Naomi Pardue

When I was a wee thing, everyone told me I couldn't sing. And I believed them. I couldn't sing. Through several years of school choirs and two years of voice class in high school— I believed that couldn't sing.

But I loved science fiction, and I loved music and I wrote.

Fandom began at 18. (Back in the Jurassic period, I think.) Wandered into my first filk about 10 months later, in early 1980. Wrote my first filk a few months later. Tried singing for a small group at the tail end of a filk when most had gone to bed at Windycon 1980. Two months later, at Confusion '81, I performed. ("Irwin Allen." It was short. Hopefully nobody would have time to flee the room.) And people laughed. Not at my singing, but at my song.

And from there - well - it's been almost 40 years and I'm still at it. For reasons of life (the universe and everything) I write and sing much less than I used to, but when I can, I do. And filk is still My Community.

(Oh, and for those who think they can't sing, I can confirm that confidence is a great vocal stimulator. Listening to tapes of myself from 1980 and from 10-20 years later, I can sing.)