You can see my talk here

and you can see the full list of talks here.

All these videos are brought to you by the fabulous folks at Blaze Streaming Media who do cool things like livestream and then archive Roller Derby Bouts for Portland’s Rose City Rollers. If you’ve ever been curious about roller derby I think these are the best videos of it I’ve seen around and every bout they work to make it better.

Mike has been helping out as a camera man (so you’ll see some of his camera work on some of the videos) and he is now an Assistant Coach for Portland’s roller gals. It’s nice to see him skating around (he was speed skater) and I am very proud of him.

Given the restrictions here’s some further reading. Some of these I encountered while I was preparing my talk and was sad not to be able to include them.

Creative Process

• The Artists Way – will get a brief mention in the talk.
• How to Get Things Done, by Robert Benchley – oh it is a delight, thank you Sara Ryan for introducing me to him.

Streams of Information

There is so much cool stuff out there. I find most of my new distractions I mean interesting links to articles and creative fuel via interesting twitter people, especially:

• Jason Thibault - a really interesting mix of writing, freelancing, comics and art process. The interstitial space is most satisfying.
• Meanjin – literary fuel and keeps me appraised of creative goings on in Australia
• SFWA - Science Fiction Writers of America. Interesting from links around the place and publishes a lot of free to all blog posts, touching on all aspects of the creative process. A SF and American bent to nicely round things out.

There’s a multitude of other fine people who post links to interesting places, but these three manage to syndicate a lot of interesting stuff on a regular basis.

Inspiring sources – eating good food

Nutrition for brain as well as body. I love my local library. Wandering the aisles, checking out books recommended by friends and slowly getting through my Clarion reading list. Reading good, better yet great, prose is important. Go for the good stuff, the stuff that inspires you and reminds you of why words are important.

Getting Stuff Done

I love these two tools to bits… though I am tempted to move my to do list into Basecamp, as I’ve been using Basecamp a lot with clients recently and I like things living together.

• Joe’s Goals – love it love it love it. Free habit development (or habit breaking) software, get a smiley face every time you do something. Easy and fast to tailor to whatever regular stuff you’re trying to do. Common goals I use, phasing in and out depending on my focus, create, creator logistics/paperwork, go to gym, read, eat regularly, drink water. I also use sad red faces to track my menstrual cycle! And a log book to note all sorts of variables.
• OnLine CEO – simple to do list with the added bonus you have to note how important each to do is and it provides a handy chart to make the decision making easy. To do lists free and having a clear sense of priorities clears up so much head-space.
• 750 words – I’ve just heard about it, an online journaling space and challenge. Looks pretty nifty if pen and paper do not appeal and you want that peer support. Thanks Mike for telling me about this one.

So that’s me, did I miss anything fantabulous? What are the tools and spaces you use?

It’s now 3am. Oh sleep, you mock me. May the words flow free and easy.

Liz

2.5 days after owie

I stood up, noticed how absent my feet felt and thought ‘oh dear, I must be very careful as asleep limbs are not supported by muscles and I could do myself an injury. Then I stumbled, my left big toe, freed from the constraints of awkward muscles folded forward under my left foot and then I sort of trod on it. Yes, a new level of clumsiness, I managed to step on my own toe with it’s own foot! There are always new levels to everything. I guess I’m being all I can be whether I like it or not. I felt a distinctly unpleasant sort of twangy feeling and thrashed on the ground for a little while and made little whimpering sounds.

When I got up my toe was still very much attached to my foot and I imagined I would have been thrashing around for a lot longer if I’d ripped some ligament off, so I went to breakfast. In retrospect I should have iced it and strapped it up, but I think it was just grateful everything was still attached. I had a small interlude where I had to sit down so I wouldn’t pass out, but other than that the pain was manageable.

I can curl my toe upwards, but bending it downwards is painful and it’s probably a bit premature to try given the owie it’s recovering from. Walking on it doesn’t hurt so much now that the bruising has come to the surface.

So there you go, for those of you curious, it is possible to step on your own foot with the very same foot. I offer up the photograph of evidence. I strongly suggest you do not repeat my experiment.

I’ve enjoyed thinking about how in 2010 and 2011 would be my years to chase the Campbell dream, to prove myself worthy, to aim high. In a strange twist of fate my first Campbell Award eligible work came out in December 2009, starting the clock a year earlier than I had dreamed (my Campbell bio is now up). I am delighted that Cracked Leather found a place to be published and has been so warmly received. I wouldn’t change it for the world (well maybe the world). It just means my tidy little fantasy of 2010 and 2011 to prove my worthiness for voting in 2012 has been truncated by a year.

