Writing: To Shine or Not to Shine

It's been a while since I posted anything on my own writing. Partly because I'm in a slow stage and partly because well, I guess because I've been plugging at one story for a bit and revisiting an old novel. Earlier this year I polished up the long running story (long running in that it took me 15 years to write) and sent it off to the Shine anthology being edited by Jetse de Vries in the Netherlands.

It's an intriguing anthology because the point is that the future is bright, not the dystopian worlds so often shown in SF and fantasy, and especially in short stories. The subgenre (or maybe getting back to the grassroots genre) of "mundane SF" looks at the world within the next 50 years, on our planet (mostly) and with a possible, believable extrapolation of future science and technologies. No bug-eyed aliens, no extra worlds or space-faring races.

For Jetse's anthology, he also wanted a future world that was better than this one. My world starts out worse but with a hopefully uplifting future, so it didn't fit. But there have been discussions of late, on the SF Canada writers' list, as well as at Worldcon about all the dystopian SF that's being written. How, some editors were asked, do you get people to write something uplifting that takes place in the near future?

A good question and I think one reason we are writing so much dystopian fiction is because of the inundation our culture receives of news stories about the terror and horror and pollution and the fall of civilization. In some ways, today is no worse than it was fifty years ago. In other ways, it is worse. There are more pollutants, more severe forms of crime (even if there is less crime), more illnesses and allergies. Or is there? Some yes, but we have 24-hour news channels, and as they say, no news is good news.

With the constant fear-mongering, the visuals of graphic crimes, the devastating natural disasters, the "wars on terror" we find our mindset dwelling on THE END, or the present and how to survive it. We have no faith of a good future. We have no pretense that there will be endless resources. We'll run out of water, oil, food and space. So how indeed do we write utopian fiction?

This discussion and Jetse's comment to me has got me thinking. My own fiction is often dark but not always. Yet I've never sold the two humorous pieces I've written, but then they're fantasy more than SF. Still, part of bringing our future, our tangible world to a brighter place is to not succumb to the gloom and despair but to hope and work towards a dream, not a nightmare. I'll consider this as I write some of my future fiction.

So with that in mind, Jetse de Vries is planning some contests for the pre-release of his anthology, Shine. Here is what he said:

Shine is slated for an early 2010 release, and until that time I will keep
several features (‘Optimistic SG around the World’, ‘Music that Makes You Feel
Optimistic’, etc.) running on the Shine blog, while adding new
ones.

First, I will be running a number of stories that came very close, but
didn’t make the final cut for a variety of reasons (I’ve tried to walk the
tightrope of getting maximum quality while also obtaining great variety in tone,
content, characters and setting). This to promote Shine and optimistic SF
in general. I’ll probably be setting up a new site for that.

Second, I will be holding a competition where people need to guess the
correct ending of a certain paragraph—choosing from four alternatives: three
bogus, one real—and this for 16 paragraphs, each from one of the 16
accepted Shine stories. Extra points for guessing who the author is. I’m
working on interesting prizes. Depending on the actual launch date
of Shine, I intend to hold this competition in November or December
2009.

Jetse de VriesEditor, SHINE anthology & OUTSHINE Twitterzine

OUTSHINE guidelines: http://shineanthology.wordpress.com/outshine-submission-guidelines/
Shine: http://shineanthology.wordpress.com/ Personal
blog: http://eclipticplane.blogspot.com/

Writing: Shirely Jackson Lottery

Shirley Jackson once wrote a story that gained all sorts of fame, "The Lottery" as well as The Haunting of Hill House and other books. Well, now there is an actual lottery related to this author and for raising money for the awards, given to stories with a horror, psychological suspense or dark fantasy aspect. http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/ There is about one more week to buy tickets for this. I've bought some, hoping to get a manuscript critique. We always need outside feedback. Details are below.

Online “Lottery” to Benefit the Shirley Jackson Awards Takes place from February 9 through February 23, 2009“Lottery” tickets are $1 each and can be purchased from: http://www.shirleyjacksonawards.org/store/

Partial List of Donations to be Awarded

• From Ash-Tree Press: Collections of Sheridan Le Fanu: Mr. Justice Harbottle; The Haunted Baronet; Schalkin the Painter.
• From Laird Barron: A signed/personalized copy of his award winning short story collection, The Imago Sequence (Nightshade), plus an original piece of short fiction, in a separate, unbound manuscript.
• From Elizabeth Bear: Personally inscribed copy of The Chains That You Refuse, an out of print collection of short stories• From James Blaylock: Signed copy (by James Blaylock and Tim Powers) of The Devils in the Details (Subterranean Press)
• From Douglas Clegg: Signed copy of the Vampyricon trilogy
• From Jeffrey Ford: Keyboard used to write several novels & collections, signed by Jeffrey Ford, to the winner.
• From Neil Gaiman: Keyboard, signed by Neil Gaiman, to the winner.
• From Brian Keene: Signed galley for Scratch, his forthcoming novel
• From Nightshade Books: Limited edition of Tim Lebbon’s Light and other tales of Ruin
• From Stewart O’Nan: Signed copy of unproduced screenplay, POE
• From Paul Riddell: Carnivorous plant terrarium• From Peter Straub: A reading copy of The Skylark, Part 1, read at ICFA in Orlando 3/2008.
• Tuckerizations by Ekaterina Sedia, Laura Anne Gilman, Nick Mamatas
• Manuscript/Proposal critiques from John Douglas, Alice Turner, Beth Flesicher, Helen Atsma, and Stephen Barbara

