Author: Tempest

I'm Tempest! This is my blog.
Help me win $10K for a BIPOC Book Fair

Help me win $10K for a BIPOC Book Fair!

By:  TempestEvents

Today Eventbrite announced the ten finalists for their RECONVENE Accelerator program to help emerging creators build community and shape culture. I’m one of them! And if I win I get $10,000 to put on an event.

I want to launch a BIPOC Book Fair in the Pacific Northwest. Sounds awesome, right? Guess what: you can help make it happen! Two of the five winners will be chosen by popular vote. Voting is open from June 21 to 29 and anyone can cast a ballot. You can vote once every day, in fact. And each time you vote I get one step closer to making my dream event a reality.

Continue reading “Help me win $10K for a BIPOC Book Fair!” →

IHHT

I Heart This Thursday June (is bustin’ out all over!) 2022

By:  TempestI Heart This Thursday

Welcome to I❤TT, a discussion thread for sharing stuff you love because we need more of that in life.

clears throat

JUNE IS BUSTIN’ OUT ALL OVAAAAAAAH!

…and the huckin’ the bejeebus out of all the morning glories of the FEEEZZZ!

If you want to know the real lyrics:

Now it’s your turn! In the comments you’re invited to talk about or post a link, or two links, or even 5 links to things that bring you joy. Can be something cute your kid or pet did, a piece of art, a song, a book, a short story, an article, a video, posts from social media, anything.

And if these discussions are a source of joy for you, please do share this link with others who might need a space for talking about what we love.

Tea Time May 2022

Ruby is Ready for Reviews + New Classes + Best Breakfast Ever | May 2022 Tea Time With Tempest

By:  TempestTea Time With Tempest

April showers have brought May flowers and also pollen. So, so much pollen. Why must plants get busy inside of our noses? Evil.

This May I’m a little bummed because I’m going to miss WisCon for the first time since I started going in 2003. The con is in-person and I had tentative plans to go. Then someone removed mask mandates for public transportation and I turned into the Nopetapus. I’m scared enough of catching things when people do wear masks.

Depending on what happens with cases and mask mandates, I may not even be able to do a book tour (not that I know if my publisher is sending me on one yet). Sadness.

However, this month is not only about sadness, there is also joy. Keep scrolling to see my joy. And don’t forget to share yours on I Heart This Thursday!

🧡 Tempest

I have a bit of news to share with you below, but down in the comments I want to hear your news. Tell me about the stuff going on in your life that you’d like to share. Can be great things, or not so great things, or a funny story, or an epic story. Share pictures, share laughter, share what’s troubling you, share wisdom.
Continue reading “Ruby is Ready for Reviews + New Classes + Best Breakfast Ever | May 2022 Tea Time With Tempest” →

I Heart This Thursday

I Heart This Thursday May 2022

By:  TempestI Heart This Thursday

Welcome to I❤TT, a discussion thread for sharing stuff you love because we need more of that in life.

Here’s something I really love: a detailed list of non-Amazon places to buy books, audiobooks, and eBooks. As an author, I cannot eschew Amazon, no matter how much I’m against their labor practices. That doesn’t mean I can’t point you toward less morally-knotty storefronts with the same selection.

Now it’s your turn! In the comments you’re invited to talk about or post a link, or two links, or even 5 links to things that bring you joy. Can be something cute your kid or pet did, a piece of art, a song, a book, a short story, an article, a video, posts from social media, anything.

And if these discussions are a source of joy for you, please do share this link with others who might need a space for talking about what we love.

April 2022 Tea Time With Tempest

It’s My Birth Week + Podcast News + New Game Who Dis | April 2022 Tea Time With Tempest

By:  TempestTea Time With Tempest

It’s my birthday week! *confetti toss* Sadly, we’re still in a panorama and thus I cannot celebrate by gathering friends for a party to end all parties. Until I can, I am not “celebrating” exactly, but I am putting my birthday wishes out into the world.

First Wish: I’d love to raise $3,000 by Sunday for the Vonda N. McIntyre Sentient Squid Scholarship fund that supports authors who want to take Writing the Other courses but cannot afford to do so. We have several more classes this year & I really want to give as many scholarships as possible.

You can make a one-time donation via PayPal or join our Patreon and support us monthly. If you can’t afford to donate, please share this widely and ask others to do so. Thanks!

Second Wish: For folks to pre-order my debut novel! Pre-orders help show my publisher that there is a ton of interest. Pre-orders from any bookstore count, whether you do it online or in person at your local bookmonger. Barnes & Noble has a 25% off pre-orders deal that ends today, if you don’t mind buying from the other book behemoth. (It is a pretty nice discount.) Use code PREORDER25.

Third Wish: Please request that your local library system buy my book. I want to make sure my book is as accessible to readers as possible.

Doing any of those things will make this the best birthday month ever.

🧡 Tempest

I have a bit of news to share with you below, but down in the comments I want to hear your news. Tell me about the stuff going on in your life that you’d like to share. Can be great things, or not so great things, or a funny story, or an epic story. Share pictures, share laughter, share what’s troubling you, share wisdom.
Continue reading “It’s My Birth Week + Podcast News + New Game Who Dis | April 2022 Tea Time With Tempest” →

I Heart This Thursday

I Heart This Thursday April 2022

By:  TempestI Heart This Thursday

Welcome to I❤TT, a discussion thread for sharing stuff you love because we need more of that in life.

