When you have this shit going on all the time: I’m getting more time to work as the baby dog starts being able to do big-dog things along with the big dog, so I can multitask. And they chase each other when we play fetch so it’s like a two-fer!
Author: alarmhat
What Clarion West Does to You
I am a cautionary tale. I’m not warning anyone away from Clarion or Clarion West. It is one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life, and the best six weeks I have ever had. It made me a real, grown-up writer. It is Hogwarts. No, it is Narnia. But if you know anything about magical worlds, you …
Sandwich
“That’s not a sandwich,” Elise said as her sister swung the refrigerator door open. “It’s a monster.” “Sandwich,” Devilfish Review, October 2015
Hugo Awards 2015: Nobody Wins!
I was given the opportunity to do a little write-up on the Hugo Awards for the Stranger, Seattle’s only newspaper, which you can find here. It is my first piece of paid journalism.
Career High
From Locus Magazine, August 2015, which my photo is also in a couple times from the Locus Awards. It’s like I actually exist in the world!
Landing the Ending
I knew Clarion West would be a good experience, and I knew it would be impactful, and I was expecting it to be some of the craziest and weirdest and hardest fun and work of my life. All true. But more intense. Harder. More fun, more work. Way weirder. I don’t feel like the same person, even …
Week Six is Done
Week Six Instructor: Cory Doctorow Week Six Instructor’s Superpower: Everything. Articulate charm? Absolute sincerity? Awesome absurd outfits? Endless ability to get shit done? Cory is the only person on the planet who gets choked up when hetalks about DRM. He bursts out into song. He is way less intimidating in person than he might seem from his writing. He …
Week Five is Done
Week Five Instructor: Nalo Hopkinson Week Five Instructor’s Superpower: Dance moves Unexpected Week Five Discoveries: I AM A WRITER LOOK AT ME I WRITE THAT’S HOW I DO I CAN WRITE YOU ANYTHING WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO WRITE Week Five Story Wordcount, Current: 4100 words out of 5500ish, currently contains NO CONFLICT GO ME Week Five Story Title: shut up, …
Week Four is Done
Week Four Instructor: Susan Palwick Week Four Instructor’s Superpower: Empathy. We got into some deep shit about trauma and Big Feelings and how it’s our responsibility as speculative fiction writers to offer people hope, and not just trendy ironic bleakness. I can be ironic and bleak with the best of them but that’s not my writing, not 100% of …
Week Three is Done
Week Three Instructor: Tobias Buckell Week Three Instructor’s Superpower: Plot & structure analysis, holy wowzers. The man is a story machine. Also, he’s very good at watching drunk people be drunk. Unexpected Week Three Discoveries: I can still write a story in a week even if my brain is all, “don’t write a story this week.” Week Three Story Wordcount, …
Alarmhat 