I waited until the very last day of the month to send this update because I have been a busy bee. Last month I was invited to speak at the Jeddah International Book Fair. I had a wonderful time, as the pictures I took can attest. It was my first time in Saudi Arabia and I loved the entire trip. I didn’t get to see too much since I wanted to soak in all the goodness of the book fair. What little I did see made me want to go back someday.
I started the year off with a solo writing and meditation retreat. Sorely needed. I’ve been dealing with burnout for months and two solid weeks of only focusing on restorative things helped me start clawing my way out of it.
Now I’m settling in at home for two months of writing writing writing. I have a book due, a picture book to poke at, and a secret project to plan.
There’s some other news of interest below. Don’t forget to visit the comments and drop your own exciting news. I want to know what y’all have been up to :)
🧡 Tempest
In this newsletter:
- Ruby Finley Honored + Awards Season
- Pre-Ordering New Suns 2
- My Upcoming Classes
- Get Back In The Creative Groove With Me
- Social Network Updates
Ruby Finley Honored + Awards Season
Yesterday the American Library Association released their Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists and I was over the moon at seeing Ruby Finley vs. the Interstellar Invasion on the Eleanor Cameron Notable Middle Grade Books List alongside some amazing novels and authors. I am so honored! Please check out the lists, which also include picture books and YA.
Speaking of fancy lists, I shall now remind you that it is time for nominating and voting for awards. And Ruby Finley is eligible for some!
If you’re in SFWA, you can nominate the book for the Andre Norton Award. If you have nominating rights for the Hugos, technically the book is eligible for the Best Novella category. It’s not YA, thus I don’t think it’s eligible for the Lodestar Award. You can nominate the book for the LOCUS Award for First Novel and the Dragon Award for Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel.
Those are the awards I know about; I know there must be ones I don’t know about. If they are open to nominations, please consider tossing my book in the ring!
Pre-Order New Suns 2
The New Suns 2 anthology, edited by Nisi Shawl, is coming out in March. I have a new, original story in it, sharing page space with Darcie Little Badger, John Chu, Tananarive Due, Alex Jennings, Karin Lowachee, Hiromi Goto, Malka Older, Jaymee Goh, and many more outstanding authors. If you’re interested in the book, please, please pre-order. It helps when there are tons of pre-orders.
Available from Bookshop.org, Powell’s Books, Your Local Indie Bookseller, Amazon, and other fine stores.
Upcoming Classes
Writing the Other is starting our first wave of classes in February and I’m doing two webinars with Nisi Shawl.
What To Do If You F%#! Up (aka Avoiding the #AuthorsBehavingBadly Tag)
When: February 25, 11AM – 2PM Pacific Time
Where: Online via Zoom video conference
Price: $30 – $40 or Whatever You Can Afford
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a writer of fiction will, in the course of their career, f%#! screw up. The screw up might be small or it might be huge. Either way, authors worry that screwing up could negatively impact their career for years, or even forever. For some, that fear is paralyzing, keeping them from engaging in community or with their readers or with learning opportunities.
A truth not universally acknowledged is that authors can recover from a screw up, even a highly public one, by avoiding specific behaviors that do nothing but escalate and make the situation worse. In the lecture portion of this webinar, authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will break down what authors should not do and advise on what they should do, instead. The webinar concludes with a long question and answer session.
Click Here for Details and Registration
Should Authors Write Characters Different From Themselves?
When: March 4, 2023, 10AM – 2PM Pacific Time
Where: Online via Zoom video conference
Price: $30 – $40 or Whatever You Can Afford
Discussions of diversity in literature, media, and narrative often boil down to a version of this basic question: Should white creators write characters of color? Should cisgender creators write trans characters? Should abled creators write characters with disabilities? Should heterosexual creators write LGBTQIA+ characters? The list goes on.
Though framed as a yes or no question, the answer is complicated and complex. Yet it’s the same one for every permutation that gets asked. In this 4 hour webinar, authors Nisi Shawl and K. Tempest Bradford will give you the answer.
Click Here for Details and Registration
Check out these other awesome classes, too:
Non-Linear Story Structures from Non-Western Traditions with Henry Lien
Selling Your Work Online: The Ins and Outs of Internet Retail with Monica Valentinelli
Honestly, everything over at Cat Rambo’s Academy for Wayward Writers looks amazing.
Get Back In The Creative Groove
It’s now (past) the New Year for everyone; Gregorian calendar peeps, Lunar New Year Peeps, solstice peeps… Even though time is an illusion, this is a good moment in the yearly cycle to reset, refresh, and start anew. I’m working on my next book and also doing a short daily creative practice each day based on the cards in this deck. I’ll post some results on social media and anything interesting to my Patreon.
If you need some help getting back to writing and creating here in the new year, may I suggest…?
You can sign up for 33 Days of Inspiration at any time. It’s an email series of writing prompts that build on each other and are low-stakes, no-pressure.
If you need something more social and guided, consider joining the Fun & (Writing) Games Salon. Each month we play a writing-based game to get creative juices flowing. No pressure, no stress, and no insisting that what you create needs to be polished or sold or anything. It’s all about having fun and also getting some creative support between sessions. Next one is February 11!
Being Social Is Getting Harder
I have a whole essay I need to write about my feelings on Twitter circling the drain, the impact this has had and will have, and how I personally want to deal with this shakeup. Until such a time when I have energy to write that up, I’ll state the core bit here:
I want to use social networks differently, and I hope you’ll be down for it. I invite you to please follow/friend me on the following platforms:
- Tumblr — Pictures (cross-posted from Instagram), reblogs of fun stuff, fandom squee.
- DreamWidth — Journal essays (small ones) and other blog-type shenanigans.
- Wandering.Shop on Mastodon — For conversations, sharing things I love, and sharing my own stuff. I’ll mostly use this like Twitter. You don’t have to be on Wandering.Shop to follow me on Mastodon.
- Facebook and Instagram — These spaces will move to more automated posts and be where I do a ton of personal boosting.
My Twitter account still exists and will stay up for now. Right now it’s more boosting and promo than anything else since Twitter keeps making it harder to access the site in a way that doesn’t make me angry.
As always, you are welcome to come into the comments here and be social.
Enough About Me
I’m ready to hear from you 🤗 Just one note: this is a community space. Please keep in mind that this is my space, so please act the way you would if you were in my actual parlor having actual tea with me 😍