The Write Grrl

and a Happy New Year...

2006-12-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

Well, I think the time has come to bid you farewell. I confess, I haven't been back here much lately because I just haven't got much to say. Yes, I'm still writing, and yes, I still hope to one day find myself in the stacks alongside the writers I grew up with. However, as the new year approaches I find myself more and more engaged in the doing, less with the talking about doing. Which I take as

I did it..i did it...i did it!

2006-11-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

You are looking at a first time winner of NANOWRIMO :-)Yippee.The last ten or so pages are delirious nonsense, but nobody said they had to be good words. It's enough to make the baby jezus cry.Beautiful.

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled NANOWRIMO cram session...

2006-11-29T21:25:00.000-08:00

...to bring you the following announcement:Check out a new take on the old expression "when pigs fly," at Strange Horizons -- Cat Rambo's Magnificent Pigs, is available on the website.In other news...I'm just passing 40,000 words. Sweet baby jezus I might actually make it this year. Keep your fingers crossed!

Holee Shit!

2006-11-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to see an inch of snow on the ground. It won't stick, but I've been told it doesn't snow often in Seattle, so it's one of those "once in a blue moon" occurrences that makes my little heart believe in luck, hope and blue moons.I swear it was the best "Welcome to Seattle" present this city could give me.I LOVE YOU SEATTLE!

NANO Crunch

2006-11-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

I'm at a little over 30,000 now, and I can see the homestretch. With eight days left the prospect of another 20,000 words seems a lot less daunting than getting to 30k did a week ago.Funny how that happens.I'm nowhere near the end, which is kind of scary and means editing is going to be a biatch -- but hey, can't worry about that now. Must push on.Mom is here but being awesome about not minding

Busy today...

2006-11-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

But here's a fun diversion...(Thanks Rachel for the link)You are The LoversMotive, power, and action, arising from Inspiration and Impulse.The Lovers represents intuition and inspiration. Very often a choice needs to be made.Originally, this card was called just LOVE. And that's actually more apt than "Lovers." Love follows in this sequence of growth and maturity. And, coming after the Emperor,

Lest I forget...Check out Fantasy Mag

2006-11-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

Issue Five in December for Cat Rambo's "The Dead Girl's Wedding March."

CW 05 Takes on Sci-Fi Cliches

2006-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

Check out the latest issue of Subterranean Magazine #4 the Sci-Fi Cliche Issue.(why wouldn't you, it's FREE!)More importantly, it features work by my fellow Clarionites:Scene from a Dystopia, by Rachel SwirskyHesperia and Glory, Ann Leckie

Leonids are back...

2006-11-17T18:45:00.000-08:00

This weekend, my favorite astronomical phenomenon will be taking place in the night sky. The annual Leonid Shower is promising to make a great show this year in North America and Western Europe. Unfortunately for those of us on the west coast catching the meteor shower that takes its name from the constellation Leo means getting up extra early tomorrow morning...like pre-dawn early.Not my

Sixteen thousand and counting...

2006-11-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

Today's total: 6,61806 Total Word Count: 16,720So my new nano strategy is, "write through it." When I get stuck or hung up on something i need more details (read: research) I create the nanowrimo equivalent of "..and god said let there be light, and it was..." (no "and it was good" necessary)The nice part is I could probably do this six or eight times and still have plenty to write about to get

Today, coffee. Tomorrow...well, we'll see...

2006-11-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

It's officially NANO crunch time. To stay on track with my mid-late month goals I need about 20k words in the next few days. At least.(I refuse to say I am behind, that does crap for the moral)Excellent timing, considering I was looking for a diversion from the rest of my life anyway. However, this does require bringing out the heavy artillery: the Black Death, surefire lubricant of words stuck

Why the bed will never be 'made'

2006-11-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

So my very nifty new Ikea duvet for my very nifty (very warm) down comforter really does look best when it's stretched tautly over the bed.With Echo's gianormous crate at the foot of the bed and against the wall, my secondary bed access point is cut off.* So every time I have to get at something stashed on the shelf side of the bed (my phone, laptop, journal, box of Kleenex, etc.) i have to crawl

Things to do today:

2006-11-11T08:33:00.000-08:00

5-7k words.Call mom.Make bed.Eat.Nurse aching head.I love it that #1 is writing. Yeah!

Yes, I am still bitter...

2006-11-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

...over the lost words. I promise to get over it after this post, but at the moment I still can't even look at the damn program. One thousand plus hard fought, hard won words. Gone.Damn it!(and don't tell me I should have been saving more often -- Cause you'd be right)

DAMN!

