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...

When Yasmine Galenorn had to cancel her workshop at PNWA (she writes the Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon Series for Berkley), I feared the worst. What dried-up has-been fillers would the conference wizards drag in to save the day? Well, they brought in five fillers, and it turned out to be the highlight workshop of the conference.

World-building with Caitlyn Kittredge, Richelle Mead, Kat Richardson, Cherie Priest, and Mark Henry (don't you love a man with two first names?) was informative, raucous, interactive, and full of messy, synergistic fun. Not previously acquainted with the urban fantasy line, I didn't know any of these chic and possibly fey authors, but I planned on getting to know them asap. After driving six hours home, my first stop was at the local book store.

Tomorrow's post will deal with the points they made in worldbuilding.

You can also catch up with Cherie Priest and many other urban fantasy authors at http://community.livejournal.com/fangs_fur_fey