“Lottery” Rules
Tickets will be on sale from February 9th through February 23rd, midnight, Eastern Daylight Time. The lottery will be held on February 23rd at midnight. Items will be raffled off individually. Persons may purchase as many tickets per item as desired. For example, a person may purchase ten tickets for the “ITEM” and fifty tickets for “ITEM 2.” Each ticket purchase increases your chances of winning. For example, if you purchase five tickets of the “ITEM 3” and a total of ten tickets for that item have been sold, your odds of winning are 5 out of 10.
For each item, one winner will be chosen using a computerized random number generator. The winning names and prizes will be announced on the Shirley Jackson Awards website. The donating party will mail or deliver the prize to the lucky winner.

All proceeds from the lottery go to support the Shirley Jackson Awards.
Boston, MA (February 2009) – The Shirley Jackson Awards will hold a “lottery” to raise funds for the award. This on-line event takes place from February 9, 2009 through February 23, 2009. Persons buy as many “lottery tickets” as they want in hopes of being selected the winner for any of an array of donated prizes from well-known authors, editors, artists, and agents.

World Fantasy Convention 2008: Calgary

World Fantasy took place in Calgary's downtown at the Hyatt Regency Oct. 30-Nov. 1. Although the hotel had an exceptional collection of paintings and heavily focused ungulate statuary everywhere, it was still a very expensive hotel. I haven't been in a hotel in the US in the past five years that charged for internet and $1 for local calls. Internet cost $14 a day, an exorbitant fee, and the hotel price was high even at convention rates. We found Calgary pricey for food but cheap for alcohol, if you were buying it in stores but comparably priced to Vancouver in the hotel.

The con hospitality suites were smaller than I have seen at other cons and the air conditioning (hardly needed in Oct. in Calgary) was on high for most of the convention. The dealers room and art show were also small. From one discussion with a Seattle antiquarian dealer, the hoops and paperwork besides shipping costs are prohibitive and discourage international exchanges. The dealers room did have an interesting array of publishers. Some of them were Redjack, Fitzhenry/Red Deer Press, Tachyon, Edge, Talebones/Fairwood Press, OnSpec, Electric Velocipede, SFC table of members' work, Sunburst awards, used and new booksellers, and other dealers that I don't remember off hand.

The dealers room used to feature books and some jewellery. This is a professional convention of editors, publishers and authors (and some fans as well) and fan paraphernalia is not allowed. The books are still there but the jewellery is not. It seems the WFC board has put a stop to it after so many years because it is a "serious" convention. I let them know that quite a few of us "pros" enjoyed buying our piece of con jewellery over the years and that we missed it. Does serious mean no fun? After all, the jewellery could be juried to fit certain criteria as well.

As often is the case with these cons, I get to few or no panels. I went to one on Friday and then left halfway through to see another. Unfortunately both were clunky, with no real flow and very short to no answers by the pros on the panel.

Saturday, I missed half of one, which had George R.R. Martin, Tad Williams and Steve Erickson talking about killing significant characters in a novel. They may have been more focused in the first half but it wasn't bad for flow and was funny. Tad Williams, one of the special guests and emcee for the World Fantasy awards is a very funny guy.

The other panel I attended was "Why do we write dark fiction?" with Graham Joyce, Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell. It was moderated well by Nancy and thought provoking. Very interesting panel that had many of us thinking of their childhoods and surreal experiences.
Because this is long, I'll continue tomorrow with more on WFC.

Writing: Things to Watch Out For

Below is listed an ad, which was reposted to a writer's list I'm on. Markets like this disturb me for several reasons. Albeit many short story markets only pay about $100 these days (some pay more and some less), but to actually pay only $100 for a 30,000 word story amounts to highway robbery on the publisher's part. One cent a word for that length would equal $300. You do the math on just how little you're getting paid. Of course, if you write the low end 1,500 word story you'll get about .07 a word.

Article writers get paid on average between .75 and $1.25 a word. SFWA says that professional rates for speculative fiction should be at least .05 a word. That would be $1,500. Now I've sometimes sent my stories to places that pay .03 cents or so. I'm still a fairly no name writer and there are many many writers out there. But there comes a point when you have to figure out what you'll prostitute yourself for, and I won't sell myself as cheap as below.