2006-11-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Ohhh I hate you microsoft word runtime error. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. At least 500 words lost in one fell swoopTime to go for a walk before I throw my laptop out on the lawn.

NANOWRIMO Word Count: 4,500

2006-11-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

So just in time for my second week wall, I get a nice little note from the folks at NANOWRIMO reminding us not to quit in the second week. Apparently week two is when a host of different obstacles batter the intrepid writer. For me, it's that old feeling of getting behind again.Let's face it, I've always been terrible at the "write a little bit every day" strategy. After all, that's what I've

Reading: Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexie

2006-11-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

Yeah! Back again.

2006-11-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

I can post again! A good thing cause with NANOWRIMO starting (actually it started two days ago) I might actually have something to say. As usual I'm in transit, with regular posts to follow as I get settled in the great Emerald City. Coming to you today from the lovely wet city of Portland. Finishing my first novel crit, and getting some writing done (okay that's a lie, I'm ebaying a real winter

I am in love. Her name is Delli. She is fast...

2006-10-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Two days without New Delli and I thought I would loose my mind.What began as a quick in and out for a memory upgrade, revealed a misbehaving hard drive as the true reason Delli has been dragging her ass everytime I asked for something the last few weeks. Turns out she was quite capable, just hamstrung by her owner's illusions of internal brilliance (yeah, tampering with the settings). I felt

Two years worth of advice...

2006-10-25T09:15:00.000-07:00

In the movie The Lake House, architect Alex Wyland (Keanu Reeves) from 2004 asks Dr. Kate Feldman (Sandra Bullock) from 2006 what the world is like in the future. She jokes that not much has changed aside from the shiny silver unisuit and flying cars, etc. Eventually she replies, "not much."While trying to carry a pretty ridiculous premise over some appalling disregard for the grandfather complex

Butterflies and The Pickup

2006-10-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

So I posted "The Pickup" to my writer's group today. I'm actually a little proud of it because it's the SHORTEST story I've ever written. So short, in fact, it can actually be legitimately considered a Short Story, rather than a novelette masquerading as one (think: blue whale in a bikini)Of course, even before I hit Send, the butterflies are raging up against my collarbones and kamikaze-ing

Oh God and did I mention...

2006-10-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

NaNoWriMo starts next week. So begins my mantra for the month of November: I am going to finish this year, I am going to finish this year.Rinse, Repeat.But, first I have to start.

How I Found God

2006-10-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Ohh! God likes beer. And college bars. Guess I'm not in too much trouble then...Check out the delightful "How I Found God" by the amazing Ann Leckie at Son and Foe Magazine.YEAH, Ann!P.S. Saw Anne Lamott at Grace Cathedral in SF on Sunday. She was honest, fun, wonderful and inspiring. Did I mention she is one quirky woman? Plus she has an amazing sense justice tempered with off beat humor. We

Where have I been?

2006-10-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

Heather's most awesome Mayfly was published by Strange Horizons last week. Read HERE.(So okay, this isn't our first publication and I should have been linking to them before this...Yeah, duh. If you haven't yet, check out Cat Rambo's blog. She keeps track of these things much better than little ole me. To all my fellow Clarion wastes -- 'policies for not growing a brain sooner. Will link as you

Dear Mom, Please lay off the email forwards...

2006-10-03T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is a crackup!The Chrysalis Stage: 5T or Thursday's Too Tired To Type

My First Renaissance Festival*

2006-10-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

*Actually it was a medieval "Festival of Courage" which I like better just because I can spell it without looking it up.I'm a bit embarrassed to say I've never been to one of these things. And if you've never seen a guy walking down the street in full armor you are TOTALLY missing out.I went to oogle the weirdness and wound up working the admissions booth - welcome to life in a small town. It

Holy Crap, I just saw Condi Rice!

2006-09-27T16:07:00.000-07:00

Okay so not quite. Although, it was one of those moments where, sitting in the tiny coffee shop downtown I looked up at a woman walking away from the counter and thought, "OMG it's Condi, I have to give that woman a piece of my mind while I have a chance," before realizing that it was just a Condi-look alike (yes, they do exist)It was the hair that fooled me. The perfectly coiffed, perfectly

I'm writing, I'm really, really writing!

2006-09-25T12:22:00.000-07:00

Okay so make that an edit/rewrite story I dug out of a trunk (literally: all my shit's in storage at the moment and I have to dig through piles to find ANYTHING)For the record, this is actually the shortest story I have ever written -- thereby making it a short story, not a novelette. Working title (and you know how bad these are coming from me, so apologies in advance) "The Pickup" Coming to a

It's getting late...

