Post Clarion writing
It's over a year since Clarion, and time for me to take stock.
My objective in going to Clarion was to get published. Until Clarion, I wrote much but submitted little, and had no non-non-fic published except for a poem in Strange Horizons. Still, several stories came back with helpful notes attached, and had made it to a final round of consideration. I was looking for Clarion to tip me over into publication.
Clarion clued me in on the industry and how it works. It also brought into pretty sharp focus what was wrong with my writing and why I wasn't getting published. Quite simply, my stories needed more grit, more depth, more complexity.
It's actually happened. I have two stories and an interview on the web, and a non-fiction book published under a different name. Another story should be going up soon; and two others will show up in anthologies early next year. (There's a list at my website, keyanbowes.org ) None of these are in professional magazines (by SFWA definition) but that's OK with me. I like the venues I'm in.
Some people don't write for months - even years - after Clarion. That's not me. In the last year, I've written a non-fic book and a YA novel. I'm halfway through the first draft of a second novel. And I've written several shorts (some very very short) and obsessively revised others.
Before Clarion, I wrote as a casual hobby: I wrote because I could. Clarion changed that. I can't call myself a professional; what I've earned from my writing so far is trivial. But now I write because I must.
My objective in going to Clarion was to get published. Until Clarion, I wrote much but submitted little, and had no non-non-fic published except for a poem in Strange Horizons. Still, several stories came back with helpful notes attached, and had made it to a final round of consideration. I was looking for Clarion to tip me over into publication.
Clarion clued me in on the industry and how it works. It also brought into pretty sharp focus what was wrong with my writing and why I wasn't getting published. Quite simply, my stories needed more grit, more depth, more complexity.
It's actually happened. I have two stories and an interview on the web, and a non-fiction book published under a different name. Another story should be going up soon; and two others will show up in anthologies early next year. (There's a list at my website, keyanbowes.org ) None of these are in professional magazines (by SFWA definition) but that's OK with me. I like the venues I'm in.
Some people don't write for months - even years - after Clarion. That's not me. In the last year, I've written a non-fic book and a YA novel. I'm halfway through the first draft of a second novel. And I've written several shorts (some very very short) and obsessively revised others.
Before Clarion, I wrote as a casual hobby: I wrote because I could. Clarion changed that. I can't call myself a professional; what I've earned from my writing so far is trivial. But now I write because I must.