That low payment could fall into acceptable but what really gets me is that this publisher is asking for all rights. I don't know if this includes moral rights and I've talked about how that is the last right anyone should ever give up, but even so, they want all rights. For $100. Wow. That's not just first anthology rights or first electronic print rights, or first North American rights. That's all rights. Which means you can never sell your story again, never get more money to make up for the measly hundred bucks these guys gave you to steal all your rights. You pretty much don't own your story anymore.

If you work for a company and write on their dime, they in essence own all rights. However you still have moral rights in that you are credited with the work, unless you sign those away. Considering the big grab that these guys are doing, I wouldn't put it past them to take moral rights too. And all rights means that they could turn your piece into a film and you wouldn't get a penny, or they could hack it up to read like drek and you'd have no say.

Now sometimes these things are worded badly because new publishers don't understand which rights they should ask for. But I find that the statements about "if you're a new writer" tell me they know pros will not submit to such a place. As well, they do warn you that if you aren't happy with all rights being taken, then don't submit. There are other huge media magazines that buy all rights. The Cricket (Carus publishing) and related childrens' magazines are one. However, they tend to pay more and I don't really submit to them either.

The problem with all of this is that you get magazines and publishers who often say, we can't pay you anything. We do it for love and you have the privilege of getting your work published. However, the flip side is that they have the privilege of publishing your work and without writers they would have no magazine. If they find writing of worth, then they should pay what they think it's worth. I think it's okay for a new magazine to start small, not pay much but aspire to hoping to pay more for stories as they grow. I understand that people want to put out magazines and with the internet it's much easier, but everyone who can should be paying for the work. I too want to start a magazine one day but I won't do it until I know I can pay at least .03 a word to start. I don't want to dishonor writers, of which I'm one.

Writers are always the last to be paid, the ones that are often stinted in how much they get as well. Opulence magazine for which I wrote some articles, did the same thing; ripping off their writers and not paying them for years while the fat cats at the helm got glossier cars and homes. I've written about Opulence elsewhere. Of course individual magazines have to either get grants or raise funds through subscriptions and advertising. Still, writers should not be the ones that get less because all the other costs are more.

Oh and Vincent Hobbes, the novelist? Well, it seems the only writing he has done has been published by Hobbes End (one book) and there is very little information on this publisher. So Vincent published his own work and made a company. That makes me doubly cautious. But each person has their own brain. It's up to every writer just how little they think their work is worth. Of course, if I said each of my stories was worth a million bucks, and that's all I'd accept, I'd still be waiting to publish my first piece.

Novelist Vincent Hobbes is seeking short stories for an upcoming project which will feature a compilation of strange and bizarre stories. His publisher is currently accepting submissions from any author interested in
having his or her work published in a novel.

Manuscripts being accepted will include anything from the following fiction genres:
Horror
Supernatural
Science-fiction
Fantasy
Psychological thriller
Mystery

Requirements: Word count may be anything from 1,500-30,000 words. We are seeking stories that are original and not previously published. Interesting storylines with a preferable twist at the end to captivate the reader is desired. Think Twilight Zone. All stories must be tasteful-not overly gory, no inappropriate sex scenes, or an over use of profanity.

All submissions must adhere to the following guidelines:
Single-spaced 12-point font, Times New Roman Cover sheet must be included with all proper contact information

Whether you are a new author seeking to promote yourself, or simply someone who wants your family and friends to read your story in a published and widely distributed piece of literature, this is a rare opportunity to have your name and story published.

You may submit your story via mail or electronically. Details are as follows:

If mailed, send copy to:
Hobbes End Publishing, LLC

If sent electronically, send to:
publisher@hobbesendpublishing.com
Attn: Short Story Submission (subject line)

Deadline is October 1st, 2008

Terms: Full rights, both printing and media, will be purchased outright for $100.00 per story. Therefore, it will be un-publishable elsewhere without express permission from the publisher. Any author who does not agree to such terms, please do not submit your work for this project. Also, the best story will receive a bonus from the publisher.

Novel Writing Workshop

Tomorrow (today) we go over the last of nine novels, which means three chapters and the outline. The writing is of a pretty good caliber in all of these and all of them need work. Kij is amazingly astute and finding what's not working and at defining structure.

There has been quite a range in the ideas from humorous space opera to medieval fantasy to alternate histories. I hadn't worked on the novel for ten years and knew I had huge expository lumps. But I was getting mired. I had to build a complete world, including geography, races, culture, religion and rulers. No small feat and it's still evolving. I was told to get rid of the first two chapters and simplify the information. I also had to drop the meddling gods back.

The more I thought about it, the more relieved I was. I have so much information to impart and I was getting mired. After we went for BBQ (where the food was okay and the waiting staff terrible) at the Vermont, I think, we went back to the dorms. Most nights people sit around and talk and write, to varying degrees. There's a quiet room if you don't want to be bothered by the chatter. I was working on my outline and chatting with Eric Warren from the short fiction workshop.