2006-09-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

I am tempted to describe a horse as being, "out of its mind with terror."Tomorrow it will undoubtedly become a "terrified horse," or better yet, a good description of how a horse would behave surrounded by fire. Terrified. Minus that word.Right now, it's the unmistakable sign of a mind out wandering past bedtime in rough draft land.

I SHOULD be writing...

2006-09-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

But this just looked like fun....(I used a photo from my first week at CW, apparently it works best if generated repeatedly with several differnt photos and see which celebs pop up most often...)

Home at last, home at last...

2006-09-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

(at least, my familial home)Unpacking, opening mail, checking blog, scanning the stories I was submitting before I left.Finding new things to sharpen up, tighten and otherwise tweak.Assessing best potential markets. Updating Sonar.Back to Work.Life is good.

My ipod just shook its picture

2006-09-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

I updated my ipod software last night.It deleted all of my music.Yes.At first I attempted, quite rationally, to "find" the lost music.A technology savvy fellow CWer tried to explain: "Do you know what format 'C' is?"Bleary eyed, I looked up from my laptop.Then, in language I would understand: Remember an etch-a-sketch? You drew a picture. When you were done you shook it, and the picture went away

Little Miss Sunshine

2006-09-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Where have I been?How did I manage to miss a movie this good? If you haven't seen Sunshine yet, you'd better hurry -- I think it's almost out of theaters everywhere.I laughed so hard people looked at me funny. I laughed while crying. I laughed so hard my belly hurt.It left me with a distinctly non slimy Hollywood-feel-good-by-emotional-manipulation, good feeling -- pleasant surprise.Quite

Back in the Saddle

2006-09-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

After a fun filled, exciting summer (in which far fewer words were written than previously anticipated) I'm back and ready to get down to business:YEAH, new design! You know me, the blog design junkie. Keeping it simple, but classy. I am not down for the massive amounts of maintenance required for the wholely personalized layouts of days past. And I do love blue.Shorter format. I'm starting a

Reading

2006-06-06T12:02:00.000-07:00

Currently: Bones of the Moon, Jonathan Carroll (A CWite recommended author)Recently: Perdido Street Station, China Mieville (phenomenal!)Guilty Pleasure: Tori Amos: Piece by Piece (Yes, I have my "Tori Moments"

Current Mood: Bizzy Bee Buzzing

2006-05-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

Reading: Perdido Street Station, China MievilleListening to: Julieta VenegasProjects: The River's Tale (workingly untitled) Look for it when you get back from Wiscon, kids!I have to say I'm currently a bit bummed that I am not going to Wiscon with the rest of my Clarion West Class (seriously...I'm no good with math but with only six of us not going out of a group of 18 that's pretty remarkable

Rejected!

2006-05-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Damn. Mareskin back in remarkable turnaround from favorite editor. Cat loved parsnip coverletter, story was much improved. ALAS (can I tell you how much I hate that word at this moment?) it did not "catch" said editor. He did express the hope that it finds the right home. Which is good news. At least he didn't say, "burn this pile of trash ASAP, you suck!"That would be bad.There is a reason he's

Reading: Snow Crash

2006-05-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

Alright alright I suck. Officially.People have been pushing Snowcrash at me for the last 5 years and I have been turning it down again and again. Not exactly turning it down -- I mean, I'll read pretty much anything -- just shuffling it to the bottom of the pile or loaning it out to other people. I mean, it was most recently displaced for Jared Diamond's Collapse: Why societies choose to fail or

Vote on a Card!

2006-05-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

So Eto told me, business cards are a very personal thing...but goddess knows I can't even make up my mind most days on a pair of shoes, a boy or a title for my next story. I need all the help I can get.Here are my top three picks:Any thoughts? Use the comments and holla back!

New Job, New Cards!

2006-05-03T06:42:00.000-07:00

Wow...so much, so little time.Life has begun to speed up toward the inevitable seperation from the same old same old and reach for the new. It's hard to believe I'm packing up my life again, but somehow this time it feels different and I'm finding myself excited saying good bye to non-essential stuff for the next few months of my life. My days are filled with the fun exciting stuff that comes

News

2006-04-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, can't believe I've been gone so long. Betcha thought I dropped off the face of the planet or something?Well, surprise, here she be.In the last month: I finished my Horseboy rewrite (now titled Mareskin) and am starting to pack it around. I got a new job! Starting in June I will be rowing an oar raft down stretches of river all summer long. Woohoo. Packing to move (again) this time

Clarion West Write-a-Thon

2006-04-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

Just when Clarion withdrawal started to set in (about this time last year was agonizing over whether I could get the time off work to go) I found out about the CW Write-a-thon.Here's the scoop:"During the six weeks of the workshop (June 18-July 28, 2006), while the current students are studying with some of the finest writers and editors in speculative fiction, graduates of earlier workshops and

