Introduction - Dawn Burnell

Hiya! *wave*

My name is Dawn Burnell. I'm 24 years old and attending my second WorldCon this year and have been okayed as a guest author for this N4 live blog. So, I'll tell you a little about myself so you know what to expect from my posts covering the con.

I'm a "budding" writer of SF/F. Which is to say, I've written several stories, earn more than several rejections, but have yet to be published for my fiction. I have been published for book reviews in Locus under my maiden name Dawn Castner. I was lucky enough to score a summer job working with Charles Brown and crew in 2000 while I was on break from UC Davis. It was a wonderful experience and it is all Charles' fault that I attended my first WorldCon: ConJose, since it was in my backyard in California.

At that Con, I decided that WorldCons needed to become a regular event in my life. After all, it is the who's who of the field and I wanted to become one of those Whos. My husband [we'd been married a whole month at that point] made me the following deal: I could buy an installment plan for Norescon4 and plan to go. BUT if I had not sent out at least two new stories to pro paying markets, I would have to sell the memberships in May of 2002.

Fast forward two years: I sent a novel proposal out in response to a Wizards of the Coast (WotC) open novel call in June of 2001. My husband was kind enough to count that. If I had garnered the novel, I would have been counted for both credits. However, my proposal was not selected.

I cut the line a little fine, due to my perfectionist nature, and sent out a short story to F&SF on April 20, 2002. And got a rejection a week later. I do enjoy John Joseph Adam's response time. That story has gone on to another glorious rejection and is currently out somewhere else. I have learned: Send it out, send it out, send it out.

I was also an attendee of the 2004 Strange Horizons Summer Workshop this year. I met many wonderful people there, including Mary Anne Mohanraj and Jay Lake, who were the editors in residence. They are also two people who I expect to hang out with at N4. I've volunteered to help Mary Anne work the SLF table and be a member of Jay's Greek Chorus [shh... don't ask, I'll tell you later].

I will also be attending many panels, with an eye toward anything useful to a new writer trying to break into the field. If you have never attended con and always wanted to, I'm a good eye for you. I'm still new, I'm still walking in with my eyes wide open and my jaw hanging down. I mean, c'mon. I'll get to meet (see) Terry Prachett!!!! I'm also a good guide for any burgeoning writers as I will share what I learn her. And heck, I like to think I'm fun to read.

Leave me a comment to let me know if you have any requests. I'll be arriving Thursday night, signing up for the KaffeKlatch with Ellen Datlow and Michelle West, and then... well, we'll see where the program takes us.

Dawn