I Will Not Get Paid This Much for Any of My Novels

But it's nice to see that publishers still believe in science fiction.

Last month, this bit of news showed up in the Publishers Lunch daily newsletter:

Try not to think about the fact that Weir originally self-published his first novel, The Martian. Or the fact that he also got a six-figure publishing deal for that book. Or the fact that The Martian is now being made into a movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain, scheduled for release in November of 2015.

That way lies madness.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned at Viable Paradise (which is happening again this week, by the way) was this:

Do not compare your own writing career to any other writer's career.

Everyone finds a different path to publication. Everyone has a different story—literally. Keep writing. It'll happen. And meanwhile, make sure you're enjoying the ride, because it'd be a shame if you didn't have some fun during those years (and yes, it will take years).

In related news, huge congratulations to my fellow Pacific Northwest writer Jason Gurley, who just sold his novel Eleanor to a publisher! (Oddly enough, his book was also self-published originally, and it also went to Crown—just like The Martian. Coincidence?)

Jason and I, along with thirty other authors, will be attending Story Con this Saturday at the Fort Vancouver Community Library. If you're in the Portland, Oregon area, stop by and check out the panels, readings, and signings—I'll be moderating a panel on flash fiction which I promise will not be boring!

www.storyconvention.com

I Am Home

It's been less than a week since my Clarion West (CW) adventure concluded, and I'm still readjusting to normal life and catching up on all the e-mails I've been ignoring for six weeks or more. I'm almost done clearing out my inbox, and then I'll dive into the novel rewrites that this guy is patiently waiting for.

I didn't blog much about CW while I was there, though I did tweet quite a bit. You should go check out these other blogs by my classmates Folly, Marlee, Mike, and Michael.

Also: while I was searching to verify those blog links, I found K.C. Ball's "Missing Mike." Which, you know, fuck cancer. But it also made me wonder about who in my CW class I would lose track of over the next few years.

Something similar happened after I attended Viable Paradise (VP) in 2008: a few people had early successes, some hit it big later on, some don't do much writing any more (for various reasons), and some I've never heard from again. I gather that's pretty normal for most writing workshops, especially those who make an effort to emphasize diversity. That's not just gender or racial diversity; age and personal background are also huge factors. People arrive at CW and VP with varying levels of experience, both professional and personal. And the group dynamic is always changing, and depends on individual people to steer it toward something positive.

I had a great time at both VP and CW, though I understand it's not always great for everyone. Some people work better in less stressful environments, and sometimes social groups coalesce better than at other times. I feel like the folks running VP and CW do the best they can, and it's up to the students to meet each other in the middle.

Look, I know I'm not the right guy to be talking about this. As I discussed with one of my CW instructors in our one-on-one meeting, I am aware that I personally occupy a weird position of partial privilege: I am a tall, normal-looking male, and though I'm obviously non-white, I belong to a "model minority" group to which many people automatically assign certain positive traits. And hell, I signed an agent while I was at CW; I am the poster child for "results not typical."

All I can say is that I had an amazing CW experience. It was exactly what I expected, and also a whole lot more. Good things happened, interesting things happened, and now we'll see what happens next.

I am a Prize-Winning Screenwriter

Against my own expectations, I appear to have won an actual writing competition:

Since this is probably the closest I'll ever come to actually getting this show produced, I am definitely going to attend the table read next month. I just sent off a character breakdown sheet for the director, which was yet another new and exciting thing for me. w00t!

And since this blog post is probably the closest I'll ever come to making an acceptance speech at an awards show, here's the long list of people who helped make this script even possible:

• my parents, who indulged my comic-book habit all through my adolescence;
• the NYTVF Comedy Script Contest, for which I wrote the crappy first draft;
• Bryan and Raj, who gave me feedback on that crappy first draft;
• Ken Levine's Sitcom Room workshop, which taught me almost everything I know about comedy writing;
• Amber, Roberta, Sally, and Sarah from the Monti's Cafe writing group;
• Dave and Tim from #sundaycrits;
• everyone at Viable Paradise XII, who showed me how to drink give and accept critiques;
• The Richter Scales, who let me get away with all manner of absurdity on stage for almost eight years;
• all the other writers in the SIE competition, who rated my script and gave great notes; and
• most of all, my wife DeeAnn, always.

In other good news, speaking of DeeAnn, she's just picked up a six-week consulting gig. It'll pay very well, but she'll be down in the Bay Area for at least the next couple of weeks.

That's okay. We always expected to travel: we selected our current housing situation because it's less than fifteen minutes from PDX airport. We always miss being away from our home and our cats, but we love seeing the rest of the world, too.