He had sat in one day on our workshop and had read the two novel bits so he could see how the process went. It's not round table like Clarion and is a more gentle, more brainstorming style which I quite like and find useful, not to mention you learn from the other people's novels too. We ended up discussing my novel and it was really useful. Eric gave me a very cool idea for the second novel and I got to bounce my changes off of him.

What this outline has given me that the first didn't is a jumping point to a second novel. I had only thought in the vague terms of "there will be one" before this. Kij has made me cut down to three viewpoint characters. Because of the races and plot, I can't really go to fewer. But this leaves room for different character viewpoints in the second novel. One rule was that two of the three problems must be solved by the end of the novel. I've done this (at least in the outline), and leaving one unsolved problem leaves room for that problem to flow into the next novel and for joining them.

The outline gets turned in next week and taken through the process. I think it is stronger and kind of exciting. I also wrote up story arcs for each of the four characters, which definitely helps in plotting the outlines. I hope to have most of the outline done by tomorrow.

Writing News and Kansas

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Writing News

It seems there has been a contest listed on Craigslist that list the SFWA (Science Fiction Writers of America) as sponsoring it. You pay a $10 contest entry and then the winning stories and honourable mentions will be published by a big publisher.

This is a fraudulent contest and SFWA has already issued statements that they have not sponsored that. Someone is hoping to make some money on collecting entry fees but having no legitimate contest.

Writer beware. Do not send anything if you see this contest listed.

Dream States

I had the oddest dream last night that mixed different parts of my life. In real life, last night, I gave Daralyn and Miranda a ride home. They're students at the naturopathic college where I work.

So then I dreamt: Miranda, Daralyn and I were at a writing convention. We were in a hotel room and getting ready for bed, three beds. As we settled in two other women I didn't know burst in and, because we'd answered the door, one took my bed and the other took one of the other's beds. A fourth woman had just joined us before that and was going to share the larger bed. The larger intruding woman took that bed.

I took my pillow and was trying to find my sheets or duvet but couldn't. It turns out there was a fourth bed but it had four TVs hanging over it so low that if you were laying in the bed your nose would probably touch them. Since that wasn't usable I went to the adjoining room where two Japanese girls were going in. Two people were already sleeping in there but on small kitchen style tables. Various bits of fabric were draped over the tables.

I heard that one was Martel, this Chicago writer on a list that I'm on. In real life, it turns out that Martel is a woman but I've never met her or seen a picture of her. In my dream it was a guy with wild red hair, and superhero size muscled arms. He had a tiny Pomeranian sized saber tooth tiger and gave me a hug when I said I was on Twilight Tales also.

At that point I realized the two women who had come in had been rude and that there was no reason they should take our beds and I went back into the room, told them there was etiquette and rules and that they couldn't just take our beds when we'd already picked them.

Then I was in Europe, I think, sitting beside a large gargoyle outside a building. I was looking at small sculptures that were butter molds and presses when Friz, Jordan and I think, Rick, three other students from the college walked by. We said hi and hugged each other. And that was the dream in all its weirdness

Rebellion Baby

Or is that rebellion, baby! Actually, no, it's rebellion baby. That's what I was. My brother was recently in town and commented on a little tactic I had at the age of two. I don't remember it but he still laughs about it.

It seems when my mother would put me to bed I would rebel with a fit where I'd tear off my pajamas, toss them in the hallway and then lay down upon them...and fall asleep. Maybe that's why I don't where pajamas today. But I do remember being slightly older, around four or five years of age, and I would slowly, accidentally, slide out of bed on the covers, because that way I wasn't going to bed, darn it! No way! It didn't seem to matter to my child's mind that I would fall asleep on the sheets on the floor and inevitably wake up in the morning in my bed.

What a rebel I was. I hated going to bed. I hated missing out on things. One evening, some adult cousins from Lac La Biche, Doreen and Ted, showed up at the house. It was past my bedtime and I was in bed but not asleep. I heard them come in and wanted to see them but there was no way I could just trounce upstairs without getting in deep doodoo.

I was, on one level, very honest. I didn't tend to lie. I couldn't fake being sick, like my brother believes he did and faked himself into an appendectomy at a young age. But I had a devious plan. I could swallow air and at other times, burp on will. This time I just kept swallowing the air and not burping it out until my tummy hurt. Aha! Now I could go upstairs and say, "My tummy hurts."

My mother must have been wise to my ways. She said something about it being suspect and gave me a glass of warm water, which succeeded in freeing my trapped burps. But I got what I wanted. I got to see Doreen and Ted before being sent back to bed.

I was a classic bookworm, often staying up late at night, reading, with the flashlight under the sheets. I'm still a late night person, often going to bed at 2:00, which means I usually don't get enough sleep during the week. And I still sleep in till 10:00 am if I can.

As to rebellion, well, I wanted to learn to play drums as a kid, not because I had any affinity but because it's what girls didn't do. Instead, when my mother denied me, I hit the art/drawing route, much better suited to my temperament. And my mother learned that if she wanted me to do something she got a lot farther if she asked instead of telling me what to do.

