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clarentineThe expected early release on account of holiday weekend did not occur. Am stuck here for another hour. And so, to pass the time, I blog.
The OWW focus community has been batting around the idea of starting up another focus. Looks like we might end up discussing styles - what constitutes a style, and how to manipulate them.
Which put me in mind of a focus topic I forgot to suggest, but probably ought to: blurbs. We post and crit on OWW (that's the Online Writing Workshop, http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com) with the express purpose, for most of us, of improving our writing and snagging some publication credits. Blurbs fit into that purpose because they are, at their most simple, marketing tools.
A writer needs to know what to respond when someone asks what their book is about, especially if said someone is an agent or publishing type. We need to be practiced in that definition so that, even when frazzled by being face to face with literary luminaries, we can still stammer out the sentence or two that encompass the heart of our book(s).
Blurbs aren't as easy to put together as they sound, either. On one of my writing lists, the Jenny Crusie Cherries list, we did a round of blurbs last winter that was very instructive. I came away with a terrific blurb for Cavalier Attitude that I fully intend to use when I finally get this rewrite done and can begin marketing my work for real.
Now I just need to remember to mention it to Charlie, or one of the other OWW folks he has minding the focus list, so we can run one of those after the style focus is done.
The OWW focus community has been batting around the idea of starting up another focus. Looks like we might end up discussing styles - what constitutes a style, and how to manipulate them.
Which put me in mind of a focus topic I forgot to suggest, but probably ought to: blurbs. We post and crit on OWW (that's the Online Writing Workshop, http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com) with the express purpose, for most of us, of improving our writing and snagging some publication credits. Blurbs fit into that purpose because they are, at their most simple, marketing tools.
A writer needs to know what to respond when someone asks what their book is about, especially if said someone is an agent or publishing type. We need to be practiced in that definition so that, even when frazzled by being face to face with literary luminaries, we can still stammer out the sentence or two that encompass the heart of our book(s).
Blurbs aren't as easy to put together as they sound, either. On one of my writing lists, the Jenny Crusie Cherries list, we did a round of blurbs last winter that was very instructive. I came away with a terrific blurb for Cavalier Attitude that I fully intend to use when I finally get this rewrite done and can begin marketing my work for real.
Now I just need to remember to mention it to Charlie, or one of the other OWW folks he has minding the focus list, so we can run one of those after the style focus is done.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 01:37 am (UTC)That said, I've been to one (Worldcon 2004, Boston), and I went to a fair number of lectures. Learned some things. Got overwhelmed. Wished I'd spent more time with my friends. I'm looking forward to seeing Austin, and my friends, but mostly to talk writing in person with people who don't look at me cross-eyed.
Cecelia was gone by the time I started. Elizabeth Bear came in about the same time I did, though of course she's got wheels and I'm limping along with holey shoes.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 01:59 am (UTC)That's not my experience at all, but for the past five years I've been attending cons on my own, specifically for programming. Mid-South Con, in particular, is focused on Skiffy lit. The F.A.C.T. producers of the 2006 World Fantasy Con will provide excellent programming, as ArmadilloCon itself is a literary con, with a writer's workshop that opens events; there are no pitch sessions or editor appointments.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-31 09:17 pm (UTC)WisCon gets talked about in regard to its programming, and lots of OWWers attend, so I'm saddened that it's so expensive to get to (for me, stuck here in Richmond VA). I'd heard excellent things about ArmadilloCon, and had thought of attending there before, in part because Austin is affordable; likely Memphis/MidSouthCon would be, too, the more so after I and my family relocate in 2007 to land south and west of Nashville. Maybe, from Nashville, travel to Madison WI will be affordable.
I'll try to remember to send you a note as we get closer to next November (less than a year away, now!) to see if we can meet up, whether at WFC or in the vicinity - I have gardens to see, too, for my other avocation, landscape design. Maybe I can bribe Corrina to come with me.
Chris
no subject
Date: 2006-01-01 06:31 am (UTC)Austin is in the green part of Texas, with caves and lakes nearby, and probably some parks I've never discovered. There's a famous migration of bats that everyone goes out to see.
I'm leaving Texas this summer, to move to Portland, Oregon. Luckily, you'll be visiting Austin in November, when the humidity (usually) departs, or at least drops.