Rainforest Writers Village, Day Two

First, the good news:

- enjoyed a lovely pancake breakfast, courtesy of Patrick.
- enjoyed a lovely talk on setting by Kat.
- delicious sandwiches for lunch!
- enjoyed a lovely talk on reading aloud by Mary.
- nice salmon dinner and conversation with Erin.
- figured out how the pieces of my novel-in-progress all fit together. (Mostly.)
- ended the day with a total word count of 4,211.
- DeeAnn finished the first complete draft of our collaborative story!

And the bad news:

- cat-sitter reports that Jasper threw up. Nothing serious, but I feel bad that DeeAnn and I aren't home to comfort him.
- devastation in Japan, and tsunami warnings for the Washington coast. We're about 150 feet above sea level and at least 20 miles inland, so I think we'll be okay, but I still worry. I guess we'll find out what happens at 7:30 AM.

When I attended Viable Paradise in the fall of 2008, it was right in the middle of the financial crisis, and I have a distinct memory of looking over Patrick's shoulder at his laptop, as he read out the news about the federal government seizing WaMu. (I also have a later memory of seeing JoCo tweet about it, but that's another story.)

And now this.

It's almost as if the universe is trying to tell me something, daring me to care about art while other, more important things are happening in the world. What good is writing fantasy and science fiction when there are people dying, and you can't do anything about it?

Well, the short answer is right there. I can't do anything about the natural and manmade disasters that are sometimes too big to even contemplate. But I can, as Neil says, Make Good Art. That's what I can contribute to the world. And so I will.

But first, sleep, and hopefully no bad dreams. (Though I also have a history of turning those into halfway decent stories.)

Postcard #43

At first glance, I thought the photograph on this vintage postcard was from Disney World, but it's actually Toronto, where my VPXII classmate Claire lives with a curious assortment of wildlife.

Postcard #39

The VPXII roll call continues! This time it's Jeannie, who was an accomplished poet before the workshop and continues to proliferate verse from her home base in the Midwest.

Postcard #38

From my fellow VPXII alumna Vernie, who sent her postcard in an envelope--presumably so she could attach her very descriptive note. You really can't stop a writer from telling a story.

Postcard #26

This is Tiffani's first year of eligibility for the Campbell Award, thanks to the publication of her story "If Wishes Were Horses" in Strange Horizons. Her personal life has gone through some unpleasant upheavals recently, but she's now making a fresh start in Ol' Blighty. I wish her all the best--especially now that I've introduced her to Lisa. It's really only a matter of time before the two of them join forces and take over the world.

eBook Report: Wildside

Rescued from the backlist: Steven Gould's 1996 novel Wildside, now available in eBook format with spiffy new cover, shown above. (Disclosure: I got the manuscript for free, as part of his crowdsource proofreading project; and I probably took longer to work through it than he would have wanted. Oh well.)

Logline: A group of high school graduates spend their summer vacation in the wilderness of a parallel universe--one where humans never existed. It's a fun read, kind of the anti-Stargate, with similar technical ingenuity ("Want power in another universe? Use an extension cord. Want water? Run a hose") but less adoration of the military.

The Big Idea, as finally explained, does strain credulity, but Steve keeps a tight focus on the protagonists and their families throughout. In that way, the tone is very similar to Jumper; but I wouldn't call either that or Wildside strictly a YA novel.

Buy the eBook for Kindle or iBooks

Postcards #15 and 16

A pair of postcards from Martha's Vineyard, where this year's Viable Paradise writing workshop (of which I am an alumnus) is happening right now. Thanks to all the instructors and staff who sent their greetings! Wish I were there.

Postcard #8

 

 

Steve was the first person I met at Viable Paradise XII--we were both in the airport, waiting to board the puddle-jumper to Martha's Vineyard, and he correctly deduced from my laptop adornments that I was a fellow writer and struck up a conversation.

We subsequently had further bonding experiences during the workshop week, which may or may not have involved large quantities of alcohol. (It's okay. He owns a bar.)

Holmes + Dracula = ???

My VPXII classmate Christian Klaver has a short story, "The Adventure of the Solitary Grave: From the Supernatural Case Files of Sherlock Holmes," in the new Anthology of Dark Wisdom from Elder Signs Press. Per Christian, it's "a Sherlock Holmes & Dracula pastiche," and really, how can you go wrong with that? (Unless, perhaps, it's a musical.)

An Observation

John Scalzi is the only person I know who regularly and unironically uses words like "ginchy" and "cromulent" in casual conversation.