Strange out again

2006-03-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

Strange goes out today - with a new cover sheet and first page thanks to my favorite editor's cat.I am going to finish the Horseboy revision TODAY. Or sometime soon.Dropped my car off at the shop today. They confirmed it's only inner CV boots that need replacing -- NOT -- as the dealership indicated, the entire front axel. Sheesh. I hate dealers.I also got the most thorough explanation as to why

Check in

2006-03-25T09:06:00.001-08:00

Sorry things have been quiet around here the last few days -- we're having some serious drama at my job -- and that's definitely impacting my work. Of course, just because I'm not actively working on a story doesn't mean I'm not doing something writing related. In brief...Some stats:I'm reading: Fiction: The Dark Tower #7 (Aptly titled, The Dark Tower), by Stephen King (Final book, hallelujah!

Octavia Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund Announcement

2006-03-21T19:03:00.000-08:00

The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship will enable writers of color to attend one of the Clarion writing workshops, where Octavia got her start. It is meant to cement Octavia's legacy by providing the same experience/opportunity that Octavia had to future generations of new writers of color. In addition to her stint as a student at the original Clarion Writers Workshop in Pennsylvania

Bay Area Readers! Author Event in Your Area

2006-03-21T07:00:00.000-08:00

Don't miss this opportunity!STRONG AT THE HEART AUTHOR TO SPEAKAT BERKELEY'S BLACK OAK BOOKSBerkeley, CA Award winning author Carolyn Lehman will speak on her new book STRONG AT THE HEART: How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse, on Monday, April 3, at 7:30 p. m. at Black Oak Books.STRONG AT THE HEART is a compelling look at the healing process of nine diverse sexual abuse survivors. Through

The cat ate my cover letter

2006-03-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

So Strange officially got it's second rejection letter. One thing about CW -- I now have a much better understanding of the entire submission/rejection process and a much healthier attitude about rejection.Oh you're not rejecting ME personally, just my misshapen green baby? Oh, okay well thanks anyway. NEXT!However, this rejection note makes it all worth while. It concludes with a post script:

Rededication

2006-03-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

In honor of the new year, I'm officially rededicating this blog to the written word. Specifically my written word and the life of a writer after Clarion West.Correction, the WRITING life of a writer.In the last few months it's gone a bit astray with some other life stuff, and I'm grateful to you for hanging in there. I'm going to be withdrawing much of that bit to another location, but keep

She must have stared too long...

2006-03-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

"Do you need help, or...?" His voice drops off as his eyes dart toward her and then away again. He is trying not to be obvious. She looks confused, he considers, in the cute, sort of absent way smart girls are when they start working on something they can't immediately figure out. No map, instruction set or owners manual would withstand that look.She laughs and begins to reply. "No I..."How silly

Octavia Butler

2006-03-04T18:18:00.000-08:00

My dad gave me my first Octavia Butler book when he realized I wasn't going to give up this writing thing anytime soon. I remember finishing Dawn in 24 hours and looking at dad, wondering if he knew what he put into my hands. In Octavia Butler's hands, science fiction took on a whole other point and purpose. She wrote about certain Truths as I had never seen them: disturbing, unflinching and

Just incase you were starting to take yourself too seriously...

2006-02-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

The kind folks over at The Huge Entity have compiled a series of short essays entitled "Reasons Why 'You' Don't Exist."My personal favorite, "As 'You' Like It."Absolutely brilliant!

Finished!

2006-02-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today I put the final touches on Grace for Fools. It such a relief to be done. I've been dreading the ending rewrite all week. Nothing but to get through it I suppose. I'm still feeling the end might be a bit weak. I've been fussing with the foreshadowing so much I can't tell if I'm writing well enough into the ending or not.I need to take a break and look at it again later but I'm thinking it

Woohoo! I'm international!

2006-02-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

I now have regular visitors from Canada, Italy, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. WOW! Thanks for stopping by!(This is the first time I've checked stats in weeks, is it THAT obvious?)

You found out about me HOW?!

2006-02-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Keyword searches that lead to this page over the last week:"mosco sex girl""domanatrix and submission"I'm not kidding. Did I miss something? And here I was thinking this was just a silly blog about writing.

Coincidence? I think not...

2006-02-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

A little gem for the day that arrived in my mailbox this morning:This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fell in the same week. As Air America Radio pointed out -"It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication, and the other involves a groundhog."

