Category: Writing

Begin then Begin Again

By:  TempestNews
Begin then Begin Again

Beginning #1:

The Write-a-thon officially began yesterday. I was on a train heading home to Ohio, thus could not post about it. I did get started on my revision process: read crits of the story I chose for this week and made notes. Tonight I’ll start attempting to fix some of the issues.

Beginning #2:

Back in March I was unfortunately laid off from my job that I loved, which was depressing. However, I was very aware that my being laid off was a financial issue only — my boss and co-workers liked me as much as I did them. In fact, since then I’ve been in contact via IM and such and my boss never lost an opportunity to say how much he missed me.

Recently there was a possible opening at the magazine, which I was made aware of, so I made it known that I was definitely interested in being considered for it. Last week I talked with the Managing Editor and Editor-in-chief about the details of the position and they offered and I accepted. So when I return from visiting family I’ll start back at Laptop (this time in Editorial, not the web team).

I cannot convey how super-excited I am about this. I’m in a state of mild shock, because this is one of the best possible outcomes. Not only do I get to go back to a workplace I love, but I didn’t have to go through the job-hunting process again, which I hate. A lot. Plus, heathcare. Oh how I’ve missed you, healthcare.

This new development should derail my Write-a-thon goals, though. I’ll just have to make time on the evenings and weekends for writing. Since I no longer have access to the TV this won’t be too hard.

This summer is shaping up to be an auspicious one!

What to write when autographing?

By:  TempestWriting Life
What to write when autographing?

Since I’m obviously going to have to come up with a bio on my own (hinthint), here’s something else the masses may be able to help me with: what to write (besides my signature) when autographing my stories in anthos or zines? I feel like writing “To Danny, keep on reading!” or something similar is too much like banal yearbook writing. “Have a great summer, Ken!” Even when it’s someone I know, I find it hard to figure out what to say. For Black Feather I often wrote “12 ravens, 7 swans, 1 chance to fly” which kind of worked but seemed a bit pretentious. I don’t even know what to write for the Federations story.

I can’t draw, so I can’t emulate Ben Rosenbaum or Neil Gaiman, and I am obviously not pithy. What should I do, instead?

I am crap at writing bios

By:  TempestWriting Life

But more and more lately I need a bio, either short or long, to give to someone. The one on my bio page is boring and stilted. This will not do. Help me out here — point to some awesome author bios that you really like. Or, rewrite my bio to make it more exciting! Or make up a fictional bio for yourself and post it in the comments.

How Would You Describe Your Writing?

By:  TempestWriting
How Would You Describe Your Writing?

I’ve been administering the Write-a-thon FaceBook page for the past few days (go and become a fan!) and my goal has mainly been to post links to all the participants there at regular intervals so that folks can get a chance to see a bit about each writer. This has lead to some awesomeness and hilarity.

Kate gave everyone a set of areas to fill in — excerpt, bio, describe your writing, describe your goals — and the things people sent in for the writing description and goals reveals some really cool stuff. I think my description is a bit boring, especially compared to “zombies woo small-town housewives and magical porn teaches life lessons” or “the story of a priest who becomes a vampire in Klondike gold rush era Seattle” or “small stories about queer characters in near-future SF settings or in contemporary settings with supernatural elements, but occasionally break out with actiony romps and chicklit space opera.”

I want to read all of that!

If someone asked you to describe your writing, what would you say? Or even to describe your novel or latest short story. Not the plot, necessary, but to describe what it’s like.

5 days and $1500

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon
5 days and $1500

As of now I’ve reached my Clarion West Write-a-thon fundraising goal of $1500 pledged dollars. Yes, in just 5 days. I am consistently floored by the generosity of people in this community and the willingness to support new writers (as well as established ones, as evidenced by the awesomeness going on in the community to help Cat Valente). Thank you all for your generosity.

I will still accept new sponsors if you’re willing to pledge, but I hope you’ll consider supporting one of the other writers participating. The more money you pledge to their goals the more motivated they’ll be to complete them. Hell, with $1500 riding on this, you bet I’ll not be slacking any time duing those 6 weeks.

And now I’ll stop talking about it until the actual writing begins. But again, thank you.

Write-a-thon pledges so far…

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon
Write-a-thon pledges so far...

Yesterday I began my big push for Write-a-thon sponsors. The goal was $1000 in pledged donations. Last year it took me about 2 weeks to collect enough sponsors to reach that goal. This time? Less than 24 hours. OMG.

Big thanks to all the people who posted about this on their blogs or on FaceBook or Twitter or in email. You made a huge difference! Also thanks to all the people who’ve pledged so far. You’re my heroes.

