About

About this site

Welcome to jamietoddrubin.com, home of science fiction writer and blogger, Jamie Todd Rubin. This site has been on the Internet in one form or another since late 2005. The site receives more than 130,000 visits per month. From 2005 through 2010, the site was located on LiveJournal. Since 2010, it is a self-managed WordPress installation using a customized version of the SubtleFlux theme. Be sure to review the site policies, and contact me if you have any questions.

About Jamie Todd Rubin

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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 also have a set of professional biographies that can be used to accompany my work. They are available in the press kit.

Other trivia

  • Lifelong New York Yankees fan. Also baseball lover. I have very little interest in any other sport.
  • I’ve read more than 500 books since January 1, 1996.
  • Big fan of 80s music. Also big fan of Bing Crosby music and movies.
  • Have been interviewed on the TV news twice. Both interviews were related to my day job.
  • The typewriter in the photo is a 1941 Royal Quiet DeLuxe portable typewriter. It was my grandpa’s.

Some favorites

  • Favorite writers: Isaac Asimov, Barry N. Malzberg, Connie Willis, Jack McDevitt, Stephen King (to name just a few)
  • Favorite band: Def Leppard
  • Favorite song: Photograph
  • Favorite Bing Crosby song: Far Away Places
  • Favorite movie: High Society
  • Favorite TV show: M*A*S*H
  • Favorite type of book to read: science fiction mystery (think Jack McDevitt’s Alex Benedict novels)

My workspace and work style

I’m always interested to learn about how other writers work. What does their workspace look like? What is their work style? So for those curious about my workspace and work style…

I have a pretty cool home office.

For fiction-writing, I use Scrivener for the Mac when sitting at my desk. When away from my desk I use Elements on my iPad, which syncs to Scrivener via Dropbox. I’ve been using Scrivener since it first came out and I think it is the best writing tool out there. I use a Google Spreadsheet to keep track of my submissions (which extend way back to January 11, 1993) and another Google Spreadsheet to keep track of my bookkeeping. I store my writing-related receipts and contracts in Evernote.

For non-fiction writing, I use Google Docs. I use this for things like book reviews, interviews and other non-fiction writing that I do.

For blogging, I use a self-installed version of WordPress. I maintain it all myself. By day, I am, after all an application developer and I used to work for the company helpdesk. I am my own technical support. If I am blogging from my iPad, I use Blogsy.

I used to have a set schedule for fiction writing, often writing very early in the morning for a couple of hours before the rest of the family woke up. After our second child was born, my writing time shrunk to almost nothing. These days, I simply try to write whenever I can find the time. I almost always have my iPad with me, so I can write even when I am not at home.

Feel free to contact me. Contact information is available here.