Current Story Drama

2006-02-07T06:06:00.000-08:00

So I'm currently picking the bones out of one of my CW stories, some of you might affectionately remember by my less than clever working title "Horseboy" (Hey, all I can say is that it was due by 9 am and I was titleless at 8:45) What I really liked about the story is the strength of the voice of the main character, Jack. I knew immediately who he was and what he was about, what moved him and

Molly Grue and Schmendrick

2006-01-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

In the midst of all this crazy relationship drama, I was feeling the need to redirect some poorly spent devotion. Of course this is never a good time for me to be wandering around the pet store. It's like going to the supermarket hungry.I am categorically opposed to impulse pet acquisition, however it I am a sucker when it comes to goldfish.My initial intent was to locate someone who knew about

And the Point Is...

2006-01-13T19:27:00.000-08:00

Alright, if you'll forgive my most recent bout of nonsensicalness let's get back to business. So the news of my day today is in regard to the recently released SFWA Nebula Award Ballot and one entry in particular in the screenplay category: the Old Negro Space Program. While I won't go into details about the drama (apparently its presence on the ballot is currently under debate) because And We

Why Not?

2006-01-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well I tinkered at the old template for a while, but to be honest I never really liked it anyway (especially since every third blogger user has the same damn one) In light of a new year and all the changes life has brought I thought I earned a new look. The Blue Morpho is my favorite butterfly and an apt totem for the year unfolding. So welcome to Morpho - an adaptation of the Imitate Template

Technology moves on

2005-12-29T06:03:00.000-08:00

Dragging my sorry ass behind it. So today after toodling around reading everyone else's blogs, adding links and finally looking into this Technorati business everyone is all buzzy about (and finding myself ranked a big fat 'zero' -- I told you nobody reads this thing but mom) I decided I would do the thing that I've been dreading all week....blog.Why dread?On the eve of my (latest) move -- Stolie

So I know I can be pretty high energy, but

2005-12-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

...Do I look scary to you?Yesterday we had a young woman (okay well probably older than me) come to the office to find out about volunteer opportunities at the non-profit I work for. My Managing Director sent her to me, because well he was busy wrangling the IT consultants and didn't really have any jobs to give her at the moment. Apparently I looked just harried enough to possibly have a job to

Strange Done...

2005-12-14T06:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a long (dare I say, odd) ride but in spite of packing and moving and packing again I finished Strange. At least to the point where I'm ready for Strange to go out into the world and come back needing to be cuddled and mailed out again, and again, and again if need be.Books get to have pages for acknowledgements, but rarely do short stories give credit to the many people who help

Gender Differences

2005-12-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

I usually resist conversations that descend into how men and women are different. For as many generalizations there are that can be made there are just as many exceptions to the rule.However this time I indulged because it was D -- who can get me to talk about anything -- being somewhat the male version of myself I love to hear what he has to say about things. So this time the conversation got

Why I blog (reason #999)

2005-12-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

So I heard from a friend today via email that I haven't had a "live" conversation with in years (remember the pub in Sacto?) but whom I often think of. She's one of the few people from high school that I still try to keep in touch with. We both get busy, exchange a few brief emails and then keep running through our daily lives but she's one of those people that once you've been friends with you

Support the Write-A-Thon, Donate today!

2005-12-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

This year I am participating in the Clarion West Write-a-Thon from June 18 - July 28, 2006.My Goal:Since my NANOWRIMO project was sidelined last fall, I'm pledging to finish the novel I started by writing 10,000 words a week for the six weeks of Clarion West. (Which, the way I wrote during CW amounts to about a not so short story a week!) As Vylar mentioned in last year's write-a-thon, my hope is

Music lovers beware...this is addictive

2005-11-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

Here's to Amy for the link to the neatest new music project ever. (Hoo-rah, Amy!) Enter the name of your favorite artist, song or album and the search engine will "design" a playlist of like music. Absolutely fabulous for those of us who like the sound of a particular artist, album or genre and want to know who else is making music like that.In other news... Dad is doing much better, thank you

Oh DAMNIT...one more thing, before I forget

2005-11-10T08:02:00.000-08:00

See, I've already moved on to the next amusing thing:Bush in FreefallThis one is worth the click, BTW...

Halloween Fun

2005-11-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Okay so I cheated a bit...I know I said I was gonna try for Zoe this Halloween but I have to say that after seeing Serenity I had a hard sell with convincing T to go as Wash. I believe his exact words were "Do I have to have the pole sticking out of my chest?"So we decided to go as Storm and Wolverine (you should see the chops this guy grew!) SO I unpacked my wig only to find it getting a bit

Nobody said they had to be GOOD words

2005-11-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

Day 2 of NANOWRIMO: Word count 4,160 (Hey, I'm going for quantity, not quality here)Actually the first bit has been in my head for a while, so it's been flowing pretty easily OUT of my head and onto the page. This year I'm trying a bit of a different strategy: planning.Yes, that's right, you read it here first. The "inspiration and deadline" driven writer learns to plan. So with some basic math

Halloween Fun

2005-10-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Did I mention Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have a sweet tooth and I love to play dress up. I was MADE for Halloween, Hehehe.What more could a a girl ask for?How about a website where you can test out your latest pumpkin carving designs without lifting a knife?

