Rachel Zakuta
Normal is Boring
I started telling people I was going to write books at age three. My first work was a dictated anthology of poems, one extolling the virtues of each stuffed animal in the house.
Still, it took me a loooong time, past college at Yale, to realize that I was a science fiction and fantasy writer rather than the next L.M. Montgomery. You’d think I would have figured it out earlier, since SFF was what I read (and my realistic fiction never had any plot), but no. When I finally came to my senses, I published a few short stories, wrote a “practice” novel, and then dove into Reckless Space Pirates.
When I’m not writing, I’m teaching English and Critical Thinking, playing overly complicated board games, driving my children crazy, taking wonderful care of my children, reading obsessively, playing the piano (kind of), and singing Broadway songs when no one can hear.
My high school yearbook quote:
You see, you are allowed to read the newspapers now. I hope you will not attach too much importance to them. They give you a picture of an ordinary world that does not exist.
Rebecca West, A Fountain Overflows
Please remember that the world is extraordinary. It’s full of people from different cultures, people with different insights, people who’ve had different experiences, and people who have discovered different ways of living. It’s not ordinary, and thank goodness for that. Normal is boring.
Rachel Zakuta 