Why Bother?

I have two friends who have been, over the past six or seven years, been role models of one kind or another in the writing life: Charlie Finlay and Tobias Buckell. I met Charlie on the Lois Bujold Mailing List, way back in the day, and he introduced me to Toby a few years later at ConFusion. Both of them, at the time I met them, were ahead of me on the serious writing road, and both served as significant inspiration for me. Especially Toby, that rat, who was younger than me and seemed to be wired tight and ready to roll, way more than I am, even now.

So to see that both of them have sort of rejected SFWA is, for me, very instructive. I’m not saying I won’t join when it’s time, but… well, I’ve been eligible for several months and all I’ve had to put together the paperwork and pony up the fees.

But I haven’t, and the reasons Charlie and Toby give are a big part of why. Not that they themselves have dissuaded me, but just that we’re in agreement over what seems to be wrong. And sometimes, as in Toby’s case, you just have to say no to the extra drama, the aggravation, and so on.

The flip side of the coin is that I’m having a hard time figuring out why I should join. A lot of what I might find for myself in SFWA, I can find elsewhere. A lot of what I can do for other writers, I can do elsewhere–The Haven Foundation, for one–and so it seems that SFWA is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Elizabeth Bear put it pretty well here in replying to George R. R. Martin’s comments.

And speaking of Mr. Martin’s comments… I really don’t think it’s right to complain that the issues were not handled privately. A lot us who don’t have access to what’s going on need to know. I had hung out around the fringes of SFWA for a while, in the SFF.Net, and I got a sense of the toxicity that occurred within the organization–but not all new writers do, and I want to know what Mr. Martin thinks us new writers should do? Ignorantly go forward into this toxic and stressful environment?

The other thing is, it’s not like the internal issues of SFWA have never been aired. I was aware of a number of issues, including the totally internal wrangling and hand-wringing over the Nebulas, long before I wrote and sold my qualifying short story. And that was one of the things that gave me pause initially, reinforced by the recent issues.

So why bother? No one has given me a really good reason. And I’ve got a lot of good reasons to just stick with what I’ve got, and donate my $75.00 to a worthier cause. I appreciate that Damon Knight founded it with an eye to improving the lot of writers and the health of the genre. I’m just not sure that SFWA is helping more than hurting at this point.