Clarion West Memories

2005-10-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say I was the 'jock' of this years CW class -- I did get some pretty strange looks when I arrived with my bike and boat strapped to the roof of my car and did yoga in the mornings (okay so maybe that's a 'jock' California style)...hmmm. Hey, I only went running with Edo once -- Seattle hills damn near killed me.I think this is an Amy pic -- The basement room was for some a

Bragging Rights

2005-10-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

So I know I promised you this blog would be in the "it's all about me" vein of the bloggosphere, but I have to say: keeping up with my CW class has to be the most inspiring thing I've done for my writing since I left Seattle.Not only are we all still writing (in spite of jobs, families, children, remodels, and other such dramas) we ARE getting PUBLISHED! From an upcoming anthology of letters

NANOWRIMO and then some

2005-10-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

I am officially moved in. Thanks to my incredible mom and her gal-pal extraordinare my kitchen is unpacked and homey and my fridge stocked with food. The rest of the house...Well, yeah...That's another story. We did, however, find the curtains. And the TV. No remote yet. T's comment: "Wow, Bj's room is done, the living room is coming together, the kitchen looks amazing...." (then he rounds the

Bad Blogger, no biscuit!

2005-10-13T06:08:00.000-07:00

Has it really been almost a month since I checked in? Eugene reminded me today that I have been severely lacking in the post department.Updates:1. I am still "moving." (I find it interesting how the bulk of MOVING is actually spent stationary in one of a three activities: packing boxes, pausing to ruminate on the archeological artifacts of your life as you're TRYING to pack boxes, and unpacking

An ode to people who post comments on blogs:

2005-09-12T06:21:00.000-07:00

Can I just say -- as an charming egoist -- that I love you all!Yes, support corporate booksellers -- they are not going to go away any time soon, so make them stock their shelves with books they wouldn't ordinarily by buying the few oddballs they do. You have the money, you have the power! Buy books that they have to ORDER! If they won't order them write a letter and tell them how disappointed

It goes on and on and on

2005-08-31T06:20:00.000-07:00

I am trying to ignore the word count on my revision thusfar -- just get it out of my head and edit it later -- but I am starting to panic when I look at the page total and watch Strange steadily growing and growing and growing.I'm mostly worried that as it gets bigger it won't be able to sustain its own weight before it collapses in on itself. Its already a bit of a potentially debunkable (but

Weekends are for lovers...

2005-08-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well, it worked for the state of Virginia but I guess not nearly so well here. As it looks like my plans to go paddling on the Trinity are rapidly going up in smoke I think I WILL clean the carpets this weekend and get that revision of Strange D-O-N-E.On a delightful note: yesterday morning having finished the enormously fun reversal-fest info-dump that IS The DaVinci Code with half an hour of my

And then there was Strange...

2005-08-24T17:56:00.000-07:00

So after a long venting session last night with the best housemate on the planet about my fears that I would never write anything good again I finally quit "dickin around" and broke out my Clarion West story box. I spent the last few weeks living -- kayaking, blogging, working, gardening, all the things I missed while I was away. I was collecting stories -- and I have another twenty post its full

Life in a small town...

2005-08-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

BEWARE...FROG THIEF ON THE LOOSE...So some of you CWers didn't believe me when I said I lived "small strange town" of my own. It doesn't move around, but when news like this makes front page...you know life has shrunk to bizarre.

More useless stats

2005-08-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Current story word count: 231 (still)Current novel "Slash and Burn project" page count: 329-ish...Sometimes it makes me so depressed -- What is this crap?# of times I have started next novel in my head: 4# of times I have started next novel ON PAPER: 0# of Clarion Stories edited: 0# of Post Clarion Stories by other Clarionites critted: 0# of Stories published: o# of stories submitted: 0(anyone

Got an awful last line?

2005-08-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

It might be helpful if I could come up with a last line period (even a relatively good one) but these are fun to check out anyway! There are even a few of my fellow Clarionites tossing hats in the ring...< EVIL MONKEY'S WORST LAST LINE CONTESTAh, thanks Vanderworld for giving the procrastinating writer something interesting to do...

