Tag: travel

Vegas, baby!

Only a few words today, and those with pencil. (bonus points to anyone who gets the reference).

As you may know, I’m in Vegas for a writing retreat organized by my friend E.F. Kelley.  We’re heading into Day Two and, so far, I have to say: Yes.  Though several of us have not met before in person, the group dynamic is clicking very well, the feedback provided on previously submitted works has been substantive and insightful…and, of course, it’s Vegas.  So, there’s good food and plenty of inspiration to be found on what is (let’s face it) essentially an alien planet.

In addition to crits of work by Lou Berger, George Galuschak, and Hallie Rulnick, we had a rousing discussion of the difference between paranormal romance and urban fantasy.  Underdevelopment of villains came up a lot, and we talked about the five writing cards, two of which every writer is given and three of which they must learn (plot, character, setting, prose, and dialogue).  Also, we stuffed ourselves full of tasty food (Bouchon Bistro for an obscene breakfast that included pastries AND pomme frites, Earl of Sandwich for yummy lunch, and Sage restaurant for fancy dinner).

I’m up for critique this morning on an excerpt and synopsis of my novel Absent.  I’m really looking forward to getting help on shaping up the characterizations (especially my protagonist’s motivations and needs/wants) and the direction of the second half of the plot. We’ll also take a look at Catherine Schaff-Stump’s novella excerpt “Were-Humans,” a short story from Danielle LeFevre, and – time permitting – do a plot session on E.F.’s novel.  Tonight: Cirque du Soleil.

I’ll try to pop in for a an update on Sunday when things wrap themselves up.  Till then, have a great weekend!  I know I will.

Book Review: A Fire Upon the Deep

I’m hitting the road again; this time I’m headed to Vegas (for a writers retreat) and then Phoenix (for a family getaway).  I’ll try to be good about posting while I’m gone, but no promises!  In the meantime, here’s a book review of A Fire Upon the Deep.

A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge (534 pages, Science Fiction)

This book was the one that made me want to write science fiction and fantasy.  Round about 2002, I was on a 6-month excavation project in Honduras and I found a battered copy of Fire Upon the Deep stuffed into the project book shelf.  I picked it up, and within minutes was totally engrossed.  Fast forward to 2011, when I spotted a copy on a markdown shelf at Borders (poor, sad, dying Borders) and grabbed it for a re-read.  Man had I forgotten how good it is.  There is much genius in this book – genius in plot, structure, and story, and genius in world-building, too.

On the surface, the coolest thing about Fire Upon the Deep are the Tines, the group-mind species Vinge creates to inhabit a wild, ferocious back-water planet at the Bottom of the Beyond.  They’re like dogs, but “individuals” are created by combining several members into a pack.  Each member performs different functions or brings different personality traits or types of intelligence to the whole, and they think and operate as one.  Though the Tines are truly alien, they are also deeply familiar to us humans in terms of their hopes, dreams, fears, and desires.  Into this world come two children fleeing an interstellar terror set on destroying the entire galaxy (called The Blight).

The deeper genius of the book is how it structurally juxtaposes the plight of these kids as they attempt to survive on the Tines world with the malicious plans of the Blight.  A third plot line involves a group of humans – one of whom may actually be a puppet for a god-like intelligence – and Skroderiders (another fabulously ingenious alien species Vinge dreamed up) as they attempt to rescue the marooned children.

The pace is brisk, yet Vinge still manages to find a way to world-build and exposit without weighing the story down.  As he switches between story lines (and eventually brings them all together), the reader is treated to the full scope of this incredible universe – from the great powers that shape interstellar events all the way down to the tiny individuals caught up in those events.  Honestly, it’s completely masterful.

If you haven’t read this classic, do it now.

From inside the belly of the beast

It’s still dark here in Salt Lake City, and a thin layer of icy snow has covered everything.  Is the bad weather following me, or are we finally beginning the slide into our global-warming induced Ice Age?  Anyway, here’s a quick update from the Superstars Writing Seminar in Salt Lake City…

1. Damn, I’m exhausted…and it’s only Day 2

2. Some great insights from Brandon Sanderson on diversification and working multiple projects.  In general, a common theme on Day 1 was a push towards maximizing productivity and output.  Listening to Brandon, and also Kevin J. Anderson, I feel like I’ll really be able to organize my time better.

