The 2013 workshop runs from June 10th through July 19th. Early applications are due January 31st, 2013, and regular applications are due April 8th, 2013. Lecturers include Nancy Holder (writer-in-residence), Holly Black, Patricia Bray, Adam-Troy Castro, Jack Ketchum and Sheila Williams.

Fun fact– during my first stint as a guest lecturer at Odyssey, I explained to the students that I was a novel writer, and had no recent experience with short stories. I’ve since gone on to publish a short story and co-edit two fantasy anthologies, so I’ll have a new skillset to bring to the table.

While looking up info for the new website, I came across a new German edition of Bewitching Kittens, the Halloween-themed Regency that contains my novella Charlotte’s Kitten. (Side note: yes, Halloween and Regency England, I was as skeptical as you are when I was given the assignment.)

The English edition of the novella quickly earned out, and though Zebra didn’t go back to press, they did sell German language rights. And the German language edition sold well. And kept selling. And they reissued it with new covers, and those editions kept selling. By my count they are on their fourth cover.

See all four covers.

My website designer knows and accepts my limitations, and can expertly translate commands like “Make it shiny, but not too shiny” into a working design. In the 90s she helped me build my first website, and I paid her in pizza. Today she commands professional rates… but she’s still getting a pizza when she’s done. Some traditions shouldn’t be messed with.

Sale on office supplies! (I know, you thought I was going to say “kids back in school.”) And for some, that is indeed a blessing, but for those of us without rugrats, now is the time to pick up pocket folders, notebooks and all those other necessities of the writing life. Indeed, I’d been distressed when I ran out of pocket folders earlier in the month, but now I have a fresh new supply which instantly makes me feel more organized and efficient, even if all I’ve done with them so far is to pet them.

I don’t actually have to do the research, I just need a folder labeled “Story Research” and I feel as smart as if I’d stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night. While the folder labeled “STORYNAME – WORKING COPY” starts off pristine, then becomes satisfactorily worn as completed chapters begin to bulge out both sides, until ultimately it’s held together by rubber bands.

Is this story worthy of the rare purple folder, or is a blue one good enough? Should the research be in the same color folder as the completed manuscript pages, or in a complementary color? Do I want to make notes in a notebook or on a yellow legal pad? Decisions, decisions. It’s these crucial nuances of the writing craft that they don’t teach in school, but that can nonetheless make or break you as a writer.

And let’s not even get started on the pens.

I drove to the Cybercafe, whipped out a notepad (silly me, I’d left the laptop at home since I was supposed to be running errands) and wrote them up.

This is the part of being a writer that most folks don’t understand, as they sidle up next to me at parties and offer to let me have the privilege of writing up their great idea. Having ideas is never the problem, the hard part is picking just one to work on.

When you go to the shelter, you can’t take home every puppy you see– you’ve got to pick one. And the same goes for story ideas. Even if I live to be five hundred years old, I’ll never have time to turn all of my ideas into stories. So I have to choose carefully–adding up all the disparate factors from my passion for the story to market conditions and timing– a cool idea for a short story can be tucked in between contracts, a three book series can not. I’ll ask friends and colleagues for their advice, and then, when brain and heart agree, it’s time to start writing.

And to hope that this puppy will be easier to housebreak than the last.

Podcast #32: In this podcast, the second of two parts, Patricia Bray explains how the sidekick’s characteristics can balance those of the protagonist, or contrast with those of the protagonist. She discusses the requirements for a good sidekick, and describes how the sidekick’s character arc can complement or contrast with the protagonist’s character arc. She explains the difference between a sidekick/protagonist story and a story with multiple protagonists. She also lists some of the very useful purposes a sidekick can serve in a story, such as making your protagonist more believable, providing an embodiment of the protagonist’s motivation, and serving as the external conscience of protagonist. She also reviews the various mistakes an author can make in creating a sidekick. Patricia discusses sidekicks in short stories as well as novels, and explains when you might want to use the sidekick’s point of view. You can find part 1 of Patricia’s discussion of sidekicks in Podcast #31.

Mystery writers have it easy.

And then it hit me. A synopsis is to a novel as dog years are to human years. Each page of a synopsis carries the weight of fifty or more pages of story. A superdense form of prose, each paragraph of a synopsis must do the work of at least a scene, if not an entire chapter. It’s as if I went to do my normal workout only to find that someone had swapped out my five pound handweights for fifty pounders. No wonder it’s taking me so long to make progress.

The important thing is that I am making progress, so rather than beating myself up over having created only five good pages, I should recognize that these five pages are worth many times their weight in ordinary prose.

Now all I need is more coffee, and I’m ready to tackle that one last page.

Oh, and if someone wanted to return the hour that was stolen from me last night, I wouldn’t say no to that either.

My people are a simple people– we like to talk about writing, craft, what’s going round the internets, the latest sci-fi movies, the endless submission/rejection/submit again game. And, oh, yes. Beer.

We found out that we’d all been at Boskone last month, and even had mutual friends there, but hadn’t met up. Next time I go to a con, I’m wearing a shirt that says “New Hampshire resident” on both sides, to make it easier for fellow Granite Staters to spot me.

Hopefully we can do this again soon. Among the many things I miss about Binghamton is the loss of my local group of writers. The internet is a lifeline, cons are great fun, but there’s nothing like being able to regularly meet face to face.

Now if I could only convince jpsorrow that he needs to move to a New England college town….

Click here to read what I had to say on the topic, along with Lucy Snyder, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Jon Sprunk, Christopher Golden, Rhonda Eudaly, Leah Petersen, Linda Nagata, and Deborah J. Ross.