That is all.

~CKL

How'm I Doing?

Short answer: Pretty well.

Long answer:

Remember all those commitments I made at the beginning of the year? I haven't managed to meet all of them, but I'm making the effort and accomplishing a decent majority of everything I set out to do. Hooray! Detailed breakdown follows.

• post a new 512 Words or Fewer story (text and audio) every Friday

I've met this 100% and am very happy about it. I only came close to missing my deadline once, and I was even ahead of schedule last week. You can expect to see more trunk stories and novel excerpts if I ever get too busy or lazy again.

• finish "Freefall: No Fate" - post a new chapter every month

I finished two chapters in three months, so I'll call this one 67%.

• 1 NEW short story submission to pro/semi-pro markets every month

This one, I need to improve. I finished one short in January and two in February, but the latter pair were for my Clarion application, which was rejected, and they're now being critiqued by my VPXII peeps prior to another rewrite pass. I need to write at least one new story this month.

• critique 1 VPXII classmate's story per month

I slacked off on this for a long time and then critiqued three in March, so on average I'm doing okay.

• finish 2nd draft of Waypoint Kangaroo by end of March

Well, that didn't happen. I'm still working on it, but at this point I'm leaning toward starting the agent query process and sharpening up the first three chapters just so I can get the ball rolling before mid-year.

• do Script Frenzy in April

In progress!

• upload all home videos to YouTube

Still doing this most Fridays. I'm prioritizing longer videos so I can get them uploaded before Google Video turns that off, and I got sidetracked in February with editing the GC Summit stuff.

It turns out that most of my old VHS tapes are marching band performances from high school. Here we are in the 1992 Rose Parade (scrub to 1:36 for my close-up, Mom):



~CKL

Reflections on teh RaceFail

My somewhat entirely selfish observation about the whole "RaceFail '09" debacle is this:

I'm really glad I attended Viable Paradise last year, because this year's class experience is sure to be tainted--if not completely eclipsed--by this stupid thing. (Lucky XIII, indeed.)

Aside: I didn't even know about any of this until I caught up with my VPXII classmate Alberto's LiveJournal. Yes, I am a grumpy old man.

John Scalzi called it "discussion of [x]," and I agree. This particular thread has gone way, way off the rails and off-topic. A few cooler heads, including Scalzi and friends, have attempted to wrestle the conversation back to the subject of race, but the damage has been done, and any good that comes out of it at this point has come at an enormous and unnecessary cost.

This is all I have to say about [x]:

Issues of race (and, by extension, racism) are deeply personal, for people of any heritage. When you choose to make those issues public, well, thank you for sharing, but please be aware of what you're getting into.

You can't write and perform The Vagina Monologues without eventually becoming an activist. You can't write The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian without tapping into centuries of American history.

That's political. And politics is all about power and diplomacy. Unfortunately, on the Internet, both those dimensions are collapsed into a single channel--text--and sometimes, words alone aren't enough. You can't end a war with an aphorism.

And now for something completely different relevant:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3HaRFBSq9k

But seriously, folks:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Ti-gkJiXc

You are not the work. This is something pro writers say, a lot, when advising baby writers. It means that you have to learn to accept criticism of your work by understanding that "this story sucks" is a fundamentally different statement than "you suck."

The line is much finer when it comes to blogs and comments thereupon. What you say is not who you are, but it is all that people see here. Your words are your actions in this space, and actions have consequences.

(My final remark below is not directed toward any particular person. I offer it as a general guideline for all.)

On the Internet, no one knows if you're a dog, but what other conclusion should they draw if all you do is bark?

~CKL

My 2009 Commitments

I don't make New Year's Resolutions. It's a terminology issue--I don't make resolutions. I'm not Congress, or the United Nations.

I also don't set goals, because that word has been poisoned by years of working in Dilbertville. (I reserve the right to punch, in either nose or neck, the next person who invites me to discuss "stretch goals" or "sandbagging.")

No, I make commitments. Besides being the name of a great movie, the word implies something personal. It's most often used in reference to relationships; e.g., a man's fear of same cited as why he ain't popped the question yet. When you commit to something, you give your word, you make a promise, you take an oath. And that's not just a piece of paper--that is a matter of honor.

So you can hold me to the commitments below. If I fail to meet any of them, it won't be for lack of trying.

