DragonCon Schedule!

This is the biggest convention I do all year, and one of the most insane.  I…can’t even measure the excitement / anxiety level right now…

Also, I ought to be in bed because I’ve got a Dark O’Clock flight… soon.

So, REAL QUICK, here are a few places you’ll find me at DragonCon… outside of the Westin bar in the evenings, the Voltaire concert, the Cruxshadows concert… buying band stuff, and possibly stalking some actors from The Expanse. And John Barrowman. Maybe.

If you’re there, hopefully I will see you!

Title: Readings in Honor of Kathryn Fernquist Hinds
Time: Fri 07:00 pm Location: Techwood – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Writers & friends celebrate the life of author, bard, poet, & teacher Kathryn Hinds with reminiscences & readings from her work.

Title: The Women of Doctor Who
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Galleria 5 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: From companions & villains to directors, writers, & producers (and soon the Doctor herself), women have had a lasting impact on the show over the past 54 years. Their changing roles & indelible footprints will be discussed.

Title: Steampunk/Urban Fantasy/High Fantasy, etc.
Time: Sat 11:30 am Location: Embassy CD – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: Is Steampunk loosing its steam? Is Urban Fantasy on the wane? Does anyone read High Fantasy any more? This panel discusses the many subgenres of SF/F and how to keep readers interested.

Title: 200 Years of Women in SF
Time: Sun 11:30 am Location: Embassy AB – Hyatt (Length: 2 Hours 30 Min)
Description: In 1818, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. Taking that as a starting point, our panelists will discuss women in SF, how they have fared, who they are, and how things have changed over the years. Presented in conjunction with the Diversity in SF track. 90 minutes.

Title: Ursula K. Leguin: Honoring a Grand Master
Time: Sun 05:30 pm Location: International South – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: The field lost a great voice last year when Ursula K. Leguin passed. We will be honoring the author of The Left Hand of Darkness and Wizard of Earthsea (among others) by discussing her work and life.

 
Title: Where Do I Begin?
Time: Sun 07:00 pm Location: Embassy CD – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Description: You’ve decided to write a novel. Where do you begin? Let our pros tell you how to get started on that novel…and keep going.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!  Happy DragonCon!

DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME - Is Finally Here!!

For the good part of about two years, now, my friend and fellow Dragon*Writer, Anthony Francis and I have been working on the DOORWAYS TO EXTRA TIME anthology--and it finally comes out this Tuesday!!

I am so seriously proud of this baby...there was a lot of beauty and a lot of heartache (some amazing, amazing, amazing stories got sent to us--and we couldn't even fit them all!!) and a lot of time (heh!) and a lot of sweat and blood into this anthology.  I hope you love it as much as we do!

We're planning a bunch of promotional thingama-gigs over the next month or so, so stay tuned. :)  If you happen to be going to DragonCon this year, though, check out our release party at Ray's in the City!  Consider this your invitation!

And just in case you needed more incentive than an awesome anthology, free food, and cool people... well, we're also raffling off this AWESOME stained glass piece from Stained Glass Creations and Beyond!

Now, onto the coolness of this anthology.  Here's the back copy:

Everyone wishes they could get an extra hour in the day.

But what if you could?

What if you had a special device that gave you an extra day every week? You could use it to get ahead at work…unless your boss had it too.

What if you knew a spell that gave you an extra hour every day? You could use it to correct a mistake…or make a new one.

What if you could just stop time? You could accomplish a myriad of wonders…if you only knew how to get time started again.

Time loops and time travel, time apps and time outs, time machines, time merchants, and more can be found passing through these doorways into worlds where time can be spent like money…or where extra time can only be bought at a terrible price.

With stories and poetry by Jody Lynne Nye, Walter Hunt, Erica Cameron, Martin Feekins, Anthony Francis, L.M. Graham, R.E. Gofstein, Melina Gunnett, Betsy Miller, Susan Mittmann, Brenda Moguez, Jenny More, Ira Nayman, Errick A. Nunnally, Kate Saturday, Gayle Schultz, Rich Storrs, Keshia Swaim, Aimee Weinstein, and Trisha J. Wooldridge, Doorways to Extra Time presents twenty twists on the idea that if only we had a little extra time...

