I’ve clearly been remiss about posting a self-introduction here. I’m sure I had done so on the old FWG forum, and the break between that and the present venue just didn’t quite register with me.
Anyway, I’m old. Not as old as dirt, but older than some of the very large trees that grow around my house. I grew up in a world that had no internet and no cell phones (gasp!) and where we used the telephone only for emergencies and urgent business. Everyone wrote letters, because there was no e-mail. Newspapers were very important sources of information; libraries were almost sacred instead of being considered irrelevant.
I’ve been writing since I was in junior high school, which is quite a long time. Reckoned in horse-years, that’s somewhere close to a century I think. I co-edited the high school newspaper, as well as the yearbook for my graduating class. My first “publication” was a short story that won a local newspaper contest sometime in the 1960s. In the 1970s, when I was in graduate school, I wrote for several of the then-young GLBT newspapers and journals. In the 80s I spent a few years as a documentation writer for a software house, and published non-fiction articles on diverse topics as well. In that long-gone time I did publish some small fiction, under a pseudonym and fortunately so obscure that no one will ever find it. Embarrassed as I might be by the content, I will say that the pay (8 cents a word in 1989 US dollars) was a lot better than what we usually see these days.
I’ve always been deeply involved with animals. Dogs, cats, horses, guinea pigs, rabbits, and various wildlife have held a high place in my attention, and taken priority over other interests that include music, spinning, weaving, knitting, and of course, reading and writing. Back in 1977 I almost became a zookeeper, but after interviewing and meeting some of the staff I decided that I didn’t belong there and withdrew my application. I spent a couple of years of college preparing for a career as a veterinarian before deciding that the course of studies was too narrow and restrictive for my interests. Ultimately I took a master’s in library science, and I have worked in libraries for most of my 45 year career. It’s a generalist’s job, and I liked it when books and finding information were the main focus. Now that everyone seems to think a librarian’s job is just fixing computers and teaching people how to use Google, I’m not so keen on it. Fortunately retirement lies just months away.
Anyway, a few of you may have seen published stories under my furry name, Altivo Overo. Or you may remember me as a moderator and administrator on the FurRag web site. I’ve been a (mostly silent) member of FWG almost since the Guild’s inception and now that I am expecting to have more available time and energy, I’ve tried to pick up my level of activity in writing and here on the Guild forums. I have a lot of unpublished material to go through and find places for. And I’m looking forward to making some new friends and getting to know many of you better.
Thanks for putting up with an old horse who’s about to be put to pasture. And “Hello” to all of you who didn’t know I was lurking here in the background.
–'Tivo
Good to see some familiar faces from the old FurRag group finding a new home here.