Hone Your Writing Skills

So you've read my blogs on Odyssey, the annual 6-week Fantasy Writing Workshop, AND you've checked out their website and thought, "Oooh, now that's freaking awesome." Well, I'm here to deliver even more delightful news: there's a separate but equally as tasty workshop on the West Coast.

Clarion West, an intensive, six-week workshop for writers interested in science fiction and fantasy careers, just posted their requirements for Summer 2009 on their site Monday!! Here's your overview.

• Dates: June 21- July 31
• Application Deadline: March 1 ($30 application fee)
• Application requires writing samples and essay
• Scholarships available (full, partials, student of color, and NYC student)
• Six Stellar Instructors: John Kessel, Elizabeth Bear, Karen Joy Fowler, Nalo Hopkinson, David G. Hartwell, and Rudy Rucker. (Don't forget that Hartwell is Senior Editor for Tor Books!)
• Total Cost: $3200 (tuition, room, and partial board (breakfast + most weekday meals) for six weeks). Wireless Internet access is free.
• Did I mention there were scholarships?!

And, for our down-under friends, Clarion South is held in Australia every two years. Applications are now open and the "Boot Camp" will run from January 4 - February 14, 2009.

What are you waiting for? Click on those links; explore those sites; scribble out awe-inspiring application letters! Or, send me a stack of unmarked, non-consecutive serial numbered, non-inflation-impacted dollar bills and finance a scholarship of your own making...

$50,000 worth of Freedom for Female Writers

This one goes out to my female writerly audience:

A Room of Her Own Foundation awards a $50,000 Gift of Freedom each year to provide a female author or artist the ability to concentrate on her craft. The concept is based, of course, on Virginia Woolf's assertion that a woman must have a room of her own if she is to write. This year's focus is on poetry, play-writing, fiction, and creative non-fiction. To be competitive, you must demonstrate not only talent but also motivation. The grant is a two-year term, and successful applicants have a "moral" obligation to see their work through to their self-designated goal. I assure you, the application is arduous, but the prize is hefty.

Deadline: October 31st, 2008

2009 Writer's Retreat: Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico

A Room of Her Own Foundation also sponsors a Writer's Retreat for sixty-five women writers at Georgia O'Keeffe's Ghost Ranch every other summer. Pulitzer Prize-winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove will be in attendance for a reading and a seminar. Applications will be accepted until March 5th, 2009 or until spaces are filled. Tuition is $785 plus room & board; partial scholarships are available.