Well, this is awkward… But here’s the thing. When I decided to throw my hat into the ring for SFWA president, I thought Cat Rambo wasn’t running again. I think contested elections are good, because it allows members to make decisions about the direction an organization is headed. Cat and I?
The fact is that she and I are politically aligned on where SFWA should be heading. We’re both interested in keeping things moving in a more inclusive and supportive direction. She’d already created a committee to start looking at getting health insurance for SFWA members, headed by board member Sarah Pinsker.
She’s the one who has been driving the changes to the Nebula Conference.
So… After a good deal of conversation, I realized that if I signed up to be on the health insurance committee and keep doing the programming for the Nebula Conference, that it allows me to focus my full attention on both of those things, while leaving Cat to handle the board and all the minutiae of making the organization run.
I say after a good deal of conversation, but in reality, I knew this the moment that I realized Cat was running again. It was just the week of Christmas and I knew no one was online, so I waited.
For me, this is already a win because — dang — I’ve been on the board and know how hard those folks work. And knowing that the board is already committed to the things that I want to see happen? Knowing that Cat is there advocating and managing? Best of both worlds.
So, I will not be running for president of SFWA, although I will get to work on all my platform objectives. But in 2019?
See you then…
Makes total sense! Best of luck this year with the other parts that you signed up for! 🙂