Things to note:

· I'm 39 now. This is a very good thing, and sure beats the alternative. I had clinicals the actual day, and then I followed it up with the traditional Japanese dinner with friends. It was a very casual sort of thing--given the kind of busy that I've been with school, I did no real advance planning for it. I'll have to do something ( Read more... )

For relative values of "new," I suppose. The first draft was written in 2011.

"The Coffinmaker's Love" had its start at Clarion West. It was the first story that I wrote there, on Week Two, with Nancy Kress instructing. Week One was Paul Park, and he helped us lay groundwork and ran us through exercises, but no all-out story ( Read more... )

"Recognizing Gabe: un cuento de hadas" is in the final round of audience polling for Best PodCastle Story of 2012.

I am astonished and utterly delighted.

Go vote! Listen to all the stories--they're all good.

Wow.

I love the story, so to see it get love from other people is wonderful.

Best PodCastle of 2012 - FINAL

"Recognizing Gabe" has been up at PodCastle for over a week now, and so has its discussion thread in the PodCastle Forum.

As a writer, one of the things you want to know is whether people get your story or not. Do they understand what you're saying? Do they think it has value? Did you do a good job? Did you move them? Hell, do they like it?So, ( Read more... )

Week Two is over and sees me with work done on four chapters of my novel. That isn't the same as four chapters done, but it's definitely progress. The runaway royal bride has gotten to the running away part (political marriages can be so tricky, especially when you don't actually want to marry the guy), the scheming assassin wannabe-prince is on ( Read more... )

Clarion West was an amazing experience for me. It was, in all honesty, one of the best things I've ever done.

During the six weeks of the workshop, there's a shadow event happening, one in which anyone can participate: the Clarion West Write-a-thonIt's designed to do two major things: bring in funds for the workshop, and provide an impetus for ( Read more... )

Ages ago, I asked for prompts for my typing monkey exercises, and t0rque replied with “18-wheeler drivers who are monkeys.”

Which gave rise to "Driving for Peanuts".

Much, much later, that has given rise to the awesome Tina Connolly acquiring the story for her very cool podcast, Toasted Cake.

You can hear the story (along with some more great stuff) ( Read more... )

Those of you who write have probably had this experience: you read a published story or novel and it makes you go, "I can write better than that."And if you're honest with yourself about your talent and skill, it's true. You can ( Read more... )

I'm in an odd mood at the moment, sparked by getting over an exhausting con (oh Norwescon, you are not my cup of tea), and the relatively warm spring day (and night) we had today in Portland ( Read more... )

As you probably know, I'm a graduate of two speculative fiction writing workshops. I attended Viable Paradise in 2008 (Go XIIers!) and Clarion West in 2011 (Let's do this ( Read more... )