I’ll be going to WorldCon this year in Denver. It will be my first BIG convention as an author with a contract. I did a World Fantasy once a long time ago in Monterrey, CA. Anyway, I expect to have a grand time and meet a lot of folks. And see my sister who lives in the area.
So to save on taxes I’ve incorporated. The name of the LLC will be Blacksword Enterprises. I’m happy with it. And probably nobody but me will ever see it. I was going to go with Billy Bob’s Story Shack, but felt it was too high brow.
Just a reminder. The CONduit convention begins on Friday. I’ll be holding a 2-hour workshop on Saturday titled “The 3 Things You Must Learn to Write Killer Stories” from 2 PM - 4 PM.
The rest of the day on Saturday is loaded with a number of great panels featuring authors such as:
If you look at the schedule, you’ll see sessions on
You authors, remember there’s a writers/publishers/editors social Friday night at 10 PM at the hotel bar.
Hope to see you there!
Where: Salt Lake City at CONduit
Date: Saturday, May 24, 2008
Time: 2 PM - 4 PM
I had tons of great feedback from the last workshop. It seemed to be helpful to quite a few people. There are a number of other good workshops for writers going on before and after mine that you’ll want to look into as well.
For more information go to the CONduit website.
One of the things I love about writing is that there’s always something new to learn. There’s always new content and, therefore, lots of cool research, but there’s also a lot to learn about the craft. I have no illusion that because I now have a contract I’ve suddenly arrived as a master craftsman. This art is just too big.
So you can imagine my delight when I saw that David Morrell is going to be giving a day-long workshop in my own backyard (out West, 5-8 hours is still in your backyard). I’ve signed up for Morrell’s workshop on June 6, 2008.
He’s the guy who wrote Rambo and started Thrillers Inc. He was also a professor for many years.
More on the Conference
http://www.murderinthegrove.com/index.htm
More on Morrell.
http://www.shotsmag.co.uk/shots21/intvus_21/dmorrell1.html
http://www.davidmorrell.net/
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/oct02/morrell.htm
This was interesting.
David : I have a Ph.D. in American literature and taught academic courses: the American Novel of the 19th Century, the American Novel of the 20th Century, American Realism, Hemingway and Faulkner, Hawthorne and Melville, that sort of thing. The University of Iowa has the famous Writers Workshop, but I had nothing to do with it. In fact, they hated the sort of books I wrote and hated even more that I earned money as a novelist. That was the official line. But in secret, students snuck to my office and asked me technical questions about craft or asked me to read contracts they’d been offered (to see if the contracts were reasonable). Sometimes they showed me their manuscripts. The most productive association of that sort was with Jon Jackson who later published a series of police novels about Detroit. My most gifted student was T. C. Boyle. He writes humorous literary novels and short stories that critics love. His latest is DROP CITY. I taught him nothing about writing - he was a genius. But he did ask me to direct an individual reading course that he needed in order to graduate. We had a lot of interesting discussions, and I’m thrilled by his distinguished career.
Interestingly enough, T.C. Boyle was one of the writers that made life bearable for me while I was getting my BA in English. His novels, well, I never finished one of them. But his short work sings. Heck, his long work sings, but there’s not enough plot for my tastes.
This story started in the Layton, UT Lowe’s on the trim isle. Read the story of how I wrote this story on Side-Show Freaks.
And, Dude! Will ya look at this thing.
Read FROM THE CLAY OF HIS HEART at Orson Scott Card’s Intergalatic Medicine Show.
Read the story behind the story on Side-Show Freaks in the coming month.
Then read more about Scott Altmann, the marvelous illustrator.
Born on Long Island, New York, Scott was never far from a drawing tool and a surface to make a mark. The early years consisted of funny-looking beasts and asymmetrical faces. Years later Scott attended the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and graduated from the Illustration Department with his BFA.
He enjoys sushi, cerebral spelunking, playing guitar and painting in oils. He draws to escape, and tries to escape to draw. All other times he can be found with his wife and son, in Long Island, New York — laughing uncontrollably and causing mischief.
I’ve just posted free PDF versions of “Loose in the Wires,” ”Bright Waters,” and “The Scent of Desire” in the Shorts section. Enjoy!!
On Feb 1, 2008 my wonderful agent, Caitlin Blasdell of Liza Dawson Associates, informed me that the details are all finalized and I can shout it to the world.
Tor books (an imprint of St. Martins) has given me a very nice deal (as categorized on Publisher’s Marketplace) for a 3-book, traditional epic fantasy series. Each book is to be from 120-140k words. David Hartwell will be my editor (so stoked about that!). The three were sold based on my completed novel, SERVANT OF A DARK GOD, and the synopsis of the following two, CURSE OF A DARK GOD, and DARK GOD’S GLORY. The first should be out in the summer of 2009.
For those interested I will be at the LTUE symposium at BYU all day Thursday, Feb 14th. I’ll be on the history and folklore panel at 10 AM, attending the Card workshops from 2 PM-4PM, and holding my own workshop–THE 3 THINGS YOU MUST LEARN TO WRITE KILLER STORIES–from 5PM-7PM.
It’s Valentines, so bring your object of affection. (Yes, mannequins are allowed.)
But what was I doing scheduling this on the love day to begin with? See, this is the one weakness of the male beast–he only remembers significant dates AFTER he commits himself foolishly.