We’d have to deal with the consequences.

And here's the Amazon link so you can buy it!

Writerly Bits & Ends

Chaos reigns!

Yay chaos?  Can I get some reins for it?

In any case, I'm exhausted and this blog is obviously later than late.

What's going on?  Funny you should ask!  'Cos thatsa what Ima gonna list right now.

xx

My good friend Aimee, the Tokyo Writer, has some fabulous news that is tentative in it's concrete-ness… at least by American standards.  In any case, we are doing some hopeful, yet mysterious celebration.  Check out her blog for a few more hints!

xx

Calico!

Here's a cute pic of my friend Renee riding.  Calico's not keen on actually walking forward with people on her back, so we all needed a little help in making her move.

xx

I am still crazily working on the revamped Broad Universe page (Link is to the current/old one).  As I have been allowed to appoint myself both the Readings and Events chick, I kinda took over all of the Events and Events-related sections (which include readings).  Will I ever learn to stop taking on more work?  Probably not, but damnit if it we aren't gonna have a sweet new website with a kick-ass Events section!

xx

I owe an interview email to Shaenon K. Garrity for the Broad Sheet, but I'm behind.  I love her comic, though, so go check it out.

I also owe an interview with Voltaire to Worcester Magazine, but he is insanely busier than I am.  And I need to hear my editor about time & length.  -poke poke … in case said editor reads my blog.  <3 U! -

xx

Still getting through Kelpie.  Had a great review with new in-person writer's group.  Which reminds me I owe some DragonWriters some crits - eep!

But, Kelpie is moving slowly as I have a gap of how I get from where I am to another part, and then from that part to the end.  In other words, neither my protag nor I have any clue exactly how we will fix this kelpie issue… just that the ending requires said kelpie issue fixed/removed.

Yeah… not exactly writer's block, but definitely writer's spinning gears.  I will likely end up writing lots of useless crap until I figure it out… and believe me, useless crap is flowing.  Advanced apologies to pre-readers.

xx

From Danielle on Bad-Ass Faeries:

Some MAJOR updates over at the Bad-Ass Faeries website. A few more artist pages are up, the complete set of freebie wallpaper is live, and all existing  author pages have live excerpt links. Check it out! www.badassfaeries.com

xx

I keep meaning to do a link plop of people who's blogs you should be reading… but I am a terrible friend who is too exhausted to actually look up the urls for the blogs that remind me to read them via email (or diligent friends in chats, on FB, or Twitter.)

I still love you gals & guys!

xx

Zzzzzzzzzz……..

The Second New Year

Yes, I have my big ritual for the New Year most of the world celebrates on January 1st, but September is often its own New Year to kick-start our productivity.

School starts right before or in September.

A new television season starts in September.

The air is getting cooler and there's a bustle of preparation for winter.

Fall Harvest is traditionally a major time of change and preparation.

For me, Dragon*Con now also kicks off September.  Whenever I get together with the DragonWriters, meet so many people who are mentors or inspirations for me - and interact with them, attend so many workshops and panels on writing and literature… I just can't help but feel inspired!

                                          (Trish; JIM BUTCHER; Husband-of-Awesome Scott)

Since Dragon*Con:

I redid my 1-page synopsis for Starbard

Wrote almost 4000 words on Kelpie

Banged out a poem inspired by my friend Stef's painting, "Eagle Dance"

Went through a big change with Aurelio that I will deal with in January

Recovered enough from certain injuries where I could go and play with Calico

Started a new semester with Smarthinking

Am planning for another big editing project

Am redesigning 2 different websites

Finished editing "Cemetery Angels"

Set up a publicity interview for a friend

Caught up on all my correspondence critiques

Published a new Broad Pod

Cleaned my desk… again

All in less than a week!

Ok, so maybe I only got one and a half loads of laundry done… and Scott cooked most of the meals… minus the take out a couple times… but I did dishes!

