Week 5 Write-a-thon update

1164 words!

I’m looking back on week 3 and being jealous of my past self, I confess, but between work, broken eyeglasses, and a family event (that stretched over two days) in the last seven days, I guess it’s okay. I had several things I meant to make posts about this week, and I didn’t manage any of them. I’m trying to remind myself that sometimes that’s okay–they would have been really nice to have done, but they weren’t a commitment the way this is, and all things being equal I’m glad this was accomplished.

(Again, honestly, thank you all so much. For being there to promise something to.)

Another rejection, so three stories to send out this upcoming week. The Hugo voting period is over, and I’m catching up on some of my magazines. (The ones I subscribe to, I mean, not the ones I’m in. Speaking of which, my Clarion West Write-a-thon profile is still here, and pledging does get you entered into that draw for free magazines!)

Week 4 Write-a-thon update

1113 words!

Less than last week, but there is a lot of family stuff going on (and work. don’t talk to me about work) so I’m actually really glad to have been able to to get the words done. Again, thank you all.

In addition to writing, I hit Cat Rambo’s online class on Steampunk and the Weird West, and came away with better context for the genres and a list of several more books to read. Her class list for the summer is up here. I’m taking the one on Writing and Gender after WorldCon.

(A brief pause, here, to contemplate the fact that (1) we are in the summer, and (2) Helsinki is less than a month away, oh god.)

I also got two rejections (both in the last twelve hours, so I haven’t had a chance to send the stories back out) and drafted a new story this week. Story resubmission might get left until tomorrow; today is going to be pretty hectic.

As before, my Clarion West Write-a-thon profile is here.

Week 3 Write-a-thon update

1823 words!

I was honestly a little worried about meeting my goal this week, and am really, really glad that it went so well. Thank you all, again. Getting those plot points straightened out in my head seems to have made the writing much easier.

(Perpetually, in the name of the workshop and possible free magazines: my Clarion West Write-a-thon profile is here.)

On other writing notes, I didn’t manage to work on the outline that I want drafted, and between an unusually high amount of work and a family event coming up next weekend I’m not sure I’ll get a chance this coming week, but… well, I live in hope. (Speaking of which, I also submitted two stories this week!)

Week 2 Write-a-thon update

1075 words!

Again, sponsors, thank you. It really helps to have promised you that I’d do this. (By the way, all the rest of my July updates are going to be on Fridays, rather than Saturdays; the Write-a-thon is one day shy of six weeks, and I figured I’d give you a heads-up on the transition point.)

(Again, if you’d like to sponsor: my profile is here.)

I managed to get a few plot points straightened out–they’re not fully sorted, exactly, but they’re figured out enough that I’m no longer staring at my draft like a dog looking into the future and can actually get some typing done.

The week’s been fairly slow in terms of writing; I got one rejection and haven’t resubmitted any stories. I have made a little progress on another piece, though, and I’m hoping to get an outline drafted this week, and I’ve signed up for a couple of Cat Rambo’s classes. Beyond that, there’s been a lot of work-related time commitments, we’ve had some spectacular weather (rain and hail like I don’t think I’ve seen in a decade), and I managed to halve the number of emails in my inbox.

Week 1 Write-a-thon update

1045 words!

Thank you so much, sponsors; it’s been a really busy week, and I think that if I hadn’t promised to get this done for you, I might not have gotten it done at all. (I might have a little more time to write this evening, but I’ve decided to aim for at-least weekly updates, and I didn’t want to let this one go too late. If I write more tonight, I’ll count it towards next week’s goal.)

(Again, if you’d like to sponsor: my profile is here, and the webpage is pretty easy to navigate if you’d like to sponsor someone else.)

I’ve found that my outline needs tightening up in a few places, too, so I’m going to work on that as well. I won’t count that towards my pledged wordcount, though.

Other writing things I have done this week; gotten three rejections, submitted three stories, and managed to make a little progress on another piece. And read two pieces for crit, which is slightly exhausting.

In other news, have had discussions about the definition of what exactly a series is, and the essential elements of the Joker, and may write those up here later. I’m afraid I haven’t had the chance to do a lot of non-fiction writing outside of work lately.

Cheerful optimism (and a chance at free magazines)

Clarion West is a non-profit literary organization in Seattle; it runs both a six-week workshop for writers in the summer, and one-day workshops for writers throughout the year.

They also do a yearly fundraiser to help keep the workshop going, which is the six-week Clarion West Write-a-thon. This year I’ve signed up for it; I’m aiming to write a thousand words a week on my novel for six weeks, and hoping to help raise even a little to help keep the workshop going.

With regards to those free magazines:

I have print copies of the issues in which two of my stories appeared; ‘Palimpsest’ from the second issue of The Sockdolager, and ‘The Gannet Girl’ from issue 102 of On Spec. I’ll draw two names from the people who sponsor me; the first name gets their pick of magazine, and the second name gets the other one. I’ll need a mailing address, but I can send them to anywhere that Canada Post delivers, and I will cover postage.

If you’d like to sponsor me, here’s my page for the Write-a-thon; if you’d like to look at the other authors who are working on it, there’s a full list (137 as of this writing!) available here.

Any sponsorship helps, honestly, and so does passing word along to other people who might be interested. And hey– a chance at free magazines, with stories by me and many other brilliant authors!

Travel planning

I’ve got a couple of trips planned before the end of the year, and I’m feeling that usual slight giddiness that comes with the prospect of going somewhere far enough away that there will actually be packing.