The Grrl and her Garden

2005-08-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

So as my fellow Clarionites might remember, one of the many reasons I couldn't wait to get home was to check out my garden. It was badly overgrown and under watered, but getting back among my little weedlings and snailnests felt great...Sunday I spent much of the afternoon digging, weeding and watering.Oh yeah and harvesting. Check out my first cabbage!So I'm not the most experienced gardener but

Today I...

2005-08-13T17:11:00.000-07:00

Woke up, made a pot of tea and finished reading Hidden Warrior. And yes there really was a point to reading it, I'm just not sure what that is at this moment...Oh yeah, sometimes its good to read books you don't really "care for"* all that much so you can see how and why and what the author did so you can either emulate or avoid this technique. Next time I'll try to find a book that I don't

Clarion Fact and Fiction (from my not so humble Clarion West Class of 2005 perspective)

2005-08-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

Fact: Clarion West does prep writers for professional careers. Even those of us coming to enrich our “art” publication or no learn a few things about the business end of the stick. Sure some of the reality stuff sucks and hearing about the “Editorial Red Line” made some of us nauseous (or is that nauseated) but we persevered. And we learned that perseverance is the key to success, screw talent

A word of thanks

2005-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

Now its time to thank the folks that got me here and home. So big thanks to Mom, Dad and Grandmas and Grandpas, not so little sis Kamilah and my Aunties – for more love and support than one grrl can hold on to with both her arms open. To the wonderful ladies of WeCanDo – Lila, Candelaria, Bonnie, Barbara, Janna, Carolyn, Jean, Lorraine, Olivia, Deborah and our fearless guide Akaya -- proving

In case you were wondering...

2005-08-03T17:00:00.000-07:00

Ha. And you thought I’d fallen into the deep dark post-Clarion West hole, never to emerge. Well, okay so maybe you didn’t. Michael told us to take a break – a week exactly – and go back to writing. This being a class of overachievers some of us didn’t bother to wait that long. Hehehe. I crashed a bit after the workshop – thank goodness for the kindness of a classmate who let me loaf

I tried to leave but...

2005-07-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

yeah Im still in Seattle. Hehehe...Well I guess it fits -- I was the last one to get here, now I'm the last to leave. Saying goodbye so many times today is hard. Its hard to see how much of a difference 17 other people have made in your life the last 6 weeks until you're faced with not seeing them every mornin.:-(I Spent the morning jotting down my revision notes for the Clarion pieces. Then

Photos

2005-07-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Edo practices his signature..See. We came out fine...just look at Ann's bright shiny face!Michael, tell us, what is that on Chris's back? Oh its all the silly things we've said over the past 5 weeks in critiques!

Last Days

2005-07-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

Wow.Its officially 5am on Saturday and I have pulled my last Clarion West all nighter. No, I don't have a story due. Instead I spent the last twelve hours in pure fun social land with my classmates. One last time.Naw, it wasn't all weepy like that either. After we had our graduation ceremony (following my last story critique -- a revision for life and death that went well but indicated that I

2005-07-26T01:09:00.000-07:00

In Leiu of a real post I have another silly quiz result. I promise, I'll be back soon...I had a story due this am and a buttload of crits. But you better believe I've got a lot to say about our LAST WEEK.Remind me to tell you about:Michael Swanwick the Story FixerMarshmellows and glowing picklesOur last readingAll I need to know I learned at Clarion (well not quite)and more!I don't even READ

Mystery Guest, calamari disasters and week 5 wrapup

2005-07-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Oddball statistical analysis:Week 5 Mystery Guest: Eileen Gunn (yehowsahs) she is too cool.Foods I might never eat again: Calamari Tempura - still recovering from that one. I am considering swearing off all fried foods at this point. Probably not a bad idea.Number of times I've regretted ordering the plate of Calimari: that corresponds directly with the number of treks I've made to worship the

Week 5 Party Pics

2005-07-24T00:43:00.000-07:00

Yes your honor, we were all a bit tired at that point in the workshop...but James, well he was just a little bit farther out there than the rest of us :-)Another, "What do we want? Brains...When do we want them? Brains..." Moment brought to you by the class of 05 -- wait till you see our most killah tee shirts! I was going for dramatic, but exhausted chic...who nees hard stuff when you can get

In case you were wondering...

2005-07-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Alright. I am remiss. You win. I fully intended to post after Horseboy crit. Then after my conference with The Gordon. Then after visit from mystery guest Eileen Gunn. Then before the party. Then after the party. Then week 5 reflections today after meandering down to the Farmer's Market.Shit, Flitch...Its 11 and I ain't blogged a damn thing. Like that DMB song goes..."So much to say, so much to

Is it Friday yet?

