Clarion Write-a-Thon

The annual Write-A-Thon to benefit the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy writing workshop wraps up tomorrow, and I'm proud to say that with the help of my my awesome sponsors — Wylie Goodman, Charity Shea, Karen Blocher, Bill Bly, and Adam Chinitz — we raised $320 for this very worthy effort.

I matched their donations dollar-for-dollar, and spent the last six weeks cranking text alongside the participants in this year's workshop. While I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped (unlike the cloistered dormitory sweatbox of Clarion, I had to fit five out of the six weeks of writing in around my day job) I did finish a solid draft of the first three chapters of my novel-in-progress, Fist of the Ape.

Regular readers will know that I am deeply indebted to Clarion. The six weeks I spent there in 1993 literally changed the direction of my life, and I came away from the experience with the knowledge and tools to write at a professional level. I sold two of the stories I wrote there, and, 18 years later, am still workshopping with several of my classmates.

So you can expect to find characters in this book named like Wylie, Charity, Karen, Bill, and Adam. :)

I thank you, and the future writers — and readers — of speculative fiction thank you as well. Arigato gozaimashita.