I've been absent from this journal for quite a long while. Other things demanded my attention and I will confess to the crime of neglecting all online life.
I've posted a guestblog entry over at Ecstatic Days as I'm part of the guestblogging team while Jeff is on the road. ( Okay...Kyaaaa...it's the awesome Jeff VanderMeer...just imagine me feeling so glowy about being invited to guestblog. Imagine my gloom at not being able to do so earlier.) Anyway, five months after Clarion West, I am still thinking about Clarion West and everything I learned while I was there. I think I'm having nostalgic flashbacks or whatever you call them. I had to indulge myself in a mountain of manga reading to get over a deplorable state of being "down in the pits". Thank God for Nakamura Yoshiki and her awesome mangas which have returned to me the spirit of love and the energy to write again.
Yup, I was definitely down in the dumps for a while there. Other complicated stuff contributed to that, but that's all good now (I hope).
While I was away, part two of the roundtable discussion that I participated in for the World SF Blog went live. In this section, I answer the question of how environment and background influenced or informed my writing. My answer to that question just scrapes the surface of it. When I think about it, such a question is pretty much like asking what it is that makes up a person. I think that whether we like it or not, what we write reflects the kind of person we are, our passions, our interests, what intrigues us, what issues we wrestle with. I like how Science Fiction and Fantasy provide the writer with a freer platform to express these things. Reading "literary" stuff, I see how this element of the fantastic is often evoked in order to engage the writer/reader in the issue at hand. I don't have enough time to expound on it, but it's something I think about out loud when I have time. (There's precious little of that when you have a demanding two going on three person in the house).
In the roundtable discussion are authors: Lauren Beukes, Lynne Jamneck, and Shweta Narayan.
Part One of the roundtable can be found here.
Thanks to![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
charlesatan for inviting me to participate.
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Villa Diodati:
Spent a wonderful and refreshing weekend at Villa Diodati. I came back with lots of food for thought having picked the brains of novelists Aliette de Bodard, Ruth Nestvold, and Deanna Carlyle with regards to process in novel writing and how they do research and outlines. I've resolved to complete a first draft of my novel before the next Villa Diodati get together.
Present during the weekend were Jeff Spock, Stephen Gaskell, Sara Genge, Deanna Carlyle, Ruth Nestvold, Aliette de Bodard, Floris Kleijne (partially), and myself.
I feel very privileged to have read the wonderful stories from my fellow writers and I look forward to seeing those published soon. Once again, I was reminded of how characters that make us care are what make a story memorable.
While writers love their solitude, I think we do need these moments of getting together with people who share the same passion and the same love as we do. I do see how Clarion West has influenced my ability to criticque. It feels good to be able to say something helpful and profitable and to be able to share what I've learned. I guess, it's also helped me to gain more confidence in myself as a writer and as a critter.
I've got more to blog about, but it will have to wait until next update as that deserves a post all it's own.
- Mood:
busy
In writing news, Apex Magazine has accepted my short story, 59 Beads, for publication. Thanks to everyone who read this story and believed in it. This will be my third pro-publication and I'm really looking forward to seeing it in Apex. I love the world of 59 Beads and I want to write more stories in it :) It's also got a touch of sf in it...partly inspired by watching those makeover programs and then blending that in with the OFW experience.
Anyway, I wanted to give a birthday shout-out to
justin_pilon who's celebrating his birthday today (hmmm...or maybe I am after all late because if I'm right it's past midnight where he is.) Oh well, for what it's worth...Happy Birthday, Justin :) Here's to many more years of happy writing.ecbatan's birthday. Here's wishing that the day will be filled with lots of good things and wonderful memories. Here's to good health, long life and lots of reading and writing pleasure. - Mood:
calm
Now to find the time to exercise that energy.
- Mood: busy
- Mood:
happy
- Mood:
cheerful
Well, I haven't read all threads yet, but I did click on a thread about how to make a story memorable which made the wheels in my head churn again. I shall have to check my stories for memorableness.
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nancyfulda has this post entitled "5 Ways Kids Help Stay At Home Writers" and I just had to chime in because my Samuel is at the stage where finding time to write is proving to be a challenge. There's a seven year gap between Samuel and Joel, so I've quite forgotten just how needy kids are at the 2 and a half year old stage. Yesterday, I had to laugh out loud and just give up on writing because I was sitting at the computer, seriously contemplating a story that needed redrafting when along came Samuel.
"Mama," he said. "Come."
These words were accompanied by a tugging on my arm.
I was somewhere in midsentence, so I said, "Wait. Mama is busy."
So, the little tyke walks about the room and starts broadcasting that Mama is busy. He goes: Mama is busy. Mama is busy. Mama is busy.
He kept saying that phrase while walking from side to side and shaking a finger at himself.
Well...that was the end of any attempts at serious writing for the day.
Some things I do regularly because of my Samuel:
1. Outdoor walks and visits to the playground.
2. Play ( and that's one way kids help us because when we play, we reconnect to that inner child. There's no end to what a child can imagine is there?)
Samuel's also made me more conscious of how I tend to live a lot inside my head. Sometimes, I can be thinking too much and a morning can pass without a word being said. So... I am making more of an effort to talk.
I hear him calling now, so I'm going off to tend to my twosy who claims that he has something "painful".
- Mood: busy
I've re-scheduled my piano students so I only give lessons two days in the week instead of adjusting to my students whenever they are available. I'm hoping that this way, I'll be able to find more writing time. It's quite challenging though as my two year old does need his share of attention.
