Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

Have you heard of Clarion, or Clarion West?

They're nonprofit literary organizations committed to equal opportunity. Although there are fine science fiction and fantasy writers of all ethnicities, races, and genders, historically the field has reflected the same prejudices found in the culture around it, leading to proportionately fewer successful writers of color and women writers than white male writers. Within the limitations of the workshop, Clarion West is dedicated to improving those proportions.

As an extension of its primary mission, Clarion and Clarion West seek to make speculative fiction available to the public and thus holds readings and other events that bring speculative fiction writers and readers together.

And to do this, they need money.  To raise money, every year they hold a write-a-thon.

This year I'm participating in Clarion West's write-a-thon.  If you sponsor me (or any other writer participating), 100% of the funds go toward making sure Clarion West will be there for another writer... and, by extension, all readers of SF/F!

My page (to make a donation or see what I'm working on)

Main write-a-thon page

(description of the organization lifted from their main page)

Originally published at writer. editor. tired person

As the so-called #Novelrace (5 weeks to 60k!) begins on Monday*, I decided to hold off on working on the novel until then.  Just to play fair.

Does that mean I get the day off?  Er.  Not really.  This morning I did the final pass on “The Devil’s Jack” and passed it off to my beta-readers for shredding constructive feedback.  I also started outlining my probable next novel for Luna (working title: Heartwired) and hammered out some rather essential plotty details, prior to discussion with Madame Editrix on Wednesday.

This afternoon, the plan is to work on “Flood in a Dry Spell” (also a working title), until I’m a little happier with its direction/theme, and um, clean the apartment.  And do laundry.  And I should decide what I’m going to read at NYRSF (at the Soho Gallery for Digital Arts) this Tuesday (if you’re in NYC, you’re coming to that, right?  Right?).

Tonight, I have to do an airport run, and reclaim the SO from 18+ hours of travel.  Jetlag is so sexy on a guy (ok, not really.  But it’s entertaining as hell.)

 

My goal is to get my story-words in early on Monday, and then take the rest of the day off when the rest of the city is office-bound.  It’s a nice goal, don’t you think?

* for convenience's sake, I'm tagging "novelrace" entries as "write-a-thon" because too many tags makes the baby meerkat cry.


Originally published at Practical Meerkat: A Blog

Forward motion on Gen & Tonic Investigations #1: 10,173 / 70,000

Still no contract. I Have Faith. She's demanding a lawyer.


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Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
new words: 2,024 over three days, and a lot of staring at the story & swearing. Yes, trying to figure out what's broken DOES count as writing.
Total words: 18,434
Research: none

Excerpt:

She shook her head, and lifted a hand to scrape the strands of hair that clung damply to the nape of her neck. It was too close in the shed, too close and warm. “Why must things be so complicated?”


Betrayed Confidences: one
Revelations: it's not all about the magic.
Things magical: secrets and not-lies

In case anyone wondered: still hot. Day 5 of the heat wave, with another 2-3 days forecast. Ugh.


However, there is progress on Gen & Tonic Investigations #1: 5,562 / 70,000


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NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO GET YOUR NAME INCLUDED IN THIS STORY - AUTHOR'S CHOICE IF YOU'RE HERO, VILLAIN OR SIDEKICK - YOU NEED TO TOSS A FEW DOLLARS TO THE CLARION WRITE-A-THON KITTY. NICE KITTY. FEED THE KITTY....

Mocking rights when I miss the day's deadline are free. But no mocking today!


Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
new words: 1,495
Total words: 16,410
Research: none

Excerpt:

blood, dripping into the ground The image would not leave her, no matter how she tried to dispel it. Thick drops, blacker than red, turning soil into mud.


Dead Bodies: not dead yet, by god.
Revelations: the thief, discovered
Things magical: everything has a cost - and an obligation.

Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
new words: 505
Total words: 12,885
Research: none

Excerpt:

The jar was cooled to the touch, the infusion at full strength. She placed it in a basket, with a pad of clean rags, and, almost as an afterthought, a chunk of the previous night’s pie.

“Nothing a bit of dried-apple pie won’t cure.”



Dead Bodies: not dead yet...
Revelations: sometimes, you don't get to chose
Things magical: healing and hurting


For those of you who've donated to Clarion as part of encouraging me to move forward, thank you! And yes, I'm looking for a way to work your names into the story. *evil chortle* If you're still considering: http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4954

Y'know, it helps, when using a mouse, to make sure that the mouse USB is plugged in...



No Write-a-thon update to share. Go ahead, mock. I'll try to get something in before midnight for today.