Worlds of What If: Story Ideas & Oz

I recently wrote a story about Dorothy, ten years after Oz, where she still lives in Kansas. It involves the shoes showing up suddenly in her closet. It's barely fantastical, might be called literary.

I sent it to a speculative fiction magazine where it was rejected. The comment was that the protagnonist didn't do enough and, what about the other 15 Oz books and what they covered that people knew so well. I can live with criticism and comments on what doesn't work but I didn't find the comment about the Oz books helpful nor true to the whole genre of speculative writing.

Worlds of what-if includes looking at something and saying, what if it did this instead of this? What if Snow White had actually enslaved the dwarfs to work for her and they were brainwashed? What if the Germans had won WWII? What if magic did exist and it caused a worldwide class system? There are a thousand examples of where someone takes a pre-existing concept or event and changes it.

Fairy tales have long been in the realm of public domain and many have been rewritten and retold in varying ways. The most popular example would be anything that Disney has touched, to the extent that some people think that the Disney version is the one and only. But fairy tales have a long tradition of orginally being oral tales that were eventually written down by the Grimm brothers and others. Once they hit print, they didn't change and adapt with the times as much, but they did still change. Writers still took those ideas and played with them.

L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz was written in 1900 and published in 1901. It's been around long enough that it is now in our memories. When I decided to write the story I actually had to go read the book, because like many people, I was more familiar with the movie. I didn't read the other 13 books (not 15). Though they were popular it was that original adventure that caught so many people's imaginations.

Asking, what if this happened to Dorothy is a valid question. But perhaps I'm just an angry rejected author. Well, I have given examples of other what-ifs, but let's look at two that I just found this week. Yesterday, I was listening to CBC Radio's Wiretap http://www.cbc.ca/wiretap/index.html There were two stories: What if the Penguin and Mary Poppins met on a blind date? And what if Barney accidentally killed Dino in Bedrock? Hmm, if I was the editor that rejected my story because I didn't consider the other 13 books, then I could also say but Mary Poppins never met the Penguin. What about all those other Batman comics. Or, but Dino never died and what about all those other Flintstones cartoons?

Okay, well, those are closer to the point I'm making but not about Oz. Then I came across the following article this weekend in the Dec. 2007 issue of Wired.

Tin Man--SciFi Chanel's three-part reimagining of The Wizard of Oz, premiering Dec. 2, blends steampunk and Buffy. Heroine DG (Zooey Deschanel) battles the evil Sorceress (Kathleen Robertson) to free the oppressed residents of The O.Z. The Tin Man (Neal McDonough) is a more-dreamy-than-tinny ex-cop resistance fighter, and the Scarecrow (Alan Cumming) is a victim of grand theft brain. Cheesy? Absolutely. But it's also clever and wonderfully geeky.

Steampunk and Buffy? The Tin Man is an ex-cop? Oh my goodness! But...but.... I think my point is made that it's valid to take a character, a time, a place and ask what if? It's valid to not slavishly follow what has been written but to take some elements and fly off into the worlds of imagination. As to my story, well, I'll continue to send it out and see what the editors think.

Tying up Loose Ends

I have several stories that are nearly finished. In some cases I've been writing them for years. I may have had a great idea but not figured out how to tie up the ending or how to resolve the conflict. Sometimes it was a setting or premise. Sometimes I just get bogged down.

I'm now very close with about three stories. I finally finished the web one which I retitled "Ensnared" though I'm not so happy with that title. I struggled with that ending for a while. Whereas "Shoes" was easy to write and finish. I now have one on the Germanic goddess Berchta, one on barge people and one I'm trying to write for Sword & Sorceress. That one will be completed first. The other two I might have started as long ago as ten years ago. I'm a lot closer to the endings. Berchta will come next but I don't want to ruin it. The problem with taking so long is the voice can change through the story so I have to be diligent.

After that--actually during--I have to make sure my chapters and outline are as good as they're going to get and send them off for the Kansas workshop (flight is booked!). Then I must write two erotic tales by the end of June as they are nearly for-sure sales if I get them done. I'm not writing fast but I am writing.

Publishing News

I've recently received word that my story will be out in Nemonymous 8: Cone Zero. I'm not allowed to name the story until the published anthology has been out for eight months. Nemonymous is a British publication by DF Lewis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nemonymous

The stories are published but the author names (I believe) are listed at the back of the book/magazine with no credit given to a particular story. In the subsequent issue, the story and author are matched up. The pay is much like any other anthology in the speculative genre; a little more since it's in British pounds. This story should be out in June this year.