The challenge is significant and I am not sure if I will prove my worthiness in time, but it is still worth striving for. I will throw myself as much as I can. This is a challenge to myself and not in competition. I plan to soar with my fellow nominees – we are in this crazy dream together. I will write, I will edit, I will send work to publishers, I will read, I will learn from my peers – as I do every year. But this year I will have an extra spur to my sides that I plan to use. This year will never come again.

2010 is my Campbell year. I’m going to enjoy the challenge.

This is a very general start point and articulation of things I have found and seen to be useful. There are many fine smart people out there and I encourage your comments, questions, thoughts and corrections. I have further blog posts stewing that approach this question and related aspects from different angles. Mike Luoma wrote an interesting post recently on how to get an indy comicbook out into the world that includes a section on how to find an artist within a broader context. There was also an interesting discussion of Mike’s post in the Comic Book Business for Creators and Creations in LinkedIn, with many views worth taking in.

Future posts I have percolating include “the targeted approach” and “how to get an electrician to work on your house for ‘free’”.

How to find a comics artist 1 – the general callout approach

Recommended prep: go to comic creator hangout spaces. I recommend you find a few comics places you will enjoy participating in, there are lots of them. Participate in the forums and learn about the industry/community from a variety of places. Do not accept any one voice as gospel. If you do not have time to do this sort of thing you may need to hire an editor/project manager/comics consultant as going in blind could be very unpleasant. Industry knowledge is important.

1) Pitch your idea and ask for quotes. Digital Webbing is an interesting place to start, it has many job ads you can look at to inspire your own ad. Look at the ads you like and consider why. Look at the ads you dislike and consider why. Once you place your ad it is a bit like drinking from a firehose as you will be swamped by more applications than you can poke a stick at. Generally the more thoughtful your pitch, the more seasoned pros you will get in the mix.

The process of putting together a good ad is a valuable, clarifying experience. Think about what the important things are, the critical components (project must be completed by 1 April, or must be able to draw detailed backgrounds and convey subtle emotions), the things you like (eg artists or artistic styles you adore), the things you don’t want (eg if vector art gives you convulsions). I recommend you mention things that artists might not enjoy (eg detailed art direction and lots of revisions) it’s important to warn potential artists up front. Mention how how rights will be managed (or if you’re open to a number of scenarios). Be prepared to pay more if you are not sharing rights and be aware that asking for all rights in exchange for a small amount of money is offensive to some people. If you have a maximum amount you can spend make it clear in your pitch so you don’t waste people’s time.

Other places to put ads include LinkedIn and Ronin Studios, but there are many others (put your favourite places in the comments). All these places have interesting conversations in them and are good places for your prep work anyway. You may wish to ask for feedback on your proposal before placing the ad proper. Drawing on the knowledge of your peers can be a very useful thing.

I also have a small list of artists I can forward job ads to (paying gigs ONLY). Drop me a line if you want me to do that and we can discuss.

2) Go through the many applications you receive and put together a shortlist. Don’t be shocked that some people ask for real money. This is reasonable. A new creator might be happy to be paid less, but comics are a really difficult art-form and it might be worth paying more for experience. You need to weigh up what will work best for your project. Look through the range of applications to get a feel for what is out there and to help you decide what is the best match for your story and working style. If you are new to the game I highly recommend going with someone that is either supported by a studio or someone who has done commissioned/collaborative work before. Sometimes cheap costs you more in the long run as projects have to be ditched and restarted. Like anything where money is exchanged, expensive does not guarantee quality, but it does increase your chances of getting quality. Take time to look through samples, ask questions, look at previous work and poke around their website.

3) You have a shortlist, now it’s time pick someone. Advise people if they are shortlisted, advise people that they did not make the cut (this can be time consuming, but good to do if at all possible). Follow up questions to the people on the shortlist can be handy and help you get a feel for their voice, responsiveness and work style. Some people ask for test pages, if you have the budget to pay for that it sounds like a rockin’ thing to do. If you are asking people to do test pages for free you will probably discourage seasoned comic creators from working with you.

I also recommend running a search on the artist’s name. If you find lovely posts by them, interesting artwork, joyous clients you know you’re onto a winner. If you find angry interviews, unhappy clients and ditched projects you may wish to flee!

3) You’ve found your artist/studio. Talk to the artist in detail about how the process will work (for negotiation and communication tips check out Katie Lane’s Work Made for Hire). Discuss milestones, hopes, ambitions, expectations, rights, preferred communication styles, preferred methods of payment and so on. This is a great opportunity to get a stronger feel for who you are collaborating with and identify any problem areas before they become major issues.

4) After discussing the process write up an e-mail that articulates what you’ve agreed on and check in with the artist that this is ok. This e-mail will form a baseline to return to.

Someone found my website searching Liz Argall a funny thing. A funny thing is the name of a song I performed once or twice in the folk scene back in Australia. It was perky and poignant, the chorus was twee and yet I liked it; so I always had to get over a sense of awkwardness when performing (and it was no Telephone Song or Snowing Time). It was also the name of an angry poem I performed a few times (even today I have earned more cashes as a poet than a SF writer, though that is about to end).