However, there is a new Practical Meerkat!

I also spent some time working on the December Getaway. Huzzah, Getaway!


And now I must put Pandora back in her carrier (oy) and haul her back to the vet (oy) and shove her under various machines. And then go buy her a pack of the one treat she deigns to eat, in abject apology to the Duchess' offended dignity...

If I'm not back in 3 hours, check the local ER.

Forgive me, readers, for I have been Away....

Also, it is HOT outside. Wiltingly hot. And the EldestCat is showing signs of discomfort and unhappiness again, mostly at 3am, so I haven't been sleeping much the past few days. I'm trying to keep my temper under control, but the clueless and the stupid seem to take this as a challenge....

But yay, I got my wordage in, all three days!


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Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
Saturday, Sunday and Monday: 1530
Total words: 8,484
Research: gardening books, wildlife reports of the area/period, deciding to leave period slang and word-corrections for a later pass. Also: religious demagoguery.


Excerpt:

“God finds her in the garden,” Ann said, clearly trying to head off an unpleasant confrontation. Elizabeth poured tea into another cup, and handed it to the Reverend, who had seated himself, uninvited, on the settee. He was not a tall man, but broad in the shoulder, and a look in his eye that told her he missed little, and judged all. Even if she had not things to hide, she would not have trusted him.



Dead Bodies: Loose lips may cause one....
Plot Changes: oh hai there, new twist, didn't see you coming.
Things magical: oh yes.


For those of you who've donated to Clarion as part of encouraging me to move forward, thank you! If you're considering: http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4954

A pleasingly productive morning, despite the heat and related headache... and I'm back in the write-a-thon saddle again.


Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
Thursday: 552
Total words: 6,361
Research: timeline, historical herbary


Excerpt:

In all the stories she had ever heard, and her life had been filled with them, no gift repeated itself one generation to the next. They came as they would, when they would, and no Sandersen had yet been able to predict when or why they appeared, although there were almost as many theories as there were generations.



Dead Bodies: none
Wardrobe changes: dirt under her nails
Things magical: oh yes.


For those of you who've donated to Clarion as part of encouraging me to move forward, thank you! If you're considering: http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4954 And if you haven't then you have no right to mock me (but you probably will anyway, shame on you)
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In other news, this week's Practical Meerkat is ready to upload, the overgrown to-file pile has been...well, mostly tamed, website updates prepped, progress has been made on the mystery plot, and now I have to go do some research on [redacted], and read two short stories for the freelance gig. But first, I think, a mid-afternoon nap. *shoves cats off sofa, passes out*

I have been a most boring correspondent recently, I know. Between dashing about while folk were in town for RWA, and teaching, and the ongoing work commitments, and G getting ready to head out for several (6!) weeks of work-travel, I haven't had much time to blog. I'm not sure that's going to change much in the next few weeks either. Twitter suits my dash-and-dart social networking windows better, right now. Say you still love me?

And yes, I've seen the season opener of Leverage, no worries. Although being sans TNT makes it tricky....

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Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
Today: 562
Total words: 4680
Research: more timeline sorting, musical instruments


Excerpt:

“Be careful, girl,” her mother went on.... “The casualness with which we speak of this… it is an aberration, even within the family, since there are none to whom it is secret in this house. But where you go, no-one must know what you do, or how. They must not even wonder at it. It has not been so long since dark times reigned in these lands, and our Gifts would have been considered darkest witchcraft.”
"I understand.”
Her mother sighed, a worry-crease touching the clear skin of her forehead. “No, my dearest, I don’t believe that you do."



Dead Bodies: none
Wardrobe changes: one
Things magical: oh look, a grimoire!
Set changes: one

And we move from one location to the next, and the story ratchets up a bit...


For those of you who've donated to Clarion, thank you! If you're considering: http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4954

Not that I think anyone's reading these, but I did promise to report in....

Title: "Strong Earth"
Starting point: 1,100 words of outline
Goal: 20,000 words of story
Wednesday & Thursday: 1084
Total words: 3169
Research: period sidearms, slang


Excerpt:


“Mind your tongue, scum,” a growl rose from the men, a local man from the sound of his voice. Part of Elizabeth thrilled to hear the menace brought to her defense, but the tension in the group was too heavy for her to feel any comfort; the man was not defending her, but looking for an excuse, the spark that would set this confrontation to violence. She knew that as well as she knew when a plant was about to bud.



Dead Bodies: a lady never looks back to find out.
Wardrobe changes: one
Things magical: the itch is growing.
Tea consumed: none.


For those of you who've donated to Clarion, thank you! If you're considering: http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=4954