What I'm planning to do starting Monday/today:

Finish my Broad Universe web editing

SUBMIT Starbard

SUBMIT some short stories, including "Cemetery Angels"

Get cracking on 2011 Broad Pod… for TWO episodes per month - stay tuned!

New semester Smarthinking Work

Possibly start on the NEW BAF4 short story

And throughout the week:

Play with Calico!

New editing project

SPC meeting on Tuesday

MORE writing on Kelpie

FINALLY get my email back to < 100 in the inbox

And… um… more than I feel like typing right now because, welllll… look what the heck I've got planned!

(Check out the super-fab art from Christy's H-of-A for BAF3's "Last Gate to Faerie"!)

Introducing the DragonWriters Blog!

A good writing group can mean all the difference in a single writer's career.



I've mentioned writing groups before and what makes a good writing group… and I cannot find the link to that post. But trust me, I did!

In any case, my first professional writing group was the DragonWriters, who I met at the 2002 Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia. The group of us all signed up for A. C. Crispin's writing workshop, which started a day earlier than the convention.

Since then, many of the members of our group have stayed in contact and even when some of us (like me) slip up on our critiquing returns, we do still support each other through email and instant messaging. We not only push each other to do our best, but we're also each others fans - and that is a rare balance to strike.

In addition to our special chemistry, we've also got a good mix of writers at different levels. There's a novel published, along with many short stories, and countless non-fiction pieces… and many blogs.

Oh… you want to find out more about these great reading items?

Come visit our blog!

www.dragon-writers.com

More April Adventures

OMG - is the month REALLY almost over?

Is it REALLY almost my birthday???

Didn't I just write my first April post… wow… that long ago?

Add the cliché at your own risk.

In any case:

News!

We haz podcast!!

http://broaduniverse.posterous.com/

or

http://broadpod.podbean.com/

The actual screwing around on Audacity continues to get easier with the occasional glitch of half of someone's reading going silent for no apparent reason - but was easily fixed by pasting the original over the messed-up part.

Even the time it took to figure out how to get the files smaller (with Scott's help), was easier.

Then… Podbean's server crashed.

Yes! Just my luck!

Sooooo… I moved onto Posterous, which was recommended to me from Kim Vandervort, from a friend of hers. It lets me continue my lazy addiction to doing just about EVERYTHING from my email account, and that makes me happy.

So does the 1 gig of storage space.

And then Podbean was up and running, so I reposted all the even-more-compressed files there.

Fingers totally crossed that the new site doesn't go the way of mypodcast.com and get overloaded by people wanting to use it and failing! (At least I know Podbean's been around for a while and… if push comes to shove, I may bite the bullet and ask BU to fund it for better storage space, but I'm hoping to keep this an endeavor that doesn't cost the organization anything.

In the meantime - go enjoy some fabulous fiction!

(And, because I was so busy on this compressing and stuff, stop back at the Broad Universe website and give us a donation if you like it!)

xx

This week, I'm reading poetry at the Jacob Edwards Library on April 29th (the day before my birthday!). There will be a bunch of local poets - so please come by and show your support.

I'll be reading from The Unicorn & the Old Woman… and other Poems, along with the poem that will be published in Poetry Locksmith this May!

xx

The DragonWriters, my very first writing group and a bunch of amazing writers and artists, FINALLY has our own blog! We're still working out a posting schedule, but please check us out here:

http://www.dragon-writers.com/

xx

It's 2:30 now… Can I post my blogs, have completed podcasting updates, done a food review... AND HAD A REALLY PRODUCTIVE DAY … before 3:AM???

See my answer on Twitter!

Writing Community

I've said it on many occasions, but I think it's important: Writers shouldn't be islands.

I do spend many hours on my own writing when no one is around, but it's less than you might think. Just about any time I want, I can find one of my writing friends online and reach out to them if I need help, and I respond when they call on me. I belong to a lot of wonderful groups, like Broad Universe, the DragonWriters, my Smarthinking colleagues, and many wonderful individuals who I can call on via Twitter or instant messaging. Being part of this virtual community is no less powerful than being part of an in-person community – and in many ways, its better.

