Had to sneak in a post about the upcoming Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices, sponsored by Lambda Literary Foundation.
I am astounded, thrilled and just a little bit frightened that it starts this Saturday—one week of intensive, immersion with queer writers, established authors and publishing gurus.
LLF created a web page for its 2011 Fellows, so you can see little ol’ me, in the genre fiction track, amidst a very impressive list of writers.
Is Dumb the New Smart?
It’s actually a political/pop culture trend that started under the George W. Bush administration, and the concomitant rise of celebrities like Paris Hilton.
But it reached its zenith with Sarah Palin and her recent commentary on Paul Revere. He made his famous ride, gun in hand, to warn the British: we Americans have the right to bear arms. Remember from history class?
Education is passe, intellectual inquiry is for assholes, and everything you needed to know, you learned at Sunday family suppers, between Church and rifle practice.
For a recent pop culture counterpart, see Charlie Sheen.
In writing news, my manuscript wends its way to a climax and denouement (isn’t that a great word?). I just finished up a murder scene (mwah, ha, ha, ha).
Excitement is building for Lambda’s 2011 Writers’ Retreat. I’ve made my flight arrangements and sent in my photo/bio.
Lambda started a listserv for Fellows so we can share transportation and get to know each other. I’m already amazed (and a bit intimidated) by the list of authors. Lots of writers to learn from.
I just got accepted into Lambda Literary Foundation’s 2011 Writers’ Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices!!
It’s a weeklong immersion program, and I’ll be in the genre fiction track with eight to ten writers, under the tutelage of prolific crime/sci fi author Claire McNab.
The retreat takes place at UCLA, so my trip to Los Angeles will hopefully also give me a chance to catch up with long-neglected West Coast friends.
In the meantime, I’m finishing up my rebuilt fantasy manuscript, and–with contradictory sentiment–can report that I am 50 pages away from completion.
On one hand, I’m encouraged that this massive rewrite—which often seemed too big, too high, too labyrinthine—is really, truly in my reach. On the other hand, I find myself wallowing a bit in anticipatory grieving.
I’ve fallen in love with my characters, even the difficult ones who slyly hid their motivations, missed their scene cues, and argued continually with my direction. With the end—the curtain call—in sight, I realize soon I’m going to leave them piled under many files in a ‘Documents’ folder, maybe to be visited from time to time, but no longer a part of my daily life.
The other day I re-read my manuscript, not to proofread or edit, just to re-experience what I had written, and get to know the characters and the story again.
With months ahead of writing, workshopping and incorporating feedback, it seems silly to say, but it’s going to be hard to say goodbye.