3. Persistence is another point that’s been coming up a lot.  Brandon’s first big sale was the 6th novel he wrote – and he sold it while he was writing his 13th.  David Farland says: “Make yourself a lightning rod, and lightning with strike.  You aren’t going to get struck while hiding in your basement.”  Truer words have never been spoken.

4. From Eric Flint: when editors look at a submission, they care about only one thing: do I want to keep turning the page?  If the answer is yes all the way to the end, they might buy your story.

5. Also some very practical advice on networking (the geeky, reclusive writer’s bane)…and, apparently, YES, we have to figure out how to do it, because it’s important.  Rats.

6. And, finally, thank you Eric Flint for explaining how the economics of publishing work.  Depressing, but clarifying.

Okay, if you want to know more, you’ll have to sign up and attend next year.  Thus far, I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth.  More to follow…

On the road, again

Today was a travel day for me.  I’m in Salt Lake City to attend a seminar addressing the business side of writing (Superstars Writing Seminar) and being taught by the likes of Kevin J. Anderson, Brandon Sanderson, David Farland, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Eric Flint, and Rebecca Moesta.  While here, I’ll try to provide a few blog updates about the seminar and my adventures – literary and otherwise.

The trip has started out rather inauspiciously, to be honest.  I wasn’t supposed to leave New York until tomorrow afternoon, but the gods of snow (or maybe just some suit at Delta) decided a big storm was coming and canceled my flight (though not a flake of snow has yet fallen).  My only choices were:  come on a 6am flight today or not at all.  So, here I am.  Sleepy and a bit jet-lagged, but here.  It’s cold (around 14 degrees right now) and there’s snow just about everywhere you look.  But, man, the mountains are really pretty, and a hot shower managed to scour away the residual pain of getting up at 4am.

Right now I’m at a little cafe far too cute to exist anywhere outside of a movie (Raw Bean Coffeehouse) and determined to stop using this internet connection to procrastinate 🙂

I’m going to go and write now.  You should too.

See you later.

Where did I pack my pen?

For someone who considers herself a homebody, I sure do a lot of traveling.  In 2010 I traveled to Seattle (2x), New Orleans (2x), Boston, the British Virgin Islands, England, Scotland, and Spain.  And that’s just the trips I remember.  I figure I spent at least a quarter of the year away from home (and thus away from my desk).  And, for the first two months of 2011 alone, I have trips planned to New Orleans (where I am as I write this), Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

Travel presents a range of delights and agonies, but perhaps one of the most challenging for me is not losing momentum on my writing.  There’s the trip itself, which, if it’s a vacation, can mean getting nothing done, but also the lead-up and unwinding after you get back — all lethal to my writing output.

Sometimes being out and seeing the world is a source of inspiration, prompting unexpected visits from the writing Beast, and the experiences accrued from traveling most certainly benefit us writers.  Getting away from daily life and leaving behind your mundane worries and tasks can be mentally liberating, too.  But, just as often, even if you pack your laptop and best intentions, the writing well remains dry…or ignored altogether.

Here are 2 things I do every time I travel, which unfailingly result in a productivity rate of zero:

1. print out draft versions of short stories or novels with the intent of line-editing them on the plane.  Because you wouldn’t want to be stuck with nothing to do but watch all those free movies on the seat-back screen.  Riiiiiight.

2. pack a blank notebook with the idea that all my “downtime” (cause there’s always so much of that on the road) will be ideal for world-building/brainstorming/plotting.  I have a lot of blank notebooks, many of them now yellowed around the edges.

So far, the only thing I’ve found that works in the slightest is to just stuff the ole’ laptop into my purse (yes, I have a huge purse) and carry it around.  When a free moment or two strikes, I pull it out and keep working on whatever I’d be working on if I was at home.  Pretty prosaic, and pretty hit-and-miss in terms of productivity (also, that shoulder bag gets heavy).  But it’s the best I’ve got so far.

A few other observations: when I’m traveling alone and staying in a hotel, I’m quite productive at night and/or early in the morning.  Along these lines, when I attended Readercon last year I got a ton of writing done.  Being around other writers and attending writing panels was really inspiring.  I’ll be at the Superstars Writing Seminar in Salt Lake later this month and I’m hoping I find the same thing to be true there.

But, given how much I travel, I’d really like to develop more consistent strategies for keeping up with my writing.  So, I’m asking for your input, advice, and tips.  What works for you when you travel, and what tactics are a bust?