-04 03:33 am

She hears the heels of the dripping ghosts that ride the rough roof-beam

I have never been good at writing bios. My very earliest ones were dreadful. I don't think I stopped using the line about addiction to folklore and dead languages until 2010. Eventually I weeded out the awkward bits; I found a formula that worked and I stuck with it. Aqueduct Press did not want a formulaic bio from me. On being asked to provide a "chatty bio," I froze and wrote absolutely nothing usable until four in the morning a few nights ago, at the end of a lengthy e-mail chain, when my brain decided it was too tired to care.

Sonya Taaffe never knows what to say about herself when asked for a bio.

Additionally, Ghost Signs is now listed under Forthcoming Publications.

This is good writing news.
genarti: Knees-down view of woman on tiptoe next to bookshelves (Default)

[personal profile] genarti 2014-09-04 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh god, writing bios is the worst. I'm awful at it. But I like the result of your exhausted labors here!

(Anonymous) 2014-09-04 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That bio is excellent! And accurate. That's what makes it so excellent, really.;)

[identity profile] ashlyme.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 10:29 am (UTC)(link)
For what it's worth, I like this new bio very much - there's stuff here I never knew about! Good news about Ghost Signs too.

I loathe writing the damned things; I always think they sound boring or smug. Given the choice, I'd rather write a story instaed.

[identity profile] shewhomust.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 10:38 am (UTC)(link)
Getting writers to write is the hardest part of my job, and that goes double for getting them to write bios (is that a plural?).

[identity profile] alankria.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
Now this is the good kind of writing news, indeed! As I've said before, I immensely look forward to buying and reading Ghost Signs. Collected Sonya poetry! More, yes!

And I am very flattered and glad to see my anthology listed there.

[identity profile] lauradi7.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 11:47 am (UTC)(link)
I have been remiss about Neal Stephenson. I suppose I'll have to read him now, to track you down.

[identity profile] sartorias.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 12:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Yay, congratulations!

[identity profile] tithenai.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 01:49 pm (UTC)(link)
The sea is important to her. So are the dead. So is being alive.

This is a poem in and of itself.

[identity profile] captainecchi.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm reminded of Douglas Hofstadter's claim that he speaks pi languages :)

I'm hella impressed by your bio, incidentally. You really are writing stuff only you could write.

[identity profile] teenybuffalo.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I share that sense of discomfort with writing bios; it's hard for me not to fall back on one-liners I have seen in other people's author bios. The one you just finished looks really good to me, fwiw.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't know the archery fact. Excellent. And I highly approve of your last three sentences.

And nice to see your book in Forthcoming Publications!
gwynnega: (lordpeter mswyrr)

[personal profile] gwynnega 2014-09-04 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
It is an excellent bio. I am so looking forward to this book!
umadoshi: (kittens - Claudia - pensive)

[personal profile] umadoshi 2014-09-05 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
The resulting bio is great, though!

[identity profile] handful-ofdust.livejournal.com 2014-09-04 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
That bio is excellent! And accurate. That's what makes it so excellent, really.;)

[identity profile] ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com 2014-09-05 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent bio! I have trouble writing mine as well.

Additionally, Ghost Signs is now listed under Forthcoming Publications.

Hurrah! Congratulations!