As well, as of mid-March I've become the senior fantasy editor at Aberrant Dreams. This is to help with the flow and hopefully bring the magazine up to more consistent output as its been sporadic. http://www.hd-image.com/main.htm Joe Dickerson is one of the two originators of the online magazine (Lonny Harper is the other) and he has recently been publishing some books as well. His time was being consumed, with too many decisions getting log-jammed. I'm not sure who is the head horror editor and Joe may be the main SF editor still. Marcie Tentchoff is the poetry editor.

Good news is that new material went up this week and as far as fantasy goes, we're review material sent within our 5-month timeframe. This does not include some stories waiting for final approval that Joe has or that I still have. I'm hoping to get through this in the next week. The sad thing is that there are many very good stories but I'll be limited to sending one on a month to Joe. That means some works will be rejected so that they're just not held forever. It's a tough market out there with more good stories than funds or room to publish in many magazines.

Which just tells me that writers should have faith. Rejection may not even be because the story is bad at all.

Arts Council Grants

Recently I decided that it would be beneficial to take a novel writing workshop in Kansas this summer, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science Fiction. http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/novel-workshop.htm It's a two-week concentrated effort on brainstorming, smoothing out and progressing to a saleable outline and/or chapters. The setting is with a small group of people so it allows for uninterrupted time on the masterpiece in bud.

The workshop itself is not that expensive but by the time you add lodging, food and transportation it isn't necessarily cheap. I decided to apply for a Canada Council grant and a BC Arts Council grant. The last time I even entertained applying for any sort of travel grant I didn't have enough credentials to make it into the process.

I started with the BC Arts Council grant as it had a tighter deadline. This one required a related CV, letter of acceptance, two reference letters, description of the project, letter outlining what I would be doing and how it would benefit me and my career, sample of written work, and a list of published credits, which means title, publisher, date, number of pages and that it must be in a legitimate publication for which there is a review process and payment. The council asked for 120 pages of published fiction, or 40 pages of published poetry. I have many many poems published but since I'm applying in a fiction field I thought it best to include as many fiction credits as possible.

This meant I had to go through all the copies of my published works that I have at home. Luckily I have always kept a list which had title, publication and publisher, editor and date. So what I really needed was to confirm the volume or publication numbers and the number of pages. It took a couple of nights to go through this and some searching on the internet but I completed it all. The very helpful Walter Quan at BC Arts also answered all my questions, including that I could combine poetry and fiction to get the full amount and even use my erotic fiction if it went through the proper review process, which it did.

Next was getting the letters of recommendation which also assess the study project and its worth. Sure I've been published but I'm still fairly unknown so who would know my work enough to comment on it and the workshop? Friend and famously bad communicator Ed Bryant could have done it but trying to get him to send me something on time would have been nigh impossible. Luckily Kij Johnson, who leads the workshop is an astoundingly good writer and a friend. So that was one letter but I needed the second. I finally thought back to my story that received the most recognition, "Hold Back the Night" in the Open Space anthology. Claude Lalumiere had been an amazing editor, working with me and getting me through two rewrites to bring out the best potential of the story. He's since rejected a story of mine but I felt he might be willing and he was. They both gave encouraging support in their letters.

By far the hardest part was writing up how the workshop would benefit my career and what it would give me. I took the longest on that and submitted everything before the March 15 deadline. BC Arts will only pay half of the total budget of the project so I then focused on Canada Council. It was interesting, and I noted to the BC Arts contact, that more writing was required by BC Arts than Canada Council (CC requires about 40 pages of published writing). He said this was because BC Arts has less money to go around and therefore must raise the bar.

For Canada Council I didn't apply for a study assistance as for BC Arts, but for a travel grant. They say travel grants can't be used for a host of things including workshops where their primary purpose is training. It becomes a gray area as this workshop is more brainstorming and concentrating on revision (darn, wish I'd said that in the application) so I had to word my letter carefully. Although no letters of recommendation were required I added the two I had received. I had to also add a budget and place of publication for all of my credits, so it was back to the bookcase again to get that information. I found one poem not even listed on my CV and now I have all my information in a consistent form for any further needs.

The Canada Council application went off at the end of March. Now I wait to see if I received one or both of the applications. It's an interesting process especially in comparison of the two application processes. There are larger grants, which if I'm successful I might apply for to finish the novel. The requirements become more stringent at that level. For now, I work on the novel outline for the workshop.

Sending out Poetry

This month I decided to concentrate on sending out literary poems. I have scads of them and haven't sent out much for a while. So I did a search through www.duotrope.com and first found the sites that I could submit to electronically. I looked for the highest paying ones of course. This is still a several night project because you have to read each set of guidelines and check the deadlines for submission, any special formatting rules, who the editor is and where exactly to send it.

Then I go through my poems (and if the magazine has samples on the site I read a few) and match the best ones. Plus I read through the poems and do any rewrites that are needed. I reformat them if it's needed, save them into separate documents and send them through email with a cover letter. I then checked the lists for the postal submission magazines. Literary magazines tend to not accept submissions by email. It's the minority that does, but there are more of them than there used to be. I still managed to send out quite a few through email. I'm now sending off another eight by mail. Mail of course means printing out the poems, and a personalized cover letter. Making up SASEs and adding addresses and postage and mailing. In all, this month I've sent out about 23 submissions of poetry with a total of 93 poems going out. Yep, 93! Guinness Book, look out.

