Blogging Seattle

My son came home from school yesterday and told me that someone who reads my blog (Hello Elimy) is tired of reading the Steampunk entry I wrote back in April and wants to read something else. So, okay, here's something...

I'm off to Clarion West Seattle next week. Lists have been written, jobs have been finished, plans have been made. Just when I thought everything was running smoothly, I fell off a step and broke a bone in the top my foot (Navicular). Fortunately, after resting up for a few days (Ohhhh how frustrating), I can walk on it again, but only if I wear my hiking boots for ankle support. Well...I'm not going to argue with that because I love my hiking boots.

So now I'm frantically catching up again. I'd hoped to do some writing in preparation for Clarion, but I've done very little as I've been madly finishing off my proposal and writing a novel chapter so that when I get back I'll still be up to date with my uni timetable. I hear it's good to go with a clean slate, anyway. Hopefully, I'll leave all my old bad writing habits behind me, try things I haven't tried writing before, surprise myself.

My aim is to blog the Clarion Experience as much as I can without it interfering with my writing. So I'll aim for once a week, and possibly fit in a tad more.

Still Flabbergasted About Clarion

Today I really want to get my 500 words done, plus make headway on my PhD proposal, which of course, means lots of reading and thinking and 15 pages of theoretical writing. The trouble is, I want to do it all at once. And now I want to write a short story or two as practice for Clarion. I've been working on this novel for months, planning, writing, experimenting. I think I'm finally getting a good idea about what I want to do (Steampunk fantasy! who would have thought!). The world building has come together nicely. I have six very troubled characters and a tangled plot, which is possibly a reflection of my mental state at the moment (in a good way).

I also have an idea for a short story set in the world of my novel. I'm wondering if I should just let it ferment a bit in my head, then write it at Clarion in week one, to get me started. Last time I did that, with the 'Bridal Bier' -- a story I pretty much wrote over a week when I was supposed to be writing an English Essay on 'Why is Frankenstein' more than a gothic novel' -- I ended up with a pretty neat story, which ended up in Eidolon 1 and a couple of shortlists. At the time, it felt like a fluke, but now I think it was more the product of a few months of fermenting in my head.

This blog entry seems a bit stream-of-consciousness unfocussed, I know. But that's how my head's operating at the moment. Tomorrow, I'm booking my flight: most likely Seattle via Tokyo. Plus I'm back on hunter-gatherer food again, trying to keep the migraines at bay. Haven't had one in two weeks, so I guess it's working, probably because I'm not getting any refined sugar or msg (or basically, anything processed). Last time I did the hunter-gatherer thing, I remained migraine free for 8 weeks. It's hard on the will power, but worth it. Well worth it! And once you get the hang of it, it's easy to do: fresh fruit, veges and good, natural protein like eggs, fish, meat, nuts.

On Reviewing

This reviewing thing is a new experience for me. I’m new to the genre of fantasy, new to being a full-time writer/student. In the meantime, I’m just finding my feet – figuring out what’s new in fantasy literature, what’s old, what’s over-used, what’s different., what can and can’t be done. At this stage in my studies, I’m not sure. So most of my early reviews will not be taking historical aspects into consideration. I’ve yet to learn which themes have been done to death and how, what’s cliché and what’s not. I have a fair idea, but that’s all. I’ll need to read some more to make sure. Hopefully I’ll learn how to make old themes look original (if such a thing is possible). So right now I’m reading and reviewing purely for the pleasure of it. Purely for the story.

I’ve started by looking up Duotrope’s Digest (A Resource for Fiction Writers and Poets). This generated a long list of online fantasy magazines to sort through. Thus begins this current leg of my journey…

Many successes

My KSP buddy Sonia Helbig has won second prize in the fourth quarter of the Writers of the Future Contest. Huge congrats to Sonia. Another friend, Ian McHugh, has also won a prize in the third quarter of the same contest. Ian used to be a member of KSP, but now lives in Canberra. Great to see people's hard work start to pay off. Best wishes and many more successes to you both.

I'm also feeling chuffed as UWA has offered me a scholarship to do an MA in Creative Writing, which I'll most likely upgrade to a PhD at the end of 2008. All this means, of course, is that now I absolutely must finish my novel, so I'd better get writing.

Aurealis Award Nominations 2008

Aurealis Award Nominations 2008 have been announced over at the award website here. Big congratulations to all nominees. I've read and enjoyed a few of the works listed so it's good to see these people getting recognition.

The Novel Takes Over

Dear Blog,

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. I've been working on my novel and now I have 10,000 words. That can only be a good thing. 90,000+ to go,

Will finish blogging Denmark Bibbulmum when I need time out.

A story finished

It feels good to finish a story. This latest one I've been working on for nearly a year. I write it, put it away for a few weeks, rewrite some, put it away again. This week, after sending it to my writers' group for a crit, I played with it some more and at last it feels finished. And I'm proud of it.

Thanks Helen and Satima for your input. It really really helped. The story is on the first leg of doing it's rounds, so I'm hoping.