Write-a-thon Week 3 Brings Amazing News

Week 3 starts today and I have two bits of good news to report.  First, according to the CW workshop admins, people donated enough money in a little over 48 hours to cover the cost of purchasing new laptops for the students who lost theirs to theft.  You know how earlier today I said there were times I just wanted to walk away from this community?  Well, this is one of the reasons I don’t.  We are a community and we take care of each other in times of need.  People’s generosity always amazes me, even though I see it time and again.  Thanks to everyone who donated or spread the word.  I’m sure the students and admins and teachers appreciate everything and will always do so.

Speaking of generosity, I just got a note from a write-a-thon coordinator letting me know what sponsorships have come in so far.  A few people went ahead and donated their money (Linda Addison did so with the warning that she knew where to find me if I didn’t write — eek!) and some of them weren’t on the list I was keeping to see if I’d reached my goal yet.  Well lo, with the addition of these fine folks, I found out that I met my goal of having $1000 pledged!  In fact, the total is actually $1010 if I meet all of my writing goals.  And I have a ton of motivation to do so.  Thank you, everyone.  This really made my day.

So!  This week I’m thinking of doing chapter 2, since I have a vague idea of how it will go and I’m interested to see where my girls will take me next.  This is probably going to be a longer one, so I’m back to grinding out 1K a day or so.  Should be interesting as I’m going to be upstate for most of the week.  At least it’s a nice place and quiet in the evenings :)

More help for Clarion West (of a different sort)

Just found out yesterday that someone broke into the Clarion West sorority house and stole 4 laptops, some clothing, and other stuff. Apparently they broke a window and grabbed everything they could. There are many times I wish I had the power to send down lightning on someone, and this is one of them. If this had happened to me at my Clarion I would have been just devastated. I also could not have afforded to replace the laptop. This is the situation 4 students find themselves in now.

They have temporary computers, I hear, but will definitely need some replacements. Clarion West is collecting donations toward that end. I know many of you have pledged or donated for the write-a-thon and may not be able to spare anything. But if you can, please do. Having a laptop stolen, no matter who you are, is heartbreaking. But when you’re a writer and your laptop is your livelihood, it’s indescribably horrid.

If you can, please donate here (be sure to put in the notes that this is for laptop replacement and not the general fund) and contact the workshop admins at info -at- clarionwest.org if you can help by donating/selling at low cost a spare laptop. Thanks.

I Have Not Yet Stopped Doing The Happy Snoopy Dance

A bit of most excellent news — yesterday I found out that Strange Horizons will publish my story Until Forgiveness Comes!  Yay!  SH is one of my favorite magazines and a market I really, really wanted to crack.  And that story is, I believe, one of the best I’ve ever written.

Apparently SH sent out a bunch of acceptances yesterday as I saw at least one mentioned on my flist and my fellow Altered Fluidian, Kris Dikeman, also got one.  I’m pretty sure AF is taking over markets one by one, as three or four of us have something coming up in Electric Velocipede as well.

I should also say that the story benefited tremendously from critiques from both Altered Fluid and, later, the Black Beans (who took a look at the revision I did for SH, mentioned here).  Big thanks, y’all :)

My story will come out in late 2008/early 2009, and I’ll definitely make mention when it does.  And next month my Podcastle story comes out.  Lots to look forward to.

Designing Stuff

I’ve been rather busy the past few weeks and I owe many of you many emails.  Please forgive me!  There’s been a lot of upheaval here at Casa de Tempest the past couple of months and I’m just now getting to the point where I can stop panicking.

I’m taking on several web design projects right now and just (mostly) completed one: DenaLandon.com.

I did the last design of Dena’s site (and it was very pretty, if I say so myself) but we both felt it was time for an update.  This time I put her on a WordPress blog so she could make text updates herself and also integrate the blog into the actual site and run away from Blogger forever.  I’m quite proud of this one, as it’s the most I’ve had to modify a WP theme and I pulled it off. WordPress as CMS works out pretty well for sites like this.

I also created the images along the top and in the background.  They’re all based on the cover art, though I had to fuss with it a bit and work around the title and author name a lot.  I haven’t used masks in forever, but rediscovered that function working on this site, nicely paralleling my learning about them for the first time for the original design.

I have three other projects right now and I’m also looking for more design work.  If you need a simple (but pretty) website or want me to set up a WordPress blog and maybe tweak a theme for you, drop me an email.  I’m going to squeeze in a bunch before the month is up and the Write-a-thon is in full swing.

