March 12th, 2008
Writer Profile Update: Jason Makansi
Jason Makansi first talked the Writer Profile Project on April 9th last year. In that interview, I mentioned his story “Moon Dust,” which I’ve never forgotten. He doesn’t say so, but I happen to know that Jason had this story picked up by a journal. Congrats, Jason!!
Jason says:
My writing life took an interesting swerve in 2007. With the publication of my third non-fiction book, Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy and What It Means To You, I find myself on an author speaking tour of sorts, appearing before groups as varied as the American Statistical Society (never knew one existed) to the MIT Alumni of Washington DC. To boot, these are paying gigs. Yeah! For its type, the book has sold reasonably well, but, seeing in action what I knew to be true in theory about how publishers angle authors on royalties, I’m glad I negotiated virtually all of the compensation as an advance. And, perhaps best of all, my editor has responded encouragingly to my next book proposal, one that I really want to write. Just when I said I wouldn’t do another one…
My only fiction credit over the last year was the publication of “Hallucination in D Minor” by Marginalia, put out by Western State College of Colorado, but I have not been diligent about submissions. Our local writers group survived a mild seizure of sorts in the fall, and we’re back meeting regularly. And I’m not telling anyone that I’ve started work on a novel, but it’s been going really poorly. Oh, and we did a reading recently, and I read “Hallucination…”, which I guess came off okay. I need to learn how to read fiction.
As for reading, I’ve started War and Peace.
For the balance of 2008, I care mostly about one thing: Replacing the jackass in the White House with someone less dangerous to the planet, and giving that person a Congress that isn’t an aquarium of spineless snail darters.
Jason says:
My writing life took an interesting swerve in 2007. With the publication of my third non-fiction book, Lights Out: The Electricity Crisis, the Global Economy and What It Means To You, I find myself on an author speaking tour of sorts, appearing before groups as varied as the American Statistical Society (never knew one existed) to the MIT Alumni of Washington DC. To boot, these are paying gigs. Yeah! For its type, the book has sold reasonably well, but, seeing in action what I knew to be true in theory about how publishers angle authors on royalties, I’m glad I negotiated virtually all of the compensation as an advance. And, perhaps best of all, my editor has responded encouragingly to my next book proposal, one that I really want to write. Just when I said I wouldn’t do another one…
My only fiction credit over the last year was the publication of “Hallucination in D Minor” by Marginalia, put out by Western State College of Colorado, but I have not been diligent about submissions. Our local writers group survived a mild seizure of sorts in the fall, and we’re back meeting regularly. And I’m not telling anyone that I’ve started work on a novel, but it’s been going really poorly. Oh, and we did a reading recently, and I read “Hallucination…”, which I guess came off okay. I need to learn how to read fiction.
As for reading, I’ve started War and Peace.
For the balance of 2008, I care mostly about one thing: Replacing the jackass in the White House with someone less dangerous to the planet, and giving that person a Congress that isn’t an aquarium of spineless snail darters.
Filed Under: Writer Profile Updates |
