This year I am participating in the Clarion West Write-a-thon. Starting on June 21, I’ve committed to finishing a story a week to parallel what the current class will be doing in Seattle. My goal is to raise a minimum of $100 for Clarion West, though more is always acceptable. The workshop gave a lot to me, both in improving my writing and in introducing me to some really amazing people and experiences and so I’m happy to give a little back in this way.

Please, if you can, sponsor me in the write-a-thon to help me meet my goal. Or, if you’d prefer, sponsor one of the other amazing writers taking part. Anything helps. Five dollars if you can manage it. One dollar, if that’s more your speed. Think of it as an investment in future entertainment.

For anyone who sponsors me, I’d be happy to send you a copy of the completed stories (or novel chapters) to look at when they’re done.

Thanks.

My short Twitter poem-ish piece just went up on Outshine. This is my first time trying something like this, but I was happy with the way it turned out. The idea was to try to come up with something that was near-future and optimistic SF, and that also fit into 140 characters or less. What will likely be my highest paying (per word at least) gig.

Sybil’s Garage No. 6

It’s my pleasure to help spread the word that the 6th issue of Sybil’s Garage is now available. I helped read for this issue and Matt Kressel, and the other editors, have done an amazing job of putting together the magazine. Less a magazine, this is more of a mini-anthology and well worth your time and money. Details are available at the website and there will also be copies for sale at Wiscon.

http://www.sensesfive.com/sg6.php

Table of Contents

Poetry
Liz Bourke —  “The Girl”
Donna Burgess —  “Ashes”
Lyn C. A. Gardner —  “God’s Cat”
Alex Dally MacFarlane —  “The Wat”
Susannah Mandel —  “Metamorphic Megafauna”
Tracie McBride —  “An Ill Wind”
Kristen McHenry —  “Museum”
Jaime Lee Moyer —  “One by Moonlight”
Daniel A. Rabuzzi —  “Backsight”
Michel Sauret  —  “Brick Wall Giants”
Michel Sauret  —  “Son of Man”
J.E. Stanley —  “City of Bridges”
Sonya Taaffe —  “Skiadas”
Marcie Lynn Tentchoff —  “Sun-Kissed”

Fiction
Rumjhum Biswas —  “Mother’s Garden”
K. Tempest Bradford —  “Élan Vital”
Autumn Canter —  “Day of the Mayfly”
Becca De La Rosa —  “Not the West Wind”
Eric Del Carlo —  “Come the Cold”
Jason Heller —  “The Raincaller”
Paul Jessup —  “Heaven’s Fire ”
Vylar Kaftan —  “Fulgurite”
Keffy R. M. Kehrli —  “Machine Washable”
Sean Markey —  “Waiting for the Green Woman”
James B. Pepe —  “I am Enkidu, his Wild Brother”
Simon Petrie —  “Downdraft”
Genevieve Valentine —  “The Drink of Fine Gentlemen Everywhere”
Stephanie Campisi —  “Drinking Black Coffee at the Jasper Grey Café”
Toiya Kristen Finley —  “Eating Ritual”
Donald Norum —  “An Old Man Went Fishing on the Sea of Red”

Non-Fiction
Interview with Paul Tremblay by Devin Poore

http://www.sensesfive.com/sg6.php

Kris Dikeman, a member of my writing group, Altered Fluid, wrote a brilliant story called “Nine Sundays in a Row” which Strange Horizons had the good sense to publish.

The story was also recently recognized in the top ten list for the storySouth Million Writers Award. You can vote for it for best story of the year. I urge you to check out the story and then go and vote.

On Wednesday evening I trekked to Webster Hall in downtown Manhattan to see Chuck Palahniuk read and talk. Chuck was one of my instructors at Clarion West and he’s always entertaining, so I thought I would check it out.

It’s been ages since I’ve been to Webster Hall and the last time was basically to go clubbing with some friends. It was strange to be there for a reading, but Chuck packed them into the place, and all the seats filled early so that some people had to stand on the periphery.

Less of a reading and more of a comedy show, Chuck talked about some of his wacky experiences and read us some fairy tales written in the same vein as the main character from Pygmy. Amy Hempel was supposed to be there interviewing him, but she had a family emergency and couldn’t make it, which was disappointing but understandable. Instead his editor came out to pick up the slack, though really Chuck didn’t need it. His answers to the questions were interesting, but hardly the draw of the show. It was his off-the cuff comments and stories that sparked. At one point he answered a cell phone call that was supposed to be from Maya Angelou. It was a strange night. And enjoyable.

But it had one additional effect aside from just entertainment.

Lately I’ve been feeling disenchanted with the whole writing process. I continue to garner rejections and the last few came on stories I was proud of. The last one came so quickly that I assumed it must have gone over like a steaming turd. And I’m surrounded by gifted, talented people, all the time, who are achieving wonderful things. I don’t begrudge them their success, and they deserve all of that and more. I’m proud of my friends. But it makes me want what they have all the more. To stand tall in that company. Yet lately I seem to still be misfiring.

Where Chuck comes into this is one of his answers during the Q&A. The question was fairly standard, about how he sees himself in response to the community of mainstream literature, and the answer was even more standard, but it resonated for me. Chuck said that he writes for himself. He writes because it’s fun and he loves it and he doesn’t worry about whether people will like it and he doesn’t worry about pleasing an audience. Now whether that’s true or not, and it’s likely to be because he can afford to do that, one thing hit me from that – I forgot how enjoyable and how fulfilling the writing was. I was looking so far down the road, at where the story would end up, worrying whether it would be received well or be rejected, that I wasn’t appreciating the process of doing it. And that was a sobering realization. Because I do love doing it. And I can never really stop myself. And so I might as well just enjoy the process and focus on that. I’ll continue to send my stories out, but that’s not where my head should be all the time. My head should be in the writing along with everything else.

Simple, I know, but a potent reminder. Maybe I should get it tattooed on my arm…