- Mood: busy
Some things I wanted to post about:
Rocket Kapre has launched. Rocket Kapre is a new e-publishing venture founded by Filipino writer Paolo Chikiamco and I just loved the sound of it. I participated in a round table q and a where Paolo asks what our favorite Filipino Speculative Fiction story is. I have my reasons for listing a bald guy who sports two giant snakes around his neck (they're attachments actually). I don't really recall a lot of the story line, but I remember feeling quite a good deal of sympathy for Zuma mainly because I felt he was largely misunderstood and he was like the outsider who kept wanting to fit in but never really would.
I probably should look up the series now and read it again.
( rambling about Filipino created characters )
Flurb #8 is out and in it is "My Only Sunshine" written by CW classmate, Emily Skaftun. It's a lovely story and I hope you all enjoy the read.
Ending here as I still have work to do. I'm still in a bit of a topsy-turvy state. I miss lots of things...lots of people...I miss a lot...one of the things I miss most is the bookstores in Seattle. Lord, I miss the bookstores. *sigh*
- Mood:
rushed
- Mood: cheerful
There are so many machines out there, but for my budget the best thing I could get was the ASUS K50IJ. According to reviews this was one of the best budget laptops. Hopefully it will last me a long time.
The ASUS is quite a neat laptop. According to the reviews it's very basic, but I truly only need it for writing, mailing and keeping in touch with folks, so it suits me pretty well. The screen is nice and wide and the keyboard is much bigger than my former laptop. I like how it starts up soundlessly. I also like that it's lighter than my old laptop.
Unfortunately, the discs that came with it were all bent and the drivers and utilities disc was cracked. So no further installing has taken place. I shall have to wait until Monday when I can bring the discs back to the shop I bought the laptop from and only then will I be fully installed and ready to go. *
I've cracked open Paul Tremblay's "The Harlequin and The Train" which came while I was at Clarion West. I am on a mad search for yellow highlighter (which I know I have somewhere). The absence of the highlighter hasn't kept me from dipping into it. I started with the first page and just couldn't stop reading. So there. The yellow highlighter will have to come into play when I finally find it.
As if I didn't have enough books already, I still went on Amazon and ordered the following books:
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis
The Little Sleep by Paul Tremblay
You Might Sleep by Nick Mamatas
Yay for Amazon.de which requires no postage costs for books bought through them.
*All shops are closed on Sunday in The Netherlands, and don't open until Monday noontime. Until then, my internet visibility will be low.
- Mood: calm
Here's where I confess that I've never read Robin Hobb before. I've pretty much kept away from trilogies because shipping copies one at a time via Amazon can be pricey and getting them via the sellers makes it pricey too because of the shipping. But, I was in the land of books and
akashiver was so enthusiastic about the Farseer Trilogy, I decided it was time to read them. The first volume of this trilogy encompasses Fitz's growing up years, his apprenticeship to the Royal assassin, and his discovery of other gifts. There's court intrigue, love, jealousy, heartbreak...the palette of human emotion is put to full use. CW woke up a part of my brain that used to just go along for the ride when I read books before, so this time I was observing the author's skill as well.
Nancy Kress said to us that one of the things writers tend to forget is economics and the part it plays in the writing of a novel. This bit of advice/observation is one of the things I've squirrelled away and as I read Assassin's Apprentice, I paid attention to the way in which Hobb writes the economics of the Six Duchies as well as the economics of daily life.
One reason why this book is so rivetting lies in how the author has paid attention to details like these and used them to show the reader what life is like.
But world-building alone does not make for a rivetting book. In the main character, Fitz, Hobb has given the reader a character to care for and root for. Fitz's struggles become the reader's struggles. But Hobb doesn't give us just one character to care for, her supporting cast, the people around Fitz and the people who matter to Fitz, even the villains in this book are rounded and alive. They sound like real people and act like real people.
There's a lot to like about the voice and the style of writing here and I look forward to reading the second volume which I just cracked open this very morning.
- Mood: busy
It's wonderful to come back to good news and I just wanted to Congratulate Ann VanderMeer and Stephen Segal for winning the Hugo for Weird Tales Magazine .
Reading that news made me feel all kinds of happy :)
( post Clarion West thoughts )
- Mood: calm
We got our certificates today, and the secret decoder ring. Rudy Rucker initiated us into the secret circle which included a super-secret magnificent chant. We had our final class picture. Have engaged in packing practices, sorting through manuscripts and sort of not really wanting to admit that this is really it...
I shall miss everything about this place. Seattle and the sf&f community here have a very special place in my heart. I will love forever the people who have encouraged us and cheered us on. Thank you so much.
You are our inspiration to keep on writing and to keep on giving our best to this field.
We'll keep on writing, keep on submitting, keep on being stubborn about saying what we have to say in the best way we know how.
Attended Rudy Rucker's reading at the University Bookstore and decided to buy a copy of Hylozoic (which sounds pretty cool) as well as The Lifebox, The Seashell and The Soul. Rudy Rucker is laid-back and easy to talk to and has some awesomely otherworldly ideas. He's a great teacher for sixth week when we are all in a state of mind that is something close to brain-fried.
I'm in a state of denial right now. I already envy next year's Clarion West class. You will be having such an awesome time. I just know it.
Game night after story submission cut-off time. Tonight, we played Surreal Oracle. This is a game Ben Rosenbaum shared with us at Villa Diodati. Some pretty cool answers came out of the game.
Q: Who inspires mythic muses?
A: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
Q: What's in the trunk of your car?
A: Brains
Q: Why are dolls so scary?
A: It takes one to know one.
Q: How would you describe Clarion West?
A: Clap your hands twice, click your heels together and yell Kalamazoo!
Q: What is the best thing in life?
A: Clarion West 2009
Can you tell? We're all in some state of mind that still wants to be here.
***
It's pretty warm over here. I have a big fan in my room now, hopefully it will help. Tomorrow is going to be one hot day.
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