writing workshops and me… and you
As you probably know, I’m a graduate of two speculative fiction writing workshops. I attended Viable Paradise in 2008 (Go XIIers!) and Clarion West in 2011 (Let’s do this!). Both were incredible and pivotal experiences–the kind that do indeed allow one to shift directions in life. VP gave me a sense of community and took…
Read Morefor the record, this poetry stuff is HARD
So, I’ve got a story that wants to be told as a poem.* Now, I’m a bad poet. We’ve established this over the years. No matter, the story still wants to be told as a poem. *muttering* All right then, I’m writing the story as a poem. It’s difficult. Not just because I have to…
Read Morewonder, and adapting to a winter clime
It’s snowing and the sky is luminous. The night air is cold, but bearable, and soft to breathe. It’s not the now-rare sharpness of my childhood crisp winter mornings in the Valley. No, this snowy air is gentle. This is the first time I’ve lived in place where snow isn’t a once-maybe-twice-in-a-decade occurrence. Sure, it’s…
Read MoreNew story up at Strange Horizons
My first pro story, “Recognizing Gabe: un cuento de hadas,” is up at Strange Horizons. It’s my Week 5 story from Clarion West. It’s about seeing and being seen, and growing up. Also, tamales.
Read Morebusy, busy, busy
There’ll be a real post later this weekend, but for now some highlights: I’m furiously trying to get content up on my new official website. By which I mean, I’m grabbing stuff from [there] and trying to make it all coherently organized over [here]. My apartment is full of boxes. Boxes everywhere. But I was…
Read Morenew in town
Okay, I’m living in Portland. I’m also kind of quietly freaking out. If you know me, you should know that when I say “kind of,” I really mean “totally.” It has to do with the whole never having lived so far from my folks before. Right now, it’s feeling like the second and third days…
Read Morebecause I want to post something happy today, damn it
I’ll post a link to it when it’s published, but now that the contract is signed I want to share some more details about my first story sold. I wrote the first draft of what’s now “The One About Gabe and His Dad” at Clarion West as my Week Five story. L. Timmel Duchamp was…
Read Morecapitulation
I hired movers. They’ll pick up my stuff here in Lesser Outer Heck, and then go on to San Francisco to get the rest of it. I’ll just worry about getting myself, my car, my art, and a few boxes of fragile things up to Portland. I’ll drive by myself. I was going to do…
Read MoreI’m kind of freaking out
I’ll be living in Portland in about a week–which is cool. That’s not the freaking-me-out part. Honestly, it’s just the move. Actually, it’s the packing up. By which I mean, holy crap, it’s the whole leaving California and living somewhere else. Which is what I’ve been wanting to do for ages. But also? Kind of…
Read MoreYES!
I’ve sold my first story. It’s the one I wrote for week five of Clarion West. It’s a pro sale to a well-respected market. More details once I’ve actually inked the contract. [Edited to add:] Thank you so much for your awesome words of encouragement and congratulations. I appreciate them deeply.
Read Moredecisions
So, living in the Central Valley has been exceedingly difficult. There have been some great things about being here–I love the time spent with my family–but I miscalculated how miserable this place makes me and how long I could stand it. Thus, I have decided to finish up my current semester and move to Portland…
Read Moresecond story submitted
Sent off the second of my Clarion West stories. I would have sent it off sooner except for the fact that the title was wrong, and I couldn’t figure it out. Usually, I don’t have trouble with titles. Not getting it figured out for so long told me it wasn’t ready to go. So I…
Read More