Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

[Cybling] folks join me to welcome Jerry Oltion to chat!
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Welcometh!
[Cybling] Jerry...good to have you here with us in the greenroom!
[JulieCz] Welcome! from Canada
[Jerry] Hi, everyone!
[RedRaptor] welcome Jerry
[Pam_M] Hi, Jerry
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Oh, right...
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] ^_^
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Welcome from germany too!
[Cybling] Jerry...you're one of the nominees this year for the Hugo. Is this a first nomination?
[Cybling] No it's not...I see you have two of those little rocket pins on your badge.
[Jerry] Yep, I was nominated a couple of years ago.
[Jerry] It was for the story that won the Nebula, so I didnt feel too bad about losing the hugo,
[Jerry] but this year I didn't win the Nebula with this same story, so I can't lose a Hugo too, right?
[Cybling] LOL.
[Pam_M] lol
[Cybling] WE can only hope it works that way.
[JulieCz] All the best
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] heh
[Jerry] There's no point in faking humility.
[RedRaptor] yep
[Cybling] I've heard that it doesn't sometimes, but we'll be pulling for you.
[Cybling] LOl...no, not in the Green Room, that's for sure.
[Jerry] I'm up against Connie Willis, Mike Resnick, Kage Baker, and Harry Turtledove, so...
[Jerry] I've been practicing saying "It's an honor to be nominated."
[Cybling] roflmao
[JulieCz] Not a bad list to be on, Jerry
[Cybling] Yes, they are a group of heavy hitters Jerry.
[Cybling] Jerry...how's the convention been treating you so far. Lot of parties? Lot of meetings?
[Jerry] Oh yeah! I can't walk through a room without someone coming up to me and congratulating me. It's way cool.
[Cybling] Wonderful. I hope they have gifts of cocktails and food when they do that.
[JulieCz] Author heaven
[Jerry] I've eaten more in the last couple of days than I usually do in a week!
[Cybling] I'm looking at Jerry right now and I'm having a hard time believing that he's been writing for 19 years.
[Cybling] When did you start writing Jerry? 5 years old?
[Jerry] Yow! 19 years? Good grief, it has been that long, hasn't it?
[Jerry] I started when I was (mumble)...
[Cybling] lololol
[Jerry] It was 1981.
[Jerry] (hint)
[Cybling] Okay. lol
* Serenah_SS_Suchomimus started with 5 too... blinks
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Cool.
[JulieCz] Started as in first sale or started writing?
[Jerry] Actually, I did start when I was about 5. My mom kept a copy of my first story,
[Jerry] which she gave me when I published my first collection, so we put it in the book.
[JulieCz] Neat
[Jerry] It's the most popular story in there! Illustrated, too (by the author, at age 5).
[Cybling] You've done a lot of things to make ends meet before becoming a full time writer Jerry. The list reads a gardener, stone mason, carpenter, oilfield worker, forester, land surveyor, rock 'n' roll deejay, printer, proofreader, editor, publisher, computer consultant, movie extra, corporate secretary, and garbage truck driver.
[Cybling] Do you have any recommendations on the best day-gig for an aspiring author?
[RedRaptor] wow big list
[Jerry] Garbage truck driver was definitely the most fun.
* Serenah_SS_Suchomimus chuckles at Jerry. 4Mine was more popular that time!
*jk
* Egh, I'm being silly
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] lol
[Jerry] I was in rural Wyoming (as if there's anything else there), so I spent a lot of time between pickups.
[Cybling] lol
[Jerry] So I could think up story ideas while I drove.
[Cybling] I don't think they throw away much of value up there either.
[Cybling] Well that's good.
[Jerry] There isn't much of value to throw away!
[JulieCz] Do you find you still like the big outdoors for story ideas?
[Jerry] (Except they're trying to throw away the forests, but that's another story.)
[QuickStri] Jerry is there an publishers who will look at a story for free
[Jerry] Oh yeah! I love to go backpacking, hiking, fishing...anything to get outside.
[Jerry] That's where the real world is. People forget.
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] heh
[JulieCz] Know what you mean. Paper and pencil in the backpack
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] What real world? Eh? ^_^
[RedRaptor] I don't forget, I'm a big outdoorsman
[Jerry] Sure, Quickstri! They'll all look at submissions for free.
[Cybling] I should think any publisher who charges a fee to look at a manuscript, should be squinted at.
[Cybling] Squinted at real hard.
[Jerry] Yeah, never send anything to anyone who charges a reading fee.
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] lol
[Pam_M] So, was it difficult for you to get published, Jerry?
[Cybling] You know there are several sites on line that can give you advice there and we had a literary scams panel here yesterday. Log will be up tonight or tomorrow here at onsite.chicon.org
[Jerry] I had a pretty average level of difficulty in getting started.
[Jerry] A few dozen rejections, then a first sale, then a bunch more rejections...