I still have some poems sitting around. There are the sex poems that are too descriptive for some markets, a few SF poems, some witch/tarot series poems as well as those I did on Mexico and India. Of the ones still on my desk/computer, some are good to go and some have sat for a long time because they are just...not...right.

It's an elusive thing, and this round I did send out poems that have sat for ten years. In all, I probably have at least another 60 poems at home, including some unfinished ones, and another ten out. I did finish a poem I started last year called Perfect Lover, and another literary one I started two years ago called A Gathering. The second is a 3-4 page poem which I'm quite happy with. And I wrote a new one this week called Medusa that could sell as speculative or literary.

I try to send any poem I can off to literary markets first as they pay much better for poetry on average than a speculative market. I have managed to get $50 for one spec poem and now $100 for a literary poem. On average though, spec poems are around $10 and liiterary $20 and up. I also sent out about ten stories this month. And I continue writing on the erotic novel, but I'm going to have to pull the other novel out this coming week and read over it and the outline and synopsis if I'm going to do the Kansas workshop.

Next month I might delve into the very hard market of children's lit. I have a few stories so it won't take as long. I had this great dream two nights ago and woke up going, this would be a great young adult novel. It had the full plot, conflict and resolution. And can I remember it? No. Wah! But overall, I'm feeling rather accomplished, along with three sales for the month. Wheee!

Center for the Study of Science Fiction, Kansas

Well, on Saturday as Rhea and I discussed the worldbuilding workshop, then went for drinks and something to eat and to hammer out our second story some more (she threw a left curve into it so we had to sort out where it was NOW going), I talked about organizing the World Fantasy con SF Canada party. SF Canada is a very small country cousin to SFWA, the professional speculative writers organization.

I'm a member at large on our not too active board. We had talked about hosting a room party but our funds are limted as well and I knew no one would do anything unless I jumped on that bandwagon. I told Rhea that I'm doing this, one: because World Fantasy is in Canada this year (Calgary) and we should be highlighting our Canadian writers. It's part of SF Canada's mandates but rarely is much that's spectular done. Limited budget and all.

And I've been to enough WFCs to know what the parties are like. WFC is a professional con--mostly writers, publishers and editors. The schmooze quota can be high. My ulterior motive is that by being the organizer and being there I get to chat more with the editor/publishers. Not that it's been a huge problem in the past. Rhea kind of gave me a verbal bitch slap though, and said, why are you wasting this opportunity and you don't have a manuscript to pedal?

I said, because I'm just trying to keep myself in the saddle and write whatever I can and get something under my belt. Therefore I've been writing erotica because it's easy without getting bogged down in too much research or worldbuidling. I need to reinvigorate my writing, which has been working some. She wanted to know if there was any horror or fantasy in my novel but nooo, it's straight-out erotica. But damn her, she planted a seed in my wee brain.

And then I'm reading through LJ and read Kij's story. Some people have a way of evoking a world that's different than our reality but you swear after reading their tales that it's out there and you just hadn't noticed. Ursula LeGuin did it with Always Coming Home. Kij has done it several times. And then I recalled I'd been curious about the novel writing workshop she teaches in Kansas every summer. It's one of the few universities anywhwere that actually has a Center for the Study of Science Fiction. (Hmm, I hope fantasy is okay though I could argue my novel is SF just as Anne McCaffrey did.)

I gave her a call to just say hi but also to ask if this would be a good thing for me. Well, upshot is that if I can find the $$$ I think I'll take it as it will jumpstart the stalled novel. http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/novel-workshop.htm If nothing else, then by WFC I'll at least have a partially reworked novel for consideration.

Worldbuilding and Writing

Rhea and I went to Dennis Foon's worldbuilding workshop yesterday at the public library. It was a two-hour free session sponsored by the Writers' Trust http://www.writerstrust.com/ . Dennis Foon has written a fair number of young adult books and done a lot of TV/movie scriptwriting. I've never read anything of his but he makes a living at writing.

The workshop may have been good for people newer to writing but it really was nothing new to me or Rhea. I was hoping there might be something on structuring or other aspects that he considers in creating a world. We all wrote a couple of short pieces where he would set the scene by saying, "It's the morning after a major catastrophe. What are the feelings of the person, what were they doing before the catastrophe struck?"

So, it wasn't a waste of time and maybe I'll have a story out of it but I'm not sure it gave me anymore depth. I still want to find a workshop that will help me develop more, either depth in my stories or plots that flow better. Or both of course. I keep analyzing my stuff hoping to get the key to the kingdom. If I find a good workshop that might be my vacation time this year.

