Wot 'e sez.
'Tis true: my 1000th post, and how fitting that it should be by way of a general Nate of the Station update. For it has been a busy couple of weeks, my little cabbage-leaf wrapped spatchcocks, and much WriterGuy goodness has been noticed.
We're five weeks into the first intake of the Australian Writers Marketplace Online SF Course, and the second intake has now begun: it's not too late to enrol, and we're only chatting amongst ourselves until you can make it.
My first set of students have become analytical T-Rex's and are producing story beginning after story beginning-- there will be some hypercharged writers with a trunk full of stories coming atcha in the next couple of months, and it's been gratifying to watch as they turn on to what I'm teaching and apply the lessons to their own writing. It really is quite amazing how an author's work can evolve in a short period of time just by absorbing a few well-placed lessons, and there are a couple of names who are going to come out of this course and establish themselves over the next year or so. At which point I shall claim bragging rights and mango beer tributes in equal measure.
The agent search for The Corpse-Rat King continues: I've had a number of requests for partials, and one full has been asked for as well, so even though the rejections come regularly there's enough interest out there to keep my spirits up. The adjustment from short stories to novels is a sharp one, and I have to keep reminding myself that it was a long time between writing my first short and selling my first, and that I can't expect to simply pen my first longer work and have the world fall at my feet. Will I sell this one? Dunno. Will I have the patience and fortitude to write three, five, eight novels before I sell one? Fuck, I hope I don't have to. But if I do, so be it. Everything is a learning curve. Still, let's hope I sell CRK and we can go from there...
On the appearance front, I'll be heading out into the wide world in my WriterGuy disguise on a couple of occasions over the coming months:
Luscious and I have both been shortlisted in this year's KSP Speculative Fiction Awards, and I've been invited to attend as the guest author for the day, so I'll be giving a little speech about my writing life and philosophies (and trying not to sob) as well as giving a reading, kissing babies, and doing the watusi with any stray gypsies who may be passing. Join us on the 14th August at the KSP Writers Centre to find out the winners and share in the general bonhomie and watusiriness.
I'll also be heading out to Curtin University on the 26th of September to deliver a guest lecture to a Web Publishing class on social media and how I use it as part of my Dayjob and WriterGuy goings on. (Part of their Internet Communications Major, and how old does that make me feel? You can get a degree in the Internet. A degree. Does your degree come in pdf? I'm going to have a Horlicks and listen to my 78s will I think about it). That's right, me: the guy who couldn't get Google + to work, and still can't get it to link to FB and Twitter properly. Me. Anyone else as amused by the thought as I am? Send your reply via this blog, my website, my Amazon page, twitter feed, Goodreads page, LinkedIn profile, Facebook, Google +, AHWA member page, or Livejournal RSS feed, or just tag this blog on Stumbleupon like any reasonable person would....
Lastly, as part of Dayjob World, I've taken up the mantle of Municipal Liaison for the Rockingham/Mandurah region of Nanowrimo once again, and have already started to compile the activities and prizes to keep everyone racing towards their 50 000 word target. Last year we conducted a series of workshops with Simon Haynes, Dave Luckett and Tehani Wessely as speakers. This year we'll be holding a masterclass with an internationally-renowned Fantasy author from Perth who shall not be named just yet because we're still confirming details but she's very cool and one of my favourite people in the biz, and I'm busy gathering prizes for The Night of Writing Dangerously event to be held on the 12th: five hours of catered writing time broken only by prize giveaways, competitions, and the opportunity to go head to head with an established pro to win yourselves goodies. More details as they come closer to hand, but if you really want to join in you could always register on the Nanowrimo website, join the Rockingham/Mandurah region, and take part in the write-ins that we'll be holding. All the cool kids will be doing it.
And that, for the moment, is about it. How was your day, my darlings?
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