[JulieCz] short story or novel?
[Jerry] then about the time I felt like I'd already peaked out, I started selling regularly.
[Cybling] Wild
[JulieCz] Forgive my not knowing
[Jerry] Stories at first. I sold a novel after I'd had maybe 10 stories published.
[Jerry] Then I didn't sell another novel for 13 years (except for media tie-ins).
[Cybling] Hmm.
[Pam_M] Do you make your living off of writing now?
[Jerry] I make about half a living off it. My wife works, too, so we can make ends meet.
[Cybling] What do you think caused that lull...were you changing your style? Finding a different voice?
[Jerry] No, the problem was, my first novel was published by Questar, which was busily acquiring new authors...
[Jerry] and then not promoting them!
[Cybling] yikes!
[Jerry] My book didn't sell that wel, so nobody would touch me after thatn.
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one question before you ask another.
[Cybling] BTW, just told Jerry that typos are part of chat.
[Jerry] Good thing!
[Cybling] How we know he's "live" and not "canned."
[Jerry] I sometimes
*feel
* canned.
[Cybling] Let's talk a bit about Abandon In Place, which will be published in November from Tor.
[Cybling] what's it about Jerry?
[Jerry] Short answer: A ghost saturn V rocket.
[Jerry] Longer answer: It's about the astronauts who take it to the moon...
[Cybling] Yum
[Jerry] and what happens when they get back.
[Cybling] So ... do you
*call
* yourself a hard SF writer?
[Jerry] I do. I thought I was a fantasy writer when I first started, but I kept selling to Analog...
[Jerry] so I decided to accept the hard-sf label.
[Cybling] Well that would be a clue. I know that Analog has very strict ideas about fantasy stuff in their stories.
[JulieCz] When is ABANDON set?
[Jerry] I do like hard sf, and I have a techie approach to life, so it fits.
[Jerry] It's in the near future, maybe 5 years from the present (whenever the present happens to be)
[Jerry] I tried not to pin it down too closely, so it wouldn't get out of date too quickly.
[JulieCz] Neat!
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] oi
[Cybling] Jerry, do you feel that all the years working at different day jobs helped your writing in any way?
[Jerry] Definitely!
[Jerry] I learn something from every day job, and all that stuff winds up in the fiction.
[Jerry] How to wheelie a garbage truck, for instance.
[JulieCz] Which gives your book the potential to be classified as a thriller, not just sf. Do you think this will expose your work to a wider audience?
[Cybling] Great. And I'm sure it helps with character development and the other little niceties that make your stories award winners.
[Jerry] I sure hope so, Julie. I think there are a lot of Apollo fans out there who aren't necessarily SF fans.
[Jerry] I hope to convert 'em!
[Cybling] lolol (just read the wheelie comment)
[JulieCz] I'll be watching for it!
[Cybling] Folks, we have about 8 minutes before the duct tape we have Jerry strapped to the chair with is due to give out.
[Cybling] He's afraid he may have missed a question.
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Heh
[Jerry] (struggling..)
[Cybling] Any last ones or one we missed?
* Serenah_SS_Suchomimus chuckles @ cybling
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] Jerry! I'll save you! heh
[Jerry] (OW! That pulled my leg hair!)
[JulieCz] Good luck with the Hugo!
[Serenah_SS_Suchomimus] (lol)
[Cybling] Forgot the talcum, sorry.
[Cybling] Any last questions?
[Jerry] Thanks for the good luck wishes!
[JulieCz] Is there a pub date for the novel?
[JulieCz] ;-)
[Jerry] Yes, it's due out in November.
[JulieCz] Excellent!
[Jerry] I'm working on another one that should be out sometime next year...provided I finish it.
[Jerry] I'm two months past deadline and not done yet.
[JulieCz] Happens.
[Cybling] ow.
[Jerry] It's growing more complex than I expected, but that's good.
[Cybling] I think, with the Hugo awards looming up this evening, you can be forgiven for forgetting the deadline today.
[JulieCz] Also from Tor?
[Cybling] Just avoid your publisher.
[JulieCz] LOL
[Jerry] Yep, it's a Tor book, too.
[Jerry] David Hartwell told me that the first year after the deadline is the hardest.
[Jerry] (Not to worry, eh?)
[JulieCz] A year? I might worry then
[Jerry] I'm only a couple of weeks away from finishing it. Of course I thought that back in June, too.
[Cybling] Well folks, let's let Jerry get back to the endless parties, gifts and glowing faced fans who need his autograph.
[Cybling] Jerry thanks so much for stopping by our corner in the Green Room!
[Jerry] Thanks, all, for chatting with me! It's been a lot of fun.
[JulieCz] Bye, Jerry. Nice to hear about your projects!
[Cybling] And for not joining the blimp group so we could talk with you.
* Cybling applauds
[Jerry] You're welcome! See you all around.