The Life of a Writer

On Mondays I teach dance. Afterward, I take my laptop and go off to a local cafe/restaurant, have a couple of drinks and work on a novel. If I don't do this I'll get distracted with many other writing projects.

At the moment, I'm continuing the collaborative writing with Rhea Rose on our joint story, though she just threw me a curve ball from our discussed plot so I have to chat with her before I proceed. I'm also working on two stories started nearly a lifetime ago. One is nearly done and I'm hoping to finish it in the next week. It's the retelling of a tale about an old Germanic hearth goddess.

I'm not writing any poetry at the moment but rewriting a bit. And I've been concentrating on going through my bookmarked literary markets the past couple of nights, tossing the broken links and moving the ones that take online subs into a separate folder. And when I find one, I send them off a few poems.

For example, tonight I sat down at 8:00 pm and started going through the markets, continuing from where I left off the other night. It's 11:30 now and I've weeded through them all and sent out poems to about four magazines. That's about four poems per magazine and they're already written. I also submitted two stories to two other magazines. But just doing that, searching through, finding the right poems, reading through them, making a few changes, reading other guidelines took three and a half hours.

When I submit stories/poetry in paper format it takes even longer because I must take the template letter, fill in the titles on each one, print the poems and letters off, match them out, fill out envelopes, make up SASEs, put stamps on, put the material inside, seal them up and take them to the post office. Usually I'll do a batch of about ten magazines and it will take me three solid nights to get everything sorted.

Writing is about 40% and 60% perseverance. And now I'm going to bed, reading a bit before to keep the brain percolating.

New Writing Sales

I just received word today that my SF story "Ice Queen" will be in the Warrior Wise Woman anthology by Norilana books. It's due in June. http://www.norilana.com/norilana-ww-guidelines.htm shows the cover for the book.

Sometimes my emails don't seem to make it across the water so I checked with the editor of the Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra and my story "Janukurpara" (the knee elbow position) will be published in that anthology. It's about to go to the publisher and has been edited so I presume it will be out in a couple of months.

A good weekend over all for publishing. Just when I was doubting once again, a somewhat roller coaster state for many writers.

Words and Meaning

Fellow SF Canada member Jo Beverly has a site that highlights romance authors, as she wears several authorial hats. It's well laid out and intriguing. Last week, Jo interviewed a guest, John Dierdorf. The interview is on Word Wenches and is very amusing. I knew the meanings of words in English had changed over time but not that much. Just wait until you see that vagina was a common term for... well, go to Word Wenches and read the interview. http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2008/02/im-delighted-to.html

John's site is called You Can't Say That. Not only is it highly entertaining and informative, but if you're a writer creating any story in the past, it would be a helpful tool for finding out how people of the time viewed the meanings, and then figuring out how much you should put in without losing your modern reader.
http://www.io.com/~dierdorf/nono.html

Writing Collaborations

Rhea Rose and I are friends and writing buddies. Over the years we co-wrote, produced and acted in a Fringe Festival Play (Snow White and Rose Red are in the Bar Having a Drink), spurred each other on to writing poems and stories and generally kept the writing spark alive.

We've never co-wrote a poem but we would each pick a word (or sometimes an image) and then write a poem with those two words in it. So at one point I said, "bad lemons" and Rhea said, "dragonfly" and two poems were born. Sometimes the poems come quickly and sometimes we drag them out but it inspired us to write new poetry with images we might not have thought to put together by ourselves.

We decided to co-write a story. Mostly we have writing styles that mesh. This is good for flow and style, but perhaps it makes us too interchangeable. Still, a story that's not completely plotted out gains new elements, ideas and directions from each person.

The first story is still out on its maiden flight. We decided to write science fiction because the market these days is glutted with fantasy. However, neither of us are hard science, major tech writers. The characters are still the most important aspect of the story. The first genesis took some work and a lot of discussion.

We set deadlines: You must get the story back to me by this date and you have to have written a page. Rhea started with a paragraph. Then I wrote about a page and we sent it back and forth until it was done. One of us would call the other going, "Uh, what did you intend by adding this thing?" Or, "I haven't a clue what you're talking about here. Explain it to me."

Once the story was done, we each took a turn reading over it from the beginning, fleshing it out, tightening it up, clarifying ideas and descriptions. Then I proofread it and sent it out.

We're now working on our second story and like the poems, we each chose an image. We then sat around for a couple of nights discussing the ideas, characters, conflicts and plot, getting an idea of what the story would be, thinking of the implications of the science. Will this work? But why are they doing that? And always reminding ourselves to keep it fairly simple. Don't overcomplicate the plot.

We're still in progress. I started the story from the notes we kept, and then sent it to Rhea. She wrote more and sent it back to me. I worked over it some more, with a bit of a Eureka moment about the plot. It's now back with her. I think this story will even be stronger than the last and I like where we're headed with it. Usually whenI start a story I know about how long it will be. It's not so easy to tell when two brains are thinking on it. If nothing else, it has us fired up and our creative juices are flowing.