What I've Been Doing (Part Deux)

So I haven't been updating this blog overly regularly, but I thought I'd check in!

Like my last post mentioned, I'm still contributing theater reviews to The New England Theatre Geek (where I've been writing about Miranda July, Bryan Cranston, and other happenings in local Boston drama) and entertainment essays over on The Analytical Couch Potato.  For the latter, I participated in a podcast and hope to do more in the future.

I've also had some fiction published. And by some, I mean a lot, and with publications I adore.  Links below!

In 2012, I was very memorably part of Kazka Press's anthology Bronies: For the Love of Ponies.  My story, The Girl Beneath the House, received a mention over in this very nice review.  It was described as "Houyhnhnmish" (a reference to the talking horses in Gulliver's Travels) and inspired some hilarious comments on the post.

In April 2013, my poem Eat the Children (a title I still love) was published in the 57th issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine. I also ended up reading the poem at the open mic for this past Readercon.

Another poem of mine, The Tiger is Herself, was published in August with Michael D. Thomas and Shira Lipkin for Flying Higher: An Anthology of Superhero Poetry.  They talk about it at length over on Julia Rios's Outer Alliance #34. It's available for free at Smashwords and has a ton of talented people!

The audio rights for my flash piece, Quiet Death Machines, were bought by the fantastic folks over at PodCastle.  It was posted in September and read wonderfully by David D. Levine. If podcasts are your bag, I totally recommend checking out the entire Escape Artists family (and donating if your wallet will allow it).

His Brother's Bite was sold and published over at Flash Fiction Online this past October.  Publisher Anna Yeatts is awesome and very kind.  She let me know that the story is the most popular of the quarter despite being up for only a month!

Over on Electric Velocipede, my poem "Cloth Leaves and Wire Vines" will be in the upcoming 27th issue.

So, the writing continues apace!  I'm no longer reviewing books (at least not too often) but I'm very happy about where this is all going.

Also, I have to say that moving to Boston has been an excellent decision. I have a lot of proof of that including this photo with bestselling author Neil Gaiman that ended up in the Boston Globe. I won a free ticket to that event and if I look elated in the photo, it's because I am.  I've been a fan for years and it's funny that he ended up in the area, too.  Also, his hugs are awesome.

Further updates on my life and writing will continue to be wildly sporadic!  For more regular stuff about me, I recommend checking out my Twitter.

Thank you.  I may not know who you are, whoever's reading this, but you're awesome.

What I've Been Doing

Image by Clio Chiang.

These days, I've been writing a bit for The New England Theater Geek, a blog of local Boston theater reviews. It's the city where I just moved and a lovely way of getting to know the community.

I'm also continuing to contribute to The Analytical Couch Potato, where I've most recently begun blathering about Doctor Who.

I'm reading about as much as I always do but don't have much to say about the material. Ah well.

Recent recommendations include, but are not limited to:

• Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

• Fox Woman and Fudoki by Kij Johnson

And recent issues of:

• Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet

• Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine

• Asimov's

So go read all this.

One Week After Clarion

Photos courtesy of Snazel!

I'm still trying to process everything that happened at Clarion. It was a happy experience, a stressful experience, and something that I think has given me a lot of perspective.

Comic-Con was an adventure. Due to the generosity of one of my Clarion fellows, I was able to be there not just for one day but THREE.

I spent Friday afternoon in the dealers room while Saturday and Sunday were mainly used for panels, like the Voice Actor Q&A, The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra, and Doctor Who. All three had magnificently long lines. Perhaps much more wisely, other Clarionauts spent time in the YA and literature panels.

I had a lot of fun scoping out the publishing section of the dealers room. I preferred the booths involving indie comics and fiction to the ones in the more commercial part of the convention center where all the TV channels and movies were handing out promotional material. The crowds were particularly dense down there!

Hope I can make it to Comic-Con again in the future!

The last two weeks of Clarion involved particularly close and enlightening sessions with Kij Johnson and John Kessel. Excellent writers and wonderful teachers with different strengths that lent depth and credibility to their lectures. Saying much more would force me to gush. Suffice to say, I would be very sad if I never met them again.

Workshops in the last couple weeks became particularly eloquent and fun. You could tell everyone had gotten to know each others' writing styles and tics. Kim Stanley Robinson stopped by and said he was impressed.

It was nice to feed off of such supportive energy from everyone.

