Working On A New Bio....

[lagilman]

Which is harder than it seems/should be.  What do you leave in?  What do you take out?  How many versions do you have? (some places have a 100 words requirement, others 250, some 500…)

What do you want to see in a bio?  How far out do you want to know about upcoming books/how old is too old for information to be included?  Mention pets, or don’t mention pets?

Here’s the one I sent to various conventions for 2014:

Laura Anne Gilman is the Nebula-nominated author of the “Vineart War” trilogy, the popular Cosa Nostradamus books, and the forthcoming “Devil’s West” series (Simon & Schuster, 2015). She also writes mysteries under the name L.A. Kornetsky (COLLARED, FIXED and the forthcoming DOGHOUSE), and has been known to sell the occasional short story or three. A former editor for Penguin, she now runs d.y.m.k. productions, an editorial/writing service, and keeps herself busy splitting her time between writing, editing, and traveling.

When I’m acting directly as L.A. Kornetsky I mention the animals, because hey, writing an animal-featuring mystery series!  But do CatofSize and the Kitten of Thursday and the Time-Share Puppy belong in LAG’s bio? (of course they think so…)

Originally published at Writer, Editor, Tired Person.

Comments

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I'd mention them en passant in your how-you-spend-time sentence.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I look upon petless writers with suspicion.. grin.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

I agree with etcet: mention them in passing.

[g33kboi.livejournal.com]

I recently had to write a brief bio for work. I made sure to mention that I am the obedient minion of two cats. I'm sure if I hadn't the repercussions would have been grim.