(I wanted to include a picture from Diana Nock and Ryan Estrada’s excellent Poorcraft: Wish You Were Here, but I couldn’t find anything about permission to do that, so I decided not to. Penny and Nickel packing are adorable, though.)

Weirdly, I think it is far enough away and not for long enough. I realize that needing to e.g. stay at over at someone’s house or in a local hotel if my street was evacuated or some family event was happening might also necessitate packing, but that does not spark the same gleeful anticipation.

That said, it might also be a factor of free time as well as a factor of distance. A trip generally connotes arranging things so that you have no or fewer pre-existing commitments during the time period; for an emergency evacuation, you haven’t had a chance to free up your schedule, and for a scheduled family event you’ve probably substituted new commitments for existing ones.

That said, I do look forward to scheduled family events in other cities. Perhaps it’s because I’m not likely to go to another city just for the family event, and so scheduled events in another city tend to bring free time along with them?

(Ramble over.)

I like packing. (I suspect this is in some way related to the fact that I like sending and receiving physical mail.) I find that if I haven’t travelled in a while, I tend to overpack, but I’m still expecting to be able to comfortably restrict myself to carry-on for a week’s trip.

I am also going to a convention. It is a small convention, for a weekend. It will be trivial to restrict myself to a carry-on bag for the trip out. It might be a little harder to make sure I do not come home with an uncomfortable amount more than I set out with. However, I am sure I will manage.

Mayyyybe… you’ll think of me…

PIPBoyThe light of my life got me a PIP-Boy.

I’d explain, but there is too much. Let me sum up.

Lo these many years ago, I ran across a computer RPG called Fallout. It was a retrofuturistic[1] post-apocalyptic game, in which you travel out from the great underground Vault where your people have lived for generations to find a replacement for the chip for the water purifier.

It spoiled me, in a lot of ways. (I used to approach other games just naturally expecting that I could play a female character unless there was a reason, and expecting many-many-lots options for how to deal with problems. Fallout, I love you–I have loved you for many years–but you’re probably a chunk of the reason that shooters bore me to tears.)

Anyway. The characters–the protagonists you play, I mean–have a PIP-Boy; a Personal Information Processor Boy, which keeps track of such useful in-game things as inventory and quests and maps and the like. (In Fallout, there were buttons to pick the various options. The button for “Clue” had been ripped out, and the label had been near-completely scratched off.) The PIP-Boy is… it’s as iconic as the whip of Indiana Jones, the pipe of Sherlock Holmes, the sonic screwdriver of the Doctor.

pip-boyThe collector’s edition of Fallout 4[2] comes with a PIP-Boy, and you can put little foam inserts in it so whatever phone you have fits in there. I wanted one. I really really wanted one. I am being fiscally responsible, and held off.

And the light of my life brought me a PIP-Boy created on a 3D printer specifically to fit my phone, that I get to paint all by myself. I can even add little LEDs, too. And it’s light enough I can wear it, and it fits, and…

I have a PIP-Boy.

[1] Ray guns? Yes. Super-mutants? Yes. Cellphones and LCD monitors? God no, no-one’s ever seen one of those.
[2] Finally. …I still have a spare copy of Fallout: New Vegas to give away, by the way! Only on Steam, though.

Speaking of the Hugos

Ann Leckie receiving her Hugo at the LonCon 3 award ceremony in 2014.
Ann Leckie receiving her Hugo at the LonCon 3 award ceremony in 2014.

Was reading one of (many, many) online discussions of the Hugos and SFF fandom the other day, and it was mentioned that a surprisingly high number of people aren’t aware they they’re not a juried award.

So, to be explicit:

If you are a fan of science fiction and fantasy, you can buy a Worldcon membership.[1] That lets you nominate on and vote for the Hugos.

The ballot is already set for this year; it’s here. But a supporting membership to Worldcon still lets you vote to rank the works on the ballot, and nominate works for the ballot for next year.

You certainly don’t have to, but you can.

[1] Okay, I mean, technically if you’re a legal person who can buy things, you can buy a Worldcon membership, but I can’t imagine why you would buy it if it wasn’t from an interest in the genre.

Well, that happened

I swear to God, I go incommunicado (mostly), and my phone bings to tell me that there’ve been more views on this blog in one hour than there were in the month before that. (I suspect it was most likely someone’s cat standing on the F5 key. Good on you, kitty. You make sure you’re getting up to date info.)

I’m visiting family in Sault Ste Marie; I got in late due to weather, and then went to dinner, and then stayed up late talking and looking at old family photo albums.

I had never before seen a picture of my paternal great-grandfather, and the one I got to look at was from 13 January, 1934. (Yes, an 81-year-old photograph. It was printed as a Post Card, by “Pictorial Studios”, which were located on 29 Newport Road, Near Scala Cinema, MIDDLESBROUGH. Which was about where he lived.)

There was also another picture, much smaller, of him in his work clothes. He was an egg-and-poultry man, apparently, and he also loaned money. (But honestly. It was made clear he was not, you know, a loan shark or anything.)

I am oddly disconcerted by this. I was always told that my heritage was, all in one breath, half-Ukranian quarter-Italian eighth-Irish eighth-Scottish. No-one ever mentioned British. Ever. We lived in London for four years when I was a kid and no-one ever told me I had a grand-uncle three hours drive away.

(And apparently he was a pretty nice grand-uncle, too. Which quashes the first explanation which springs to mind.)

I don’t know. It’s late and I’m tired; I will turn this over for a while, and consider.