Clarion Notes: Day 24 (Wings)

Sanity Status of the Troupes: Holding. It's definitely a pressure cooker here considering the turnaround time of the work we do and the vulnerability of individual students in workshops.

Elizabeth Bear commented on the fact that we're a pretty emotionally stable group and that we seem to "have each others backs." It certainly feels like it's true. I hope we continue to support each other in writing endeavors after this session of Clarion has ended. Just yesterday, I was talking to another student about keeping the Clarion 2011 blog going in order to keep tabs on everybody and trade prompts.

Bear also said she thinks the future of the genre, based on our stories, looks pretty good. I hope she's right about that, too.

Workshops: This week's instructor, David Anthony Durham, is an interesting contrast with the previous three teachers in that he started with historical fiction, moved into writing fantasy, and is in the process of returning to historical. He's a remarkably patient presence in workshops and very reserved. He seems to take the in-jokes shared by the others in stride.

Clarion Notes: Day 17 (Descent into Madness)

Sanity Status of the Troupes: One of our number started meowing in class, today. It didn't seem particularly weird. The in-jokes now involve lumberjacks, the word "hard," and collectively saying, "Errrr" in displeasure when something goes wrong.

Currently, the common room has a list of "possible titles" for a choose-your-own-adventure story on the wall and a drawing of the sprinkle lord.

In my phone call to my mom, today, I'm shocked I sounded normal.

Workshops: Elizabeth Bear has proven to be an interesting combination of Nina and Scalzi. Like Nina, she concentrates on the art of narrative; like Scalzi, her approach to teaching is pragmatic.

After workshopping four stories on Monday, she delivered an interesting lecture on different forms of narrative, ranging from the 5-act Elizabethan structure to the epic/soap opera plot style. Her take on want vs. need (main character) and the try-fail cycle was fascinating. It culminated in the class brainstorming two movies in ten minutes based on her outlines.

Tuesday's lesson involved the strengths and weaknesses of different points of view in narrative (ex. omniscient vs. limited third). Also, writers are allowed one amnesia story per career. Unofficial rule.

Today's lecture was mainly a discussion about first lines/hooks, what works, what doesn't, and favorite books and their openings.

The reading at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore was lovely, this evening.

Bear read us an excellent Californian vampire story from an upcoming Ellen Datlow collection. I think the piece may have been more about Californians than vampires, but that may just be me and my home fried biases.

I'm afraid, due to the little sleep I've been getting lately, I ended up a bit loopy tonight. (Hence the title.) Am currently drinking chamomile before I begin critiquing tonight's stories.

Clarion Notes: Day 13

The Clarion Schedule, according to Becky Adams, as decided last night:

Week 3: Awkward

Week 4: Wings

Week 5: Permanent Night

Week 6: Rain of Marshallows

All very accurate.

Today: Beach, hurrah! Also more writing.

Elizabeth Bear and her guitar showed up this evening. She popped by the common room to talk and play us some very nice songs with ukulele accompaniment. It was great.

Clarion Notes: Day 11

Workshops: We've been plowing through each other's stories. Reading parties erupt in the common room each night and sometimes in the living rooms of other apartments.

Right now, there's a ukulele and didgeridoo party in here, pictured left.

After each workshop, we've had a lecture from Scalzi. He tends to focus on the business and marketing aspect of writing which, for selling fiction, is pretty damn important. It's definitely a change from Nina; I'm glad Clarion varies its instructors.

Tuesday's lecture was dedicated to money (ex. budgeting, choosing whether or not to keep one's day job, etc.), Wednesday's involved finding agents and avoiding scams, and today's was all about networking or, as it should more reasonably be called, successfully socializing with peers and people you want to be your peers.

I gather most of these lectures are touched on in his blog. Here's a photo of him with three of our number, Jim W., Andy, and Tim.

In my one-on-one meeting, I asked about maintaining a job while writing and about finding an agent with a novella I wrote in college. The conversation generated a lot of interesting notes. It eventually wandered into a discussion about the excellent idea of landing spouses with superior money management skills. Or, you know, marrying (or divorcing) rich. John Scalzi: a man of wisdom.

I also had a meeting today with the Clarion program director, Shelley Streeby, with whom I shared a trunk story I wrote before coming to California. Hopefully, I'll have time later this week to edit it and the other stories I've turned in so far. She's a great source for critique. Very precise and easy to talk to.

Time feels very, very short.