In the comments you’re invited to talk about or post a link, or two links, or even 5 links to things that bring you joy. Can be something cute your kid or pet did, a piece of art, a song, a book, a short story, an article, a video, posts from social media, anything.

And if these discussions are a source of joy for you, please do share this link with others who might need a space for talking about what we love.

Tea Time March 2022

Cover Reveal! Awards! Mayhem! | March 2022 Tea Time With Tempest

By:  TempestTea Time With Tempest

Y’all, I have been holding this newsletter until I finally had all the ducks in a row for the cover reveal for my debut novel! It’s here and it’s beautiful and I am so happy I’m just spinning around and around.

🧡 Tempest

I have a bit of news to share with you below, but down in the comments I want to hear your news. Tell me about the stuff going on in your life that you’d like to share. Can be great things, or not so great things, or a funny story, or an epic story. Share pictures, share laughter, share what’s troubling you, share wisdom.

Continue reading “Cover Reveal! Awards! Mayhem! | March 2022 Tea Time With Tempest” →

Dialogue, Dialect, and Narrative Voice

Next Class: Deep Dive Into Dialogue, Dialect, and Narrative Voice

By:  TempestClasses

The next Writing the Other class I’m teaching with Nisi Shawl is on Dialogue, Dialect, and Narrative Voice. Details below!

When: April 9 – 23, 2022
Where: Online via Zoom or Asynchronous classroom, accessible at your own pace
Price: $200 – $300 (Scholarships Available)

An essential part of creating a character is understanding how that individual speaks or communicates. For writers who are working to create inclusive fiction with diverse characters from races, cultures, and backgrounds different from their own, crafting appropriate dialogue is more than just idealizing and compressing speech to make it seem natural. It may also mean figuring out how to get across the nuances of language, accent, or dialect without Othering or exoticizing characters or the real cultures and identity groups they represent.

In this craft-focused class we’ll help you sharpen your dialogue skills and show you how to apply those same skills to the narrative voice through lectures, hands-on exercises, selected readings, and feedback. We’ll analyze ways familiar and unfamiliar cultural assumptions are embedded in texts and talk about alternative techniques for conveying difference via voice–yours and your characters’. At the end of class you’ll have a wealth of resources for further study and practice.

For all the details including required reading, the scholarship application, and more, please visit Writing the Other.com.

BIPOC BOOST header

BIPOC Creator BOOST – February 2022

By:  TempestNewsletter Posts

Welcome to this month’s post boosting Black, Indigenous, and other Creators of Color! Every other week I ask BIPOC folk to shout themselves out on Twitter and Facebook so that I can know about more cool art, music, books, and more and also share that with my community, who I know will appreciate it as much as I do.

Of the creators who replied to my boost posts, these resonated with me most:

Dragon and Wolf Designs

Dragon & Wolf Designs: Handcrafted Jewelry for the Fashionable Geek

I also invite you to check out the debut books written by and featuring BIPOC authors and characters that came out this month by heading over to the 22Debuts website. Here are the ones I’m most excited to read:

A Comb of Wishes by Lisa Stringfellow

A Comb of Wishes
by Lisa Stringfellow

And We Rise by Erica Martin

And We Rise
by Erica Martin

Have you picked up any of these? Because you really need to! And that’s just the four I’m most excited about. There are several others that you can find on the 22Debuts site.

In the comments I’d love to know what books by BIPOC authors you’re reading, what art you’ve seen, what music you’re listening to, what dances have inspired you by BIPOC creators.

Tempest In A Teapot

Come Write With Me… or just hang out | February 2022 Tea Time With Tempest

By:  TempestClasses

Welcome to the new home of the Teapot newsletter, my own blog! I’ve been thinking about moving away from Substack since last year when we discovered, in the words of Annalee Newitz, that Substack “paid a secret group of writers to make newsletter authorship seem lucrative.” Recent policy communications from SubStack pushed me over the edge, and my reasoning is very close to that of Grave Lavery, who wrote a good essay on why she’s leaving as well.

Hopefully the change was seamless on your end and you’ll enjoy commenting here better than SubStack since you don’t have to sign in. Onward!

The biggest news I have on the book front right now is that I don’t have big news yet. Eep! I’ve seen a sketch of my cover and it looks so good and is so close to being ready, but can’t be revealed now. Soon, though, and I know y’all will love it.

Things are calm enough this month that I’m heading up north for a a week-long writing retreat in-between class obligations. After that it’s going to be class, class, maybe a convention if it seems safe, class, class, more class, book launch. I’m trying not to be pre-exhausted.

There will be more to tell next month, I’m sure. And I’m still working on sorting pictures from Egypt. There are soooo many.

🧡 Tempest

I have a bit of news to share with you below, but down in the comments I want to hear your news. Tell me about the stuff going on in your life that you’d like to share. Can be great things, or not so great things, or a funny story, or an epic story. Share pictures, share laughter, share what’s troubling you, share wisdom.
Continue reading “Come Write With Me… or just hang out | February 2022 Tea Time With Tempest” →