Reading: Komarr by Lois McMaster Bujold
Music: Go Ahead PUNK, Make My Day
TV/Movie: Friends season 4
Link o' the Day: Cryptozoology: the Scientific Study of Hidden Animals

We've all done it. C'mon, admit it. You've typed your name into a search engine to see how many times you show up. It's a great form of egoboo. When Yahoo dropped the Google search engine, I decided to see how their new search engine would handle my name. Would there be any new entries?

There were a few. One interesting entry was to see me listed in a fandom index. That's not a huge surprise considering I'm involved in fandom, but it was amusing to see in the entry, "writer, artist, all-round good egg..." At last count, typing "John Teehan" will have at least one reference to me up to 40 pages deep. (If there are others past 41, I didn't check, I stopped at the first page which _didn't_ mention me.) One can learn about my personal history over the past ten years that I've been active on the internet. There's my involvement with the Retro-Computing Society of RI and my personal collection of vintage microcomputers (now much depleted), my early involvement in anime fandom (back when it was still a very underground movement), and my interests in Japanese history and language. Documents on learning Japanese that I either wrote or edited have made there way to other people's pages and seem no longer in my control. (This doesn't worry me, I didn't write them for money, and while some are a bit out-dated, it doesn't really matter.)

Then there's my handling of webpages for Mike Resnick and the Rhode Island-Japan Language and Culture Center. There are the half-dozen reviews I've written for Strange Horizons. My position with the SFWA Bulletin, and various other publications of mine in short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. There are my few fan writings and my paltry presence in fanzine fandom. Some random Usenet or mailing list posts that have been archived hiter and yon; and, of course, this webjournal.

Of the only other John Teehans of note, one is an Irish hurler, the other is a professor of philosophy someplace. (This is a bit unfair, my father (who is also John Teehan) is nowhere to be found despite his own published writings.

I suppose part of why I show up so much on search engines is because I've been online for so long, but it's neat egoboo just the same.

* * *
In a passing fit of wondering if I'll ever make it as a writer, I've been exploring the careers of other new writers. (No, I won't name them here--they're new, and you know most of their names. It won't do to air specific comparisons here.) I'm somewhat heartened to see that most of these "emerging" writers have actually been in the throes of writing and rejection for _years_ before making any sort of recognizable name for themselves. (I write not for ego, but because I like to, and want to, write--but I won't deny that feeding the ego helps quite a lot. Let's be honest with ourselves, shall we?)

What I concluded was that in some arenas, I'm having a typical career. In others, I'm even a little ahead of the game. My first professional sales were made barely a year after I tackled professional writing in earnest. Most others went through several years before doing such. The fact that I had a bit of a dry spell, sales-wise, is typical, but I can tell by the quality of rejection slips that I'm making significant progress. I'm far from being a "name" writer, but I'm doing well. I have faith in myself. I have faith in my writing.

That's what counts most.

* * *
Here's an idea I'm going to toss out into the aether. Hey... you writers out there. I've been inspired by a fellow fanzine fan who is organizing a digital APA and am thinking of putting together a writers' digital APA. What this will be is a monthly publication made up of pieces written by members, collated into either a PDF file or text file. Imagine a round-robin newsletter.

It works like this:

Each member would submit an essay, story draft, rambling monologue, what-have-you on a set day of a month.
The OE (Official Editor--this is a rotating duty, usually every year) would receive these files, collate them into a single document--perhaps write an introduction and a Table of Contents, and then distribute the full document to all the members of the APA

Members can respond individually to writers, or to the APA itself in the next issue.

Minimum activity would be something like "at least one contribution every three months. (Ideal participation is every month, but hey--we have other things going on as well.

There are other details, but that's the basic gist of it. If anyone is interested, please contact me either here or at my e-mail address.

* * *
Today's link comes courtesy of a discussion I stumbled across online that referred to Cryptozoology: the Scientific Study of Hidden Animals. These folks not only discuss, analyze, and debate such critters of Sasquatch and The Loch Ness Monster, but also discuss sightings of extinct animals, endangered species, unusual animal sightings, and oddball theories. It's a very diverse group and the page makes for some fun browsing and reading.

Enjoy!