I’m Alive!

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Hey, it’s summer. And I’m alive and kicking. After two weeks of feeling drugged out and sleeping twenty hours a day. Apparently, I’m one of the rare people who Claritin makes sleepy, or so the Doc told me. Lucky me. So, I’ve moved on to other allergy drugs and I can almost breathe. And I’m AWAKE!

So, it’s summer and the rain has returned. Huge parts of the garden are scented with old roses, smothered by clematis and filled with weeds. And strawberries are ripe. Mustard greens are biting. Tomatoes are being born. The first dragonflies of the season have arrived and the cats are sleeping. Or off getting into trouble.

And it’s time to write in my outdoor office! The novel I’ve been working on needs to be redrafted. Maybe even told by a different character. So, I’m setting it aside for a few weeks, while I rethink things.

Today, I’ll be starting the Clarion West Write-a-thon. It’s a fundraiser to bring in scholarship money for Clarion West. Now Clarion West and I go way, way back. In 1984 I went to the six week workshop and learned a huge amount and made some of the best friends of my life. Then a couple of years later, I ran the workshop with the help of an army of volunteers. Then the next year, I ran it with my dear friend, Donna Davis, and a larger army of volunteers. Later, I served as secretary, treasurer and chair on the board of directors of the organization. Then I ran away to write and go back to school and write some more.

For those of you who don’t know about Clarion West (Seattle) and Clarion (held in California now), they’re six week writing workshops aimed specifically at Science Fiction and Fantasy. The instructors are professional writers and editors in the field. Many of whom you’ve read! Each teacher gets a week to do their stuff. The workshop attendees (about twentyish) write as much as they can, about a story a week, sometimes less, sometimes more, attend classes and read everyone else’s output. Then they critique each others’ work. It’s an incredible learning experience. At CW, they live in the same UW sorority house. It’s a pressure cooker atmosphere and many of the field’s up and coming writers have gone. But it costs a couple thousand bucks to go. And eat. And leave your job, home, kids, etc. for six weeks. Not everyone has that $$$. So scholarships!!!!

My challenge for the next six weeks is to write a story a week. At least. Along with living my real life and if you’ve read this blog, then you know how complicated that is. And anyone who wants to donate $$ to the scholarship fund can sponsor me. Or any of the other 300 plus writers who are participating! However, if you sponsor me you’ll get an electronic copy of each story – epub, pdf, or .doc at the end of the six weeks. Or maybe sooner.

And as of right now, I have no idea what I’ll be writing. What fun! I love it when that happens.

Here’s the link, just click and donate through paypal: http://clarionwest.org/writeathon

And I’m off to figure out the first story!

 



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