Clarion Call

So, today, as I was trying to find something to do to take my mind off of a sick cat, I ended up applying to Clarion and Clarion West. This is the kind of thing that, if I hadn't done it kind of impulsively and mostly thinking about other things, I could have come up with a thousand reasons why it was a waste of the application fee. Clarion has been The Dream for many would-be fantasy and science fiction writers for over forty years now. There's a bit of legend about it. For those who haven't heard of it and are too lazy to click links - it's a six-week live-in workshop for writers of speculative fiction that is considered by many to be the "golden key" into the world of published authordom, though the people in charge of Clarion of course vehemently deny that!

I suspect that, rather than Clarion itself having any particularly magical quality, the caliber of writing and the level of sheer dedication you have to have to get in, give up 6 weeks of your life, and pay the stunning tuition cost pretty much means you'd have made it as a writer anyway. The connections you make during the workshop couldn't hurt though, and "Clarion graduate" certainly spices up a query letter.

I won't get in, if for no other reason than the samples I sent are not my best work (for various reasons). But I think it means something that I applied. It means I'm finally ready to stop clutching my precious stories to my chest and growling when people approach. I'm becoming more open to failure, criticism, and wasted application/postage fees.

Next deadline: Nicholl Fellowship. Yup, trying again this year with a quirky romantic comedy/fantasy. Might toss KoD at them again, too. Also still working on the novel, but due to various factors, I have changed my schedule from 5 chapters a week to 2. This will give me more time to work on my Nicholl screenplay, and also to do some badly-needed research that I am only now realizing I should have done already for the novel.