It feels like such a crazy blast from the past to see “a funny thing” next to my name. Thankyou whoever you were. The poem, written at age 19 seems to be lost to the sands of time. The song, written at the grand old age of 20, had lyrics that included:

Isn’t life a funny thing
Wounds your heart then lets you sing
A thousand songs, oh yeah
Isn’t life a funny thing
Breaks you out then breaks you in
Around and around

And it’s funny how
the sweetest songs come from
Those who say they cannot sing
And do they know the sacred stories hid inside them
Waiting to be revealed?

… man I miss my guitar.<- not lyrics, post lyrics reflection.

Ciao Lovelies.

L

I’m not sure if I’m in my first year of eligibility, though I am listed on the website! I open a terrible can of worms with Cracked Leather as it is a fairly interstitial piece. I’ve checked in with the moderators to make sure I fit, but I have not yet heard back from them. Lets focus on some other folks.

It is a pleasure to know some of the talented people who are eligible for nomination. These are the folks I know who are in their second year:

• Ken Schenyer - I must confess I love this guy like a brother. We did Clarion together and he was one of the smartest and most caring of us all. As a housemate he also got to experience me at my maddest states of sleep deprivation. Of all the bad luck most of his work is in unusual publications or coming out in 2010. He writes of what a Clarion short-listing would mean to him as well as ways to read more of his work. He writes with sensitivity, complexity and elegance.
• Camille Alexa – Funky, spunky, woman with attitude and writing to boot. Putting STUFF in fiction.
• Felicity Shoulders – Is also cursed by writing that is in print but you can’t check out online. Oh no melon! She is however a fabulous, insightful lass and lapsed paleontologist.
• Doselle Young – Comics creator and all around nice guy. He rescued me in LA after we’d only known each other for a few days and took these photos while feeding me good Mexican food.
• Ian McHugh – some Aussie writer dude ;-). I met him at Worldcon very briefly in 2008, he was constantly running away to hang out with his Clarion Buddies. Pffft, who’d want to do that?… (Clarion people at WFC’09, we traveled like this ALL THE TIME)

Those are the folks I know (have I missed anyone? am I bad person?). I’m going to to try to read a sampling from as many nominees as I can. I think we get five votes. Who do you know? Who do you recommend?

If you’re eligible for a Campbell Award and not listed let the Campbell crew know.

If you’re already an eligible voter, the online nomination ballot, which must be completed by March 13, is here:

www.aussiecon4.org.au/hugoawards/nominations.php

If you’d like to buy a supporting membership to be eligible to vote, the membership signup, which must be completed by January 31, is here:
www.aussiecon4.org.au/index.php?page=37

William Shunn and Geoffrey A. Landis have been added to the collection.

Other news

The skribit question (see right hand side of the webpage): How to find a comics artist? has been buzzing around in my head a lot. I’ve composed about 20 zillion answers, generally while trying to fall asleep or not wanting to get out of bed. I have finally found an approach that pleases me and a very rough draft has been written longhand (yep, I’m old school). I have a few other things I have to write before I’m allowed to indulge in finishing it off, but it is coming.

Every time I model for her I learn more about the craft  and it gets more fun. Being a photographer’s model is quite different to life modeling. When I life model (or artists’ model) I am generally visualising how I appear in three dimensional space in a way that is interesting from any angle (or as many as possible), so everyone in the room has something interesting to draw. As a photography model I’m doing everything I can to provide the perfect two dimensional image from a single viewpoint that is fully captured in an instant. The differences are huge! While the differences are huge it’s been nice to see what has transferred over. It’s been especially nice to feel valued for the skills I have from many years life modeling.

So, the henna was applied Wednesday. It took a while, henna on my hands and back and legs. After the henna was applied we took some photos that I can’t show you just yet. Into the evening bandages and straps were applied to protect the henna all over me.

From the belt up

henna bandaged hands

I didn’t take photos of my bandaged legs, one on each calf. My body, convinced it must have been in a horrific accident, insisted that I needed to sleep and recover from whatever strange injury I had. I slept deeply, surrounded by earthy lemon and henna scents.

Then in the morning we peeled back each layer and revealed wonderfully dark henna underneath. I can’t show you most of it yet, delicious things are afoot. Here’s a tiny teaser that doesn’t give anything away…

After several days protecting the henna with home made cocoa butter (my hands feel so good) we girled up and did the photoshoot. I can’t reveal too many details, but I feel soooo pretty. I feel like a real girl girl and a rockstar and a moviestar (no small thanks to having excellent people to model for). I’ll share pretty pics as soon as I can, I promise.

Happy Liz after the photoshoot

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