In episode 226 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio chat with Jamie Todd Rubin.

About Jamie:

I’ve always had a fascination with the life of writers that I admire. They make up these great stories, but what are they like as people? A guilty pleasure of mine is reading biographical pieces on the writers I like. I’ve been lucky enough to get to know some of my favorite writers personally. What I’ve found almost across the board is that they were once just like me: they all had to start somewhere, writing that first story, receiving that first rejection slip, making that first sale. Of course, we all take different roads to become writers. Here is the road I took:

• Born in New York, New York in March 1972
• Grew up in New Jersey and Rhode Island.
• Attended junior and senior high school in Los Angeles, California.
• Attended college at the University of California, Riverside. Earned a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Journalism in 1994.
• Started submitting my first stories while at UCR.
• Took a job with a public policy think tank in October 1994. I’ve been with the company ever since. At present, I am a senior application developer and business analyst.
• Got my private pilot license in April 2000. I haven’t flown in more than a decade, but it was a lifelong dream to get my license.
• Started blogging regularly in late 2005.
• Met my wife, Kelly, in 2006. We were married in 2008 in Annapolis, Maryland.
• Sold my first story, “When I Kissed the Learned Astronomer” to InterGalactic Medicine Show in 2007.
• Attended my first science fiction convention, RavenCon later that same year.
• Have sold more stories since, including to places like Analog, Apex Magazine, and Daily Science Fiction.
• Active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)
• Son born in 2009. Daughter born in 2011.
• Was a participant at a con for the first time at Readercon in 2011.
• Became the Paperless Lifestyle Ambassador for Evernote.
• Presented the Nebula Award for Best Novelette to Geoff Ryman and the Nebula banquet in 2012.
• Started reviewing books for InterGalactic Medicine Show in June 2012.

I write every day and do the majority of my writing in the evenings between getting my kids ready for bed and putting them to bed. I can usually write 300-600 words during this small window, and sometimes write more once they are asleep.

This week’s picks:

• Jamie: Everything. Always. The Shimshaws
• John: Revolution Saints
• Patrick: Fall Back

Links:

• Jamie Todd Rubin on Twitter
• Patrick Hester on Twitter
• John Anealio on Twitter

© 2015 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio

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