Shiny Shiny Shiny

Because I was so involved in setting it up yesterday, I neglected to post here about the auction of jewelry based on Interfictions stories. From the press release:

Interstitial artists and admirers of Interfictions have come forward with some truly stunning pieces based on Interfictions stories by Matthew Cheney, Catherynne M. Valente, Jon Singer, Veronica Schanoes, and Colin Greenland. Participants include artists Elise Matthesen, JoSelle Vanderhooft, Mia Nutick, Kris McDermott, and many more.

And, most remarkably, some of the authors themselves have created unique pieces based on their own work! Keep an eye on IAFAuctions.com to see wearable interpretations of their own work by Interfictions authors Leslie What, Rachel Pollack, and K. Tempest Bradford.

I like that term: wearable interpretations Ellen Kushner came up with that!

So far a piece by JoSelle based on the Valente story and a piece by Sarah based on Cheney’s story are up. And today I posted a preview of stuff to come.

And yes, it’s true that I have something going up, too. I have been trying to come up with something for months. Months! But then I saw this gorgeous piece based on “Black Feather” (which is, can I just say, so amazing to see something beautiful that was inspired by something I did. So cool!) and was inspired myself. I don’t know if my idea will pan out, but here’s a sneak peek of the earrings I am making called “Inwood Hill”:

I want to add one more chain, but I’m afraid of making it too heavy. But then I use pretty light materials on there — very light/hollow glass beads, coral, tiny Jasper beads that weigh very little. There will also be a black feather hidden in there somehow. What do you guys think?

Drabblecast!

Found out last week that my drabble from Farthing, issue 2, was accepted at Drabblecast!  When the cast goes live, I’ll let you know.  My PodCastle stories are coming up soon, too.

I’m on the Tiptree jury!

Now that the other jurists are confirmed, I can jump up and down about this in public. Debbie Notkin asked me to be on the 2009 Tiptree jury, which means I, along with other fabulous people, will pick the winners from 2008 published fiction.

I’m so excited about this I cannot tell you. It’s a real honor to be asked, especially because this award is close to my heart.

I foresee many, many months of reading ahead of me, not to mention getting to know the UPS guy really well.

PodCastle #3 with intro by me!

The third episode of PodCastle is out today and if you haven’t listened to it before now, you so totally should.  The story is Run of the Fiery Horse by Hilary Moon Murphy.  This is one of my favorite stories and Hilary is one of my favorite people/authors.  You must listen to my intro for details.

Cast Again

Just sold a flash piece to PodCastle, yay! Elf Aware, which I published way back when I was known as Finley Larkin. I wrote it for an OWW challenge — 2nd person — and sold it to Cafe Irreal.

It’s a very good way to start the week!

My Thoughts on the News About Amazon

A lot of people have linked to the thing about Amazon telling POD publishers they have to print their books though Booksurge (owned by Amazon) or they won’t be listed. Some are very upset about it, some have determined that it won’t impact their business, and others are freaking out!

I will admit that I am not entirely sure of all the ramifications, but two bits of information floated my way that make me think that the situation is not so dire. The first is that, according to Deborah Layne, nothing will change for her and Wheatland Press, and she’s with Lightning Source. So rumors that Lightning Source people have to switch over are, apparently, not entirely correct.

Which leads into the other thing I heard. The first bit of news about this came from Writer’s Weekly/Angela Hoy. And let me tell you, I don’t trust a damn thing that woman has to say. In part because she’s a vanity book publisher dressed up as not, but because I’ve had personal dealings with her that convinced me she’s really not as knowledgeable or interested in helping writers as she seems.

Several years ago, back when I was teaching writing classes, I pitched some ideas to her for the writing classes area associated with Writer’s Weekly. The full account of what happened is here, but essentially I came away from the encounter thinking that Angela didn’t know a lot about fiction writing and selling, yet was acting if she did. At the time, I just thought she was deluded, but after reading and hearing more about her, I’ve come ’round to the opinion that she’s more than a little scammy.

Someone on the BroadUniverse list pointed out that this news from Amazon really only affects POD publishers who are not part of an existing distribution system, like Ingram. The kind of POD publishers that can’t get their books stocked in Brick&Mortar stores because they won’t accept returns. The kind of publishers that have names like PublishAmerica. So really, this is terrible news for PA and that ilk, but not necessarily for all small presses. Again, this is the impression I’m getting from various sources, but if anyone has information to the contrary, I’d like to know. Mainly, I feel like anything that upsets Angela Hoy can’t be all bad.