29 January 2014

Carolina Snow Day

We got some snow last night. It's really pretty. Everything's closed, of course.

snow on the front lawn and road
On the way to bed last night

snow on the front lawn and road in the morning
This morning. You might be able to see the deer tracks in the driveway.


snow on the deck and back yard
Sunny out back.

Snow on the deck and back yard

27 January 2014

Applications are open for Viable Paradise 18

I had a wonderful time at Viable Paradise 17. I met a lot of new friends and made some new critique partners. I learned a lot about the craft of writing and got insights on how to be a more deliberate writer (I tend to get an idea and start writing to see what happens, which is OK for a short piece but has led to disaster in novels for me).

You should apply if:

  • You are a writer.
  • You've been hovering around the same level of writing for a while and you want to improve your craft.
  • You want to meet people who can become critique partners.
  • You want to learn from established pros in the SF/F genre.
  • The idea of six weeks at Clarion sounds terrifying.
  • You want to eat the best collard greens ever.
A week at VP

The writing part
  • Three days of group critiques (2 hours in the morning). You receive your peers' application pieces, read them, and discuss them in a group (two per day, except the day you receive your critique). Each session is moderated by two instructors.
  • Two one-on-one critiques from the instructors (45 minutes in the afternoon, two days)
  • Lectures and colloquia on topics like plot structure, how not to piss off your readers, and exposition (3-5 hours per day)
  • Wednesday afternoon is free of lecture, but you will have other things to do
The rest of it
  • Morning walks with Uncle Jim (100% optional)
  • Evening walks to see bioluminescent jellyfish
  • Beer with Billy, wherein you drink beer (or cider) (or soda/water) and read Shakespeare (and laugh at all the dick jokes)
  • Spending time with your classmates and the instructors, which may or may not involve alcohol. (Tip: try Teresa's scurvy cure.)
  • Delicious food made by Mac and her capable staff. If you have dietary restrictions (I'm vegetarian, and about half my class eats gluten free), they can be accommodated.
  • Amazing, wonderful, helpful staff composed largely of VP alums.
  • Staying up way too late but not really caring. Everyone else loaded up on coffee or tea, but I can't have caffeine, so I just was really tired.
  • Bonding with your classmates: your writing peers and the people you'll be proud (and maybe a little jealous) of when they publish work or get nominated for awards
  • Beautiful Martha's Vineyard in October. I wasn't quite a popsicle at any point, but it was pretty windy.
Instructions for applying are here, along with lots of information on the workshop and instructors (present and past).

Everyone says that Viable Paradise changed their lives, and it sounds like a cliche. But it's true. It's a transformative experience (usually in the positive sense).

Feel free to ask me any questions you have in comments.

01 January 2014

Happy new year!

2013 was the year I realized I'd probably never get a job in pharmacy again, since I've been out of practice for a long time. But I was okay with that, because I also realized that I'd followed a mercenary tendency when I went into the field, rather than doing the thing I loved, which is German.

So I signed up for a distance learning course in teaching German as a foreign language.

I worked my last ConTemporal, but I apparently wasn't smart enough to swear off con-running forever, because I'm now co-chairing Shatterdome Atlanta, which is happening May 31.

I went to Viable Paradise, where I met a lot of awesome writers, whom I miss a lot. It's a difficult experience to talk about, because if I say "it was this awesome transformative experience" that isn't very satisfactory.

Writing: I revised my VP application piece and submitted it to a magazine. I submitted my Thursday story twice. I submitted another short story, which I may work on some more after I finish the short I'm working on (started Monday, so it counts for 2013).

I finished a very rough draft of a novel expanding the events of "Something There Is." It's more like a really detailed outline, and it's about 51000 words. By the end of revisions, I'd like it to be around 75000. At least.

For 2014, I intend to finish, revise, and submit the piece I'm working on currently; take the rough draft of the novel to a point where I won't be embarrassed to show it to people outside my writing group; and resubmit pieces that were rejected. That's what you do.

I have a fair amount of travel coming up this year, which will affect my writing time. In February, I'm going to Mannheim, Germany, for about 2 weeks to do a hospitation practicum (where I observe teachers teaching and get acquainted with course materials; I really hope it's not 100% me sitting around; I guarantee I'll fall asleep). When that's over, I'm going to visit a friend in Stuttgart and see Hertha BSC play VfB Stuttgart. It won't be quite the same experience as seeing Hertha play at home in the Olympic Stadium, but it should still be awesome. And I'll have a day to see Stuttgart, where I've never been before.

I'll be going to Atlanta for Shatterdome the last weekend in May.

Mid-June, I'll be in Berlin for a family vacation with the in-laws. We've been planning this for a while, and it's finally happening.

I might go to ConGregate in Winston-Salem for the day, and I'm already planning to go to IllogiCon for the day (oh hey that's next weekend...) so I can get Mary Robinette Kowal to sign my copy of Without a Summer.

I'll be in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend along with 60,000 other nerds.

Then there's the obligatory winter holiday travel, which is always interesting.

So, that's my year in review and year in planning. May 2014 be kind to everyone.