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Clarion Epilogue: The Business of Writing August 22, 2006 Update: I still have at least three more of these I want to write (Craft, Critiquing Process, People, plus the Final Photo Dump), and then I'll get started on the podcast. Feeling much better (though my cough still lingers enough that spoken word narration for Telltale is impossible), and my new writing seems to suck slightly less than it did over the last eight weeks, though it's a painful process to create anything. Soldiering through. Saying that I'm self-taught in anything is one of those backhanded brags. I'm certainly proud of the things I picked up on my own, and the cheapskate in me is almost proud that I could spend 100 hours in trial-and-error situations to avoid spending five dollars for instant access to the same knowledge.
But the more significant problems with being self-taught in anything are that (a) it might have taken me half a decade to figure out what I could have picked up in an afternoon lecture, and (b) there are always holes in my knowledge or skillset, sporadically marring what should be an expertise after so long a practice. And filling in those holes requires better listening skills than I've ever had. So I got more validation than information when it came to the business side of things at Clarion. It was a bit frustrating at first, knowing that if I'd gone to Clarion at the beginning of this 7.5 year (so far) journey rather than now, I could have learned about manuscript format, business ettiquite, etc. in these six weeks of discussion rather than in 6+ years of mistakes. But the validation was a very positive for me, especially after getting thorougly crushed in other ways at Clarion. "Well," I sometimes thought, after rereading something I wrote. "Even if I can't tell a story, at least I knew never to put glitter in an envelope..." And filling in the gaps took a lot of concentration. For every hour-plus lecture by Gay and Joe Haldeman (and, later, Holly Black and Kelly Link) about the writing business, I'd want to stop taking notes whenever I got cocky and think I already knew everything they had to say. And then, just as I my ego quietly grew to become too big for whoever was sitting next to me on the couch, the instructor would offer up some piece of the puzzle I'd never heard before. This was mostly in the book-side of the business. I've done a lot of research there, but have had no practical experience (more importantly: the chance to make mistakes) submitting anything longer than a novelette. The exception to this would be Holly talking about YA and children's markets: just about everything there was completely new to me, and important because (gulp) I think my first novel, which I intend to start by the end of the year, is going to be YA. This will be my sacrificial novel, more to figure out how to do it than to have anything to actually market at the end of the rainbow. But it's nice to dream that what I write will be salvagable. I should say that in spite of the redundancy, I think it was good overall that I didn't go to Clarion seven years ago when I first heard of the workshop, and I'll talk about that when I get into discussing craft. Filed under Clarion, Journal, Prose and Poetry  
Comments: Discuss this entry at LiveJournalI am looking forward to reading Craft, Critiquing Process and People. It will be good to learn more about Clarion. Just don't tell me live and in person about it. Posted by: Jen at August 22, 2006 8:57 PM 
I would never post a malicious comment. Approve me now! Posted by: Jen at August 22, 2006 8:58 PM
Right away, dear! Posted by: Alex at August 22, 2006 9:08 PM
You guys are cute. Posted by: Jason Erik Lundberg at August 22, 2006 10:23 PM
Damn! I should have known that glitter stick would turn out to be a bad investment... Posted by: Robert at August 23, 2006 12:10 AM
I would call that photo Ballet With Volleyball Net. Posted by: Aimee at August 23, 2006 9:33 AM
The ball is where your fellow Calrionite's eyes are looking. Keep up the great posts for those that wish we could have gone. Posted by: Steve Buchheit at August 23, 2006 1:33 PM
Jason and Steve: Thanks! Robert: Glitter stick (that's with the glue, right?) might not be quite as terrible. I've only read slush readers complain about loose glitter pouring out from an envelope and getting everywhere. Aimee: Good, but because it's Chris's picture, I think we need more cthulhu in a title. How about "Ballet With Volleyball Net, O Demon-Sultan Azathoth?" Or to forget about Chris and please Swanwick instead: "Alex Discovers Fire-Sand" Posted by: Alex at August 23, 2006 1:55 PM
Hahaha, Jen is funny. Posted by: Felice at August 24, 2006 1:42 AM
Excellent picture. Far gayer than the skirt picture--I love it. Posted by: Ted at August 24, 2006 11:06 AM
by Alex Wilson. This is from an online journal/blog I kept from 1998-2009. Back to alexwilson.com. |
