We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Linda D. Addison. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Linda D. below.

Alright, Linda D. thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

It’s important to connect your mind, heart and soul to be successful in any area you choose and trust what ideas and inspiration come to you. Many new creations that have changed the world were brought into existence by people who had a new idea and didn’t ignore it, even when they didn’t know how to make it happen. A big part of being on the path to success is to say ‘Yes’ when opportunities come, even if they don’t look like a direct line to your goal.

In many areas, the measure of success is how much money is made, but that isn’t always true. Also, getting to the level of success you want is often done in layers. There are many careers that you have to spend money to invest in education and training before the income builds up.

I’ve walked two professional paths in my life, at the same time, until I retired from one a few years ago. One profession, writing speculative poetry and stories, came with me from birth as a result of my active imagination. The first time I saw a book, I knew that’s what I wanted to make. 

The other profession, my day job, as a software developer, grew out of my love of math and science and desire to make a good income. Even though they seem very different, almost opposites, I’ve approached both with the same spirit and effort. Much of my poetry and fiction contain facts from real science articles I’ve read, especially about outer space and quantum physics.

I did very well in my career as a software developer, even though that wasn’t my initial career decision. I grew up poor in rough neighborhoods. I also loved writing little stories and poetry. I was shy and loved to read and as a result I tested well in school. I didn’t think of being a writer as a way to make a good living, so I kept writing, but I was always looking for The Day Job.

My first idea of a day job was when I started high school and took a typing class. I was one of the fastest so I began to think a successful life, defined as having an apartment in a safe neighborhood, a car and three meals a day would be gotten with my typing skills.

Then something happened that completely changed my life. One of my teachers hounded me to apply to the World Youth Forum for a scholarship to travel to Europe for two months. This felt like mission impossible, but I went ahead and filled out the application and sent an essay about the history of wine making in France. 

Miraculously I received a scholarship to travel to France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland for two months with a supervised group of seventeen other teenagers. That trip changed everything about what defined a successful life. I realized there was a whole world of experiences on this planet that I wanted so I decided to go to college and find a career using my love of math and science.

I graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University with a B.S. in Mathematics, worked in accounting for a short time which didn’t hold my interest, so I went back to school in the evening for training in computer programming. Over the years since then, I had an excellent career in software development in New York City, which I did like and paid very well. During that time I traveled to other countries, lived well and retired comfortably. This was success for me.

While I worked that job, I continued writing, taking workshops and studying to increase my writing skills. I wrote poetry, short stories (mostly speculative) and non-fiction. My first published piece was an article about having a career in computer programming for Essence Magazine! Walking through Rockefeller Center on my way to my day job, seeing the magazine in news stands and knowing I had work in it was a dream come true. 

What I wanted then and now is to write and have my work published. Seeing my name in print, knowing that people I didn’t know were reading my writing was the ultimate goal. Over the years (so far) I’ve published several books, won awards (five Horror Writers Association (HWA) Bram Stoker Award®) as well as being honored with HWA Mentor of the Year Award®, HWA Lifetime Achievement Award®, Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) Grand Master of Fantastic Poetry). In most cases I was the first African-American to receive these awards, but being successful for me was and still is about having my work in print.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Building a career in writing, while working a day job, meant managing my time carefully and making decisions to take training outside my work schedule and time spent with family. I began journaling when I was in high school and continue to this day. Writing down any bits of ideas, characters, etc. that come to me through the day has been core to producing finished work. The seed inspiration for poems and stories I’ve published in my books, anthologies and magazines come from my journals.

I’m driven by curiosity, and day-dreaming why things work a certain way. My imagination is ignited by reading about human psychology or quantum physics. I ask myself ‘What If’ and then allow my imagination to answer that in any wild way it wants, looking always for the path less walked. I like to write something different and often with characters that I didn’t read when I grew up (or now).

For example, my story, Shadow Dreams, published in Titan/Marvel’s “Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda” anthology was inspired by wondering what it would be like to be a teenage girl arriving in the capital city of Wakanda to train as a Dora Milaje, an elite female group that protect the king. To write that story I read all the background written about the Dora Milaje and researched details on the training and use of weapons.

Another story, Unrequited, is about a male zombie who finds itself in love with a living male and struggling with their physical hunger vs affection for him. This story was inspired by a panel discussion where it was said that no one could write a story that made the reader care about a zombie. So of course I wrote a story about a zombie that falls in love. It was later published in the Necon 40 Convention Book.

I’ve been invited to submit work in more than 80 anthologies and magazines with the expectation that I’ll write something different with diverse characters from a different point of view, even when there is a theme.

In 2021 the University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) contact me to ask to collection my papers for its Horror Studies Collection. This blew my mind and to this day I think about the fact that my journals, etc. are being read and studied. Incredible!

The work I’m very proud of doing is mentoring other writers through one on one sessions or teaching workshops. I always learn something new and love the work that others create while working with them. The important thing is to help another find their voice, style, not have them write like me. Many have gone on to publish very well, have their work recognized with nominations/awards. This makes my heart soar.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The hardest thing is handling rejection of your work. I decided early on that I might as well send my writing to my top market first, since I can get rejected from there as well as a small market anyway. I always made a list of two or more markets to send my poetry or fiction to starting with my top paying dream publication. The idea was to always have another market ready to send it to if it was returned, so that it didn’t sit on my desk.

The story about rejection that I often share is sending work to Asimov’s SF Magazine. It started in 1977 and I immediately got a subscription because I read so much of Isaac Asimov’s work. It was the top paying market for speculative poetry and I wanted to be published in it badly. I submitted anything I wrote that was even vaguely science-fiction and was rejected for more than ten years. As planned, I would submit that work to the next market on my list and a good percentage began to sell over time.

I kept busy with my day job and writing evenings and weekends when I could. It took several years, but I had my first poem, Why The Dinosaurs Died, accepted and published in Asimov’s SF Magazine in 1997. The inspiration for the poem came from going to the NY is Book Country fair on 5th Avenue and having a conversation with a well-known SF writer, Frederick Pohl, who said every SF writer has to write a Why The Dinosaurs Died story. I went home, wrote a quirky short story, which my writers group, Circles in the Hair, read and suggested it was a poem, not story. So I re-wrote it as a poem and it was my first acceptance in Asimov’s SF Magazine. I went on to publish in the magazine in 1998, 1999, 2001 (that poem, The Reluctant Astronaut, was on the magazine’s Annual Readers’ Award Results list).

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I have an early childhood memory of looking at a cat and wondering what it would be like if it had wings and could fly. I was constantly day-dreaming things like that. When I was in elementary school my teachers would write on my report cards that I would do better if I paid attention in class and didn’t daydream so much.

The more than 400 poems, stories and non-fiction in print and awards/recognitions of my work only exist because I still daydream ideas, write them down and turn them into writing that others read. 

My mission continues to be writing and honoring these strange things I imagine. Once I received recognition for my writing I decided to use that to put light on other writers, expanding my mission to this day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.LindaAddisonWriter.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nytebird45/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.d.addison

Image Credits
Brian J. Addison, Gerard Houarner, Sephera Giron, Linda D. Addison