A few months back, the Guardian ran an article of tips from famous/accomplished writers and someone said something along the lines of it being doubtful that good writing comes from someone who has an Internet connection. I couldn't disagree more. Not only are there great writers who are very connected online – Neil Gaiman, for example – but more agents and publishers require authors to promote themselves (online is great for that!), and humans are naturally social creatures. It's just healthier – mentally, spiritually, and even physically – for us to build a community.

My online community has done some amazing stuff for me – and I'm happy to return the favors.

A true and excellent community doesn't happen overnight, or even over weeks or months. In fact, it's always changing, developing, and getting better based on your interaction. Rather than give you a big old "how to" article (because if you search, you'll find plenty of those anyway), let me share some of my community and how we relate.

My friend, Kelly Harmon, who I met through Broad Universe, just released a new short story and a novella. I loved both, so I left her reviews on Amazon. Kelly and I also trade critiques with each other semi-regularly. We got to meet in person at last year's Balticon, and I stayed at her beautiful home. When we manage to gasp breaths of freedom in our crazy schedules, we drop each other a "How are you?" note. (Hmm… Ok, that last line is true for a lot of my friends, actually…)

Aimee Weinstein, aka TokyoWriter, is someone I met through my tutoring job at Smarthinking. Because she's in Tokyo, and I'm just a night owl, we often found our schedules overlapping, so we ended up great "Do you have a minute for a second opinion on this problem?" friends. Rather than stay completely business-like, we took time to find out more about each other and ended up being friends, even after she left Smarthinking to freelance entirely. I am proud to say she's beaten me to a book deal. An idea of her writing: She sent a 2nd draft out to agents and was getting personalized rejections (not form letters) based on partial requests. Her writing is that good!

Christy Tohara, my writing partner, is my longest online-based friend. We met over some fan-fic role playing games about 8 years ago, discovered we had a fabulous writing chemistry, and have been friends and creative partners since. I met her in-person for the first time in 2008 at the Bad-Ass Faeries 2: Just Plain Bad release party – where we celebrated our first fiction publication – individually and as a team.

I met Victoria Durm under another name only a year ago at Conbust in Northampton, MA. I gave her some basic writing business advice, and she gave me (and Chris) a great review on our short story. We've since become friends and each other's cheerleaders.

Julie Radachy and Jen Barber are two more colleagues-become-friends from Smarthinking. Both are absolutely fantastic editors who have come to my last-minute rescue for much of my writing. Also, Jen has magical manuscript manipulation powers, and Julie is a networking/opportunity genius.

Back in 2002, I was part of A.C. Crispin's writing workshop at Dragon*Con. Our particular class became very close, and I regularly chat with Kim Stotler and Karen Schuler. We cheer each other on even beyond writing and enjoy each other's company while slogging through the less-fun aspects of writing and life.

Morven Westfield, Inanna Arthen, Phoebe Wray, Jennifer Pelland, Elaine Isaak, and Justine Graykin are all part of the most active segment of what we call the New England Broads. We all started off only knowing each other virtually through Broad Universe, but realized we were all in close enough geographic proximity to do local events together, and support each other in-person as well as online.

All of these people are those with whom I've spent many years chatting with online, and while I have had the great opportunity to finally give in-person hugs to some of them, some I have not. Many got to know me first through communities, like Broad Universe, Editorial Freelancers Association, Smarthinking, gaming groups, etc., and then we discovered we had something extra in common or that we had some sort of chemistry that made us want to spend more time together.

Now, not all of these people regularly chat with each other and are friends of each other (though some are), but we have all helped each other at least indirectly. When I promote these individuals' work, I share my community of friends with them, and they share theirs with me. Sometimes if there is a topic that I'm not as familiar with in someone's writing, I can check my community to see who would know better than I would. People who get crits from me (and in critiques I've received), more than one person has contributed – even if it's just to check a grammar rule.

Maintaining a community of writing friends enriches the life and writing of everyone in the community. It takes time to build, and a desire for mutual support and honor, but it's worth it beyond any measurement.

What kind of community are you developing around yourself?