I said that I would raise my goal marker if I got $1000 in pledges before the Write-a-thon began. So now the thermometer is at $1500. It doesn’t reflect it quite yet, but I currently have over $1200 in pledged dollars. I have three weeks to get about $300 more and I’m pretty sure I can do it. Please keep linking and tweeting and posting!

If I reach my secondary goal, I’m going to turn my attention to helping other participating writers meet their pledge goals. There are currently over 30 other writers and I suspect there will be many more in the next week or so.

Anyway, again, thank you all for your support. I’m excited to write!

The 2009 Write-a-thon for Clarion West (and the Butler Scholarship)

By:  TempestEvents
The 2009 Write-a-thon for Clarion West (and the Butler Scholarship)

You’ve seen me posting about the Clarion West Write-a-thon for a couple of weeks, but now my quest for sponsors begins in earnest! I have a nifty (and detailed) sponsorship page, a sponsorship form you can fill out, and a page that explains the who, what, why and how. Now all I need is you.

Yes, you!

I need sponsors. People who will pledge money to Clarion West and the Butler Scholarship should I meet my weekly writing goals. Any amount is appreciated — don’t think that just because you can only afford a little it won’t count. In fact, it counts a lot1.

I need people to spread the word. Post about this on your blog, FaceBook feed, Twitter account, etc. and ask other people to sponsor me. Ask at work about any matching donation programs they have. Clarion West is a 501(c) organization, so it’s tax-deductable.

I need people to write with me! You can do the Write-a-thon, too, ya know. Go here, sign up, then ask your friends and family to sponsor you. Set a goal and we’ll egg each other on!

That’s it. My needs are very simple :) I plan to reach my pledge goal again this year and to meet all of my writing goals. The Write-a-thon is really a win-win event for me. I not only get to raise money for two wonderful organizations, I also get motivation to get 6 stories out into the world and, hopefully, sold to awesome markets.

But I’ll only be motivated to do so if you sponsor ;)

Footnotes

  1. Beyond the fact that every amount contributes, there’s also this cool thing where Amazon has pledged a matching grant. [⇧]

pre-Write-a-Thon Nattering: Do the WaT with me!

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon
pre-Write-a-Thon Nattering: Do the WaT with me!

As soon as my page on the Clarion West site is ready I will start my sponsor begging in earnest. But I know that once I do, some of you out there will say, “I really wish I could, but I don’t feel I can afford it,” which is completely understandable. But there is something that you can do: be in the Write-A-Thon yourselves!

You don’t have to be a Clarion West alum to participate. You don’t have to have been to any Clarion at all. You just have to want to reach a writing goal (big or small) nand be willing to ask friends and family to sponsor you. Even if you only get one sponsor, you’re helping out!

Plus, it’s always way more fun to do things like this with other writers. We can form a little support group (there’s always a lot of fun to be had on the Clarion West forums around this time) and egg each other on to higher goals and better writing.

Check out Kate’s post here about signing up — the goal is 75 writers total. You should sign up soon. And again, you don’t have to set really high goals nor do you have to commit to raising a ton of money. Just what you can.

If you decide to sign up, let me know! We can do this thing together. :)

Pre-Write-A-Thon Nattering: How many people does it take to raise $1000?

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon
Pre-Write-A-Thon Nattering: How many people does it take to raise $1000?

Last year when I set my goal of getting $1000 in pledges I at first thought: “Maybe that’s too high. It would mean either getting a few people to pledge a LOT or far too many to pledge a little.” However, once I actually broke down the numbers, I found that to be untrue.

$1000 breaks down to about $170/week. So if I get 17 people to pledge $10/week, I can reach my goal. If 9 people pledge $20/week, I’ll make my goal and a bit more. Or, one could think of it in a flat rate kind of way. If 20 people pledge $50, I’ll make my goal. Or 40 people pledging $25. I know at least 40 people who can spare $25, and I’ll bet you each know 10 people who’d be willing to donate $25.

So really, this goal is not at all tough to reach. It just requires spreading the word and finding people who have a little money to spare.

If I were to raise my stakes to a goal of $1500, how many people would it take to make that happen?

$250/week. 25 people pledging $10/week. 13 people pledging $20/week. 40 people pledging $40.

It can be done.

Pre-Write-A-Thon Nattering: Books, Books, Books

By:  TempestWrite-a-thon

Here’s a picture of some books.

wat-books01

Here’s another picture of some books.

wat-books02

I have quite a few books that I am ready to part with. (Many of them sent for the Tiptree.) I’ve been building up the fortitude to drag them downtown to The Strand to see if I can sell them, but now I have a better idea! I will give them away as pledge-incentives for the Write-A-Thon.

Details will come soon. But take a close look at those books there (click for the hi-res versions). Start coveting one (or more) of them right now!