Tamara Vardomskaya’s from Clarion 2014 wrote a lovely post entitled “Invitation to the Clarion Game. It has been added to the list.
It’s a pretty amazing resource and soon there will be stuff from 2015 to add to it! Where does the time go?
Please let me know if there’s anyone I missed or should add. The best place to let me know is in the comments at https://lizargall.com/clarion-blogs/
Signups for the Clarion-write-a-thon continue, they’re now at 60 participants (include a fake test person, Edgar Allen Poe will not be participating, though he signs up every year). It’s cool to see more people arriving. I might check the list periodically and click through to look at interesting people and smile when I see familiar names… maybe… certainly… stop procrastinating Liz!
Big thanks to Ken Schneyer for giving me my first pledge. He’s promised Clarion some cashes for every unit of awesome I create.
Big thanks to Leslie What for being my first cash up front sponsor.
Big thanks to Justin Whitney for doing so much work on the website and making pledges and sponsorships possible.
Eeee! So exciting, I’m so curious to see what the write-a-thon will bring.
This is my writer page if you want to check it out :-)
What? What? It’s the Clarion Write-a-thon already? Didn’t I just do that? Wasn’t I going to write a blog post about what I was going to do before it began? Clearly not.
Anyhow, I am creating for the write-a-thon. I have set myself several juicy challenges and shall report upon my progress with as much regularity as I can muster.
Today was a day of Roller Derby and recovering from yesterday’s Roller Derby. But I wanted to tick the cool box on my writer page that says YES I HAVE WRITTEN TODAY, WORSHIP ME FOR I AM LIKE UNTO A GOD. So started work on the ‘things without arms and without legs’ website – it’s a brand spanking new comic I’ve been creating (I’m drawing it, really and truly). It’s not ready to reveal yet and I wonder if wordpress really was the right choice for a visual project like this, but tis work done and on its way. Two pages of content, telling you a little bit about the things.
I love the things, they are my favorite things of thingness (as opposed to other things, which I’m really fond of too, but these things are particularly thingey).
Define a love letter for $20
Head on over to Objects of Love to see new work emerge. It’s not too late to sponsor an object!
Clarion Writers Workshop Write-a-Thon runs concurrently with the workshop (June 26 to August 6, 2011) and raises money to help the workshop exist and enable scholarships for new writers. Scholarships helped me attend the workshop in 2009. I will be participating and you can make a donations over on my profile page.
You can sponsor me a random amount, no strings attached. You can sponsor me for a certain amount per word (you can cap this amount if you wish).
Or for $20 you get to determine the object of affection of one love letter.
You, the donor, will be e-mailed a copy of the love letter ahead of everyone else. The love letter will then be made available on my website and available to share under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Think of something inanimate, as mundane or strange as you wish and help me raise money to support the development of wonderful new emerging writers. I have a few challenging objects bubbling and boiling. I look forward to seeing what else gets thrown at me (you can tell me early, but I think it’s even better if you wait until we launch into it on June 26)
So please sponsor me, we’ll have a lot of fun!
… also, if you do sponsor me you are automatically entered into a raffle to win sweet prizes!
In a few short days I’ll be writing for the Clarion Write-a-Thon. It turns out this is a necessary act of madness. I’ve been neglecting my novel you see. I’ve had a surge in work – writing websites, communication campaigns and work-for-hire comic books and moving to Seattle AND travelling back to Portland to work with clients. I almost told the folks that made my scholarship possible last year, the Clarion Foundation, that I would have to withdraw from the write-a-thon, too busy you see… then one of my wonderful Clarion instructors, Holly Black, sponsored me. I couldn’t back out after that, let down the team?
Never!
So I shall work on my novel every day during the write-a-thon, plug away at the beasty regardless of other things that suck up my creative energy. This will be an inverse Clarion experience in many ways! At Clarion there is the amazing sensation of being in a place for one purpose and one purpose only. How often do you get to enjoy that? It felt wonderful to me. This year during the Clarion time slot I will be juggling multiple projects (from Indigenous mental health to website copywriting), travelling north and south, east and west, judging Comikaze 24 Hour Comics Challenge and I will be working on a novel, not short stories.
I’ll need your help. This novel is ambitious and a bit scary. I’m exploring many unknowns and taking a lot of creative risks. During the write-a-thon I’m going to post every day, letting you know how I’m going. I need you to nag me, poke me, encourage me, ask questions, be provocative, whatever you will (say ….cash monies to the Clarion Foundation). Neglecting a novel is a terrible thing and I must persevere and push through somehow. Four days to prepare and then it’s Go on June 27.
Lots of love
Liz
Yes the class of 2010 has been announced.
Dear Clarion Class of 2010,
Congratulations and welcome. I hope you have an amazing time. I can’t believe it’s been a year already! It feels like yesterday I was running round the house waving my hands and opening bottles of champagne.
Here are some things I think helped our year and I adore my year. There are many variables, I hope this is useful.
Rearrange the tables in the cafeteria every day so that you can all sit together. I am so glad we did this and I know for me at least gave me a much stronger feeling of one whole community — a foundation for community without the strange and mysterious logistics of different eating tables.
Make community as a conscious act. Re-arrange other physical spaces to make them seem more welcoming (we did some crafty, collaborative decorating of our common room, goodbye ugly white walls). Have fun together (work hard, play hard) and find out ways to let off steam (remember to buy your water pistols, or like me you will be running around with clumsy plastic cups instead). Do STUFF.
I could go on, but this is your Clarion, have fun exploring it. May your Clarion bring you everything you hope for and more.
Best
Liz, Clarion Class of 2009
—
Jeff VanderMeer, one of the instructors posted his congratulations… squeee, look at the tribe forming in the comments section :-)
Clarion buddy Ken Schneyer posted even better advice on his blog.
This month I’ve added to my Clarion Blog posts collection with
Eugene Fisher – Clarion 2008
Kari O’Connor – Clarion 2007
Three new Clarion blogs have been added to the collection this month – Random Jane, Artemis Jones and Allan Rouselle. I found these blogs through a lovely e-mail Neile Graham sent me many months ago that I’m slowly working my way through. Thanks Neile!
I try to update the collection every month with a slow, catchemall plan (sustainability is crucial). This month my new catch, harking back to 1985, is from The Ferret. Thanks for flinging them my way dude.
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.
This is for everyone who wants to develop their writing, but it’s especially for folks who want to write comics. Please pass it on.
Clarion Writers Workshop was a fantastic experience and really exciting for me. I write across many genres (from ‘literary’ to horror to spec fic) and I write across a range of media (prose, poetry, song and comics) and I felt developed and respected in all my guises. The focus of this workshop is the short story, but the lessons learned go much deeper and broader than that. As someone who has been slogging away at comics career for quite a while now Clarion made me really excited for emerging comic writers.
The life of an aspiring comics writer can be lonely, frustrating and it can be very difficult to get access to tha constructive criticism that will help you develop your craft. I see enormous potential for comic writers to deepen their storytelling craft through this writing workshop. I also see how comics writers can give different approaches to the craft of short story writing -> the discipline of writing comics schools you in different ways.
The instructors for Clarion and Clarion West have been announced.
Clarion will have the pleasure of:
Jeff and Ann VanderMeer will be the bring it home team for the last two weeks. I’ve just finished reading Delany’s essay on Clarion, I’m so excited for next year.