• post a new 512 Words or Fewer story (text and audio) every Friday
• finish "Freefall: No Fate"
  • post a new chapter every month until finished (ETC: May 2009)
• get 2 short stories published in pro/semi-pro markets
  
  • 1 NEW submission every month! (resubmit rejected stories continuously)
• critique 1 VPXII classmate's story per month
• send out 2 novel manuscripts (past query stage)
  • finish 2nd draft of Waypoint Kangaroo by end of March, start querying
  • finish 2nd draft of EndGame by end of June, start querying
  • finish 1st draft of Spaceship Castle by end of September
• do Script Frenzy in April (dot-com heist caper)
• upload all home videos to YouTube/Google Video by end of year

For you bean counters, this means I'm committing to finishing six pieces of short fiction and one-third of a novel draft per month. That's approximately 45,000 words a month, or 1,500 words a day. I suppose I should jump on the bandwagon and put a word-count widget on my LiveJournal...

~CKL

67,118 words

Finished my NaNoWriMo 2008 novel tonight. I had been shooting for 75,000 words, but I reached a natural and satisfying endpoint for the story I was telling at just over 67,000.

I considered going back and inserting a few chapters from another character's point of view, to beef up the word count, but I'm not sure that's what I want. There are already two or three other big things I'll have to fix in the second draft, so I want to mull over all the changes before mounting a single, combined assault.

Meanwhile, I've plenty of other things to do. I'm on the hook for rewriting and submitting my "American Gothic" story from Viable Paradise tomorrow. After that, I need to start organizing my notes for the 512 Words flash fiction pipeline.

I've got a lot of ideas and fragments scattered throughout Google Docs and my PalmPilot notes. There's no shortage of ideas in the world, but I've already outlined some of these premises, and it'll be good practice in finishing what I start. Even if it is a decade later for some of them.

~CKL

CKL+D Go To OryCon

OryCon 30 starts tomorrow!

You can view our tentative schedule on Google Spreadsheets. We also hope to meet up with our friends Ken & Cera and Kevin & Steph at some point during the weekend. And find a couple of hours somewhere to help out behind the scenes.

~CKL

Where in the World?

Propagating my friend Marko's travel meme...

Five really interesting/beautiful foreign places I’ve visited:

• British Columbia
• Niagara Falls
• Taiwan
• Mexicali
• Hawaii (that's a "foreign place," right, Cokie Roberts?)

Five countries that are high up on my List of Places I Want To See:

• Italy
• China
• Israel
• England
• Australia

If I could speak one more language fluently, I’d like to be able to speak:

• Spanish

If I had to trade my citizenship for another one, I’d most likely move to:

• Canada

~CKL

Closing the Tabs

Installed a new Firefox extension today (RetailMeNot, if you must know), so it's time for a restart. And I might as well clean up these tabs while I'm at it:

Stanford Magazine and the Interstitial Arts Foundation are both looking for short stories to publish--up to 2,500 words by November 5th and 4,000-10,000 words by December 2nd, respectively. I probably have a better shot at the latter, which is likely to more receptive to genre (rather than "literary") fiction.

I really shouldn't be spending more money right now, but these Gamestop coupons are awfully tempting.

A fellow Viable Paradise graduate's (not my class, but still my tribe) short story "Chrono-Girl Vs. Kid Vampire" has been published online.

The latest issue of ACM Queue is online. Probably my last, since I didn't renew my membership for next year.

GrooveLily has posted "The Flash Point," another demo track from their new show Long Story Short.

Courtesy of Lifehacker, links to two things that sound cool but I don't really need: Windows registry hacking and a utility that clears all the "Recently Used" lists in Windows.

Viable Paradise linkage: Jim McDonald's recommended Emergency Kits and Elizabeth Bear et al.'s seriously serious Criminal Minds fanfic, Shadow Unit.

We need some kind of toy hammock to keep things from falling behind the corner bookshelf in the living room.

More things I really don't need: USBCell rechargeable AA batteries, a $50 Stargate mirror, and a $40 print of Serenity Valley.

I don't remember why I was looking at the Superstruct Game.

Another VP alum got her poem published online at Expanded Horizons.

A great collection of photos from VPXII--thanks, Alberto!

Charity art project to fight malaria, co-sponsored by open-source screenwriting software Celtx.

Writing links from VPXII.

Researching uses for our ancient WiFi access point: Avaya/Lucent/Orinoco RG-1000 Residential Gateway notes and WDS page from Wikipedia.

More from VPXII: Preditors and Editors™ and First Lines from Famous Books.

Read Free Star Trek Comics Online!

Last but not least, Writer's Digest reveals 28 Agents Who Want Your Work. But that list was published in August, so they're probably swamped with queries at this point.

~CKL