2005-07-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

Just barely, at the moment. So Horseboy is up for crit tomorrow. At this rate I will be doing my best to stay awake long enough to take notes. I'm actually really proud of it, in spite of the malformed lumpedness of the plot and distinctly horsey aroma. My poor little ugly baby. Isn't he cute? With a rewite it *might* be interesting to someone who publishes something and wants to pay people to

Good reminder...

2005-07-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): In his commencement address to Stanford's graduating class, Apple CEO Steve Jobs reminisced about the time, many years ago, when he was sacked by the company he started. "It turned out that getting fired was the best thing that could have happened to me," he said. "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about

And they're turning for home...

2005-07-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

Well, week 5 is here. To be honest, I don't remember much of week 4. The worst part was getting to know Connie, starting to really like her and then being yanked out of Clarion by "real life." Technically I only missed four days, but it feels like a month the way things move around here. I'm just getting back up to speed, though I was back in the house on Thursday afternoon. I've been doing lots

So much for skatin through week 4...

2005-07-12T13:49:00.000-07:00

Well kids, I hate to drop the anvil in the middle of the party but so it goes. Grandpa Silvera died yesterday. I got the call from mom last night, and as expected, Silveras across the country are rattled and answering our own version of the "clarion call" home. After a long set of talks with mom, I've decided not to go to the service -- which will be next week--for many reasons, all of which I

Another one bites the dust

2005-07-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Good Evening, dear reader. (Always wanted to say that)(This post is hereby dedicated to Tazsa, without whom it might not exist.)So week three has just gone down the tubes and before I hop on the freight train conveniently titled "Week 4: Avoiding Predictions of Overworked Writers, Group Disgust and Unbearable Homesickness " I thought I'd touch bases with you for a brief recap of Timmi's

Oh I forgot!

2005-07-07T00:00:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Seattle at Dusk...Seattle's AWESOME 4th of July fireworks display. James, Katie and I hung out under the stars, it was very cool.Well, except for the part where they started playing Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries...can we say SCARY anyone?

No time for words, just pics

2005-07-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

As part of some important....ah research, yeah...we took a tour of some of the Ave's nicer shops. Ann and I got sarees at this really nice place called Bombay Jewlers......which we wore at the party on Friday. Aren't we cute? Working hard, hardly working...you be the judge.Amy and I get some sun and take on our crits while posing as UWstudents. Don't ask. It was something about the statue of

The Write Grrl

and a Happy New Year...

I did it..i did it...i did it!

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled NANOWRIMO cram session...

Holee Shit!

NANO Crunch

Busy today...

Lest I forget...Check out Fantasy Mag

CW 05 Takes on Sci-Fi Cliches

Leonids are back...

Sixteen thousand and counting...

Today, coffee. Tomorrow...well, we'll see...

Why the bed will never be 'made'

Things to do today:

Yes, I am still bitter...

DAMN!

NANOWRIMO Word Count: 4,500

Reading: Reservation Blues, Sherman Alexie

Yeah! Back again.

I am in love. Her name is Delli. She is fast...

Two years worth of advice...

Butterflies and The Pickup

Oh God and did I mention...

How I Found God

Where have I been?

Dear Mom, Please lay off the email forwards...

My First Renaissance Festival*

Holy Crap, I just saw Condi Rice!

I'm writing, I'm really, really writing!

It's getting late...

I *SHOULD* be writing...

Home at last, home at last...

My ipod just shook its picture

Little Miss Sunshine

Back in the Saddle

Reading

Current Mood: Bizzy Bee Buzzing

Rejected!

Reading: Snow Crash

Vote on a Card!

New Job, New Cards!

News

Clarion West Write-a-Thon

Strange out again

Check in

Octavia Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund Announcement

Bay Area Readers! Author Event in Your Area

The cat ate my cover letter

Rededication

She must have stared too long...

Octavia Butler

Just incase you were starting to take yourself too seriously...

Finished!

Woohoo! I'm international!

You found out about me HOW?!

Coincidence? I think not...

Current Story Drama

Molly Grue and Schmendrick

And the Point Is...

Why Not?

Technology moves on

So I know I can be pretty high energy, but

Strange Done...

Gender Differences

Why I blog (reason #999)

Support the Write-A-Thon, Donate today!

Music lovers beware...this is addictive

Oh DAMNIT...one more thing, before I forget

Halloween Fun

Nobody said they had to be GOOD words

Halloween Fun

Clarion West Memories

Bragging Rights

NANOWRIMO and then some

Bad Blogger, no biscuit!

An ode to people who post comments on blogs:

It goes on and on and on

Weekends are for lovers...

And then there was Strange...

Life in a small town...

I SHOULD be writing...