Tag: Writers

LoneStarCon Recap

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I attended my second WorldCon in San Antonio at the end of August. My first was last year in my hometown of Chicago. In the span of a year, I’ve participated in a few different cons, some large, some small: Locust Moon Comic Festival, ICFA, C2E2, Readercon, WisCon, and LoneStarCon.

Each time I leave inspired, not only by the great works that get honored or by the guests who are celebrated for their contributions, but by other working writers and editors who carve out time whenever they can; who are on their second, third, or tenth books; who complain about their laptops, vent about their partners and families, gush over stories that inspire them, and find joy in the company of other weird and wonderful creative people.

After the Hugos, with Amy Sisson, Francesca Myman, Cady Coleman, Stina Leicht.
After the Hugos, with Amy Sisson, Francesca Myman, Cady Coleman, Stina Leicht.

There were panels: some informational, others provocative; some balanced, others not so much. I attended many discussions which featured friends, and I was treated to passionate conversations about poetry and science; plot problems; the future of short stories; science, space, and speculative fiction; and China through the lens of its science fiction.

"Science, Space Exploration, and Speculative Fiction Collide" Panel with Mrco Palmieri, Ann VanderMeer, Stanley Schmidt, John Chu, and astronaut Cady Coleman.
“Science, Space Exploration, and Speculative Fiction Collide” Panel with Marco Palmieri, Ann VanderMeer, Stanley Schmidt, astronaut Cady Coleman, and John Chu.

There were awards, where I cheered for Campbell-nominated friends (yay Max Gladstone and Stina Leicht) and celebrated those who won Hugos (yay John Picacio, Best Professional Artist; and Galen Dara, Best Fan Artist); and there were After Parties, places to celebrate with friends.

After the Hugos: Wesley Chu, Stina Leicht, Max Gladstone, and David Boop.
After the Hugos: Wesley Chu, Stina Leicht, Max Gladstone, and David Boop.
After the Hugos, with Tara Smith, John Picacio, and Nancy Hightower.
After the Hugos, with Tara Smith, John Picacio, and Nancy Hightower.

There were large public spaces where we congregated for wifi and coffee, for meetings and impromptu chats; and when the sun went down for wine, scotch, sweet things, and more coffee.

In such good company, hanging out with wonderful Tor people: Ellen Gallo, Max Gladstone, Stephanie Neely, Miriam Weinberg, Stacy Hill, and Carrie Vaughn.
In such good company, hanging out with wonderful Tor people: Ellen Gallo, Max Gladstone, Stephanie Neely, me, Miriam Weinberg, Stacy Hill, and Carrie Vaughn.

Those “writers in the wild” times were my favorite–the casual moments when we wandered and were welcomed at tables and beside bars. When a conversation could carry on late into the night, or well into the morning. Because sometimes 5am guacamole along the riverwalk is a way of holding onto the magic for a little while longer, before we all have to return to the real world and the work that makes up most of our days.

Monday morning with Stina Leicht and Marco Palmieri.
Monday morning with Stina Leicht and Marco Palmieri.

So I came home and delved back into the stories  I’ve been working on all summer, finishing up a novelette and a few shorts, tweaking some poems, and sending things out to readers. Fall brings the next novel and the excitement of delving into ancient history to build a new world and a new cast of characters who will live inside my head until it’s done.

My fabulous roommates: Nancy Hightower and Stina Leicht.
My fabulous roommates: Nancy Hightower and Stina Leicht.

In the meantime, there are little tastes to keep us going: tweets at midnight when we’re writing, facebook chats and email exchanges. It helps to keep us connected, but nothing can compare with midnight marshmallows, early morning guacamole, and coffee in the company of good friends.

Imagination Grows by Exercise

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A quick post, while working on others. I really enjoyed this conversation between Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman filmed at World Fantasy Con 2011.

Charming and inspiring, it’s a great one for writers and aspiring writers to watch.

Naked Girls Reading and a Love of Listening

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On Friday night, I made my way up the stairs to the Everleigh Social Club with a friend, to attend the 2011 Naked Girls Reading Literary Award Gala. The fabulous loft space was candlelit and lushly decorated. We were among the first guests to arrive and took our seats in front of the swing, to the right of the stage.

Inspired by and named after the infamous Everleigh Club of the 1900s, this modern incarnation was founded by Michelle L’amour and is an extension of Studio L’amour. The Everleigh Social Club, while open to members for special events like the Naked Girls Reading Series and SPEAKEASY, is also the home of a modern art movement called Cyprianism, “creating art through a life lived artfully.” (A quote by Franky Vivid that I love. Read more here.)

From what I could see upon my entrance, the spirits of beauty, creativity, and sensuality are alive and flourishing in the Everleigh Club. Not unlike the ritual theater I adore by Terra Mysterium, the Naked Girls create a space and then fill it with intention, charging it with provocative elegance. On that night, the intention was to celebrate the five Literary Prize finalists, and I was honored to be in such good company.

The ladies on the stage disrobed at the start of each of the three reading sessions of the night. They did it gracefully, naturally, comfortably, at home in their skin and on the stage. Then they breathed the stories into life, charging each one with emotion, weaving the web of words around them. The crowd was rapt.  One word kept coming to mind: communion: a sense of intimate fellowship or rapport.

The word “communion” has an interesting etymology, a little different than its more modern and ecclesiastical definition.  It comes from the late 14th century Old French  comunion, meaning “community, communion” (12c.),  and from the Latin communionem (nom. communio) “fellowship, mutual participation, a sharing.”

The act of reading someone a story, or having a story read to you, is intimate. We don’t usually sit and read with strangers or people we dislike. If we read a story, it is with someone dear to us: a parent, child, partner. It’s often a part of a ritual, like “the bedtime story” or a “reading hour.” I love to read, but listening to a story is a different experience than reading a story. Listening takes us right back to our ancestors–sitting around a campfire to share in the storytelling experience, a sacred experience because it revealed ancient secrets, imparted treasured wisdom, taught life lessons, celebrated community milestones. The storytellers were both library and librarian.

Even today, when we listen, we receive something. Yes, it’s the same story. Yes, the words are the same. However we add the element of performance, the experience of emotion conveyed by a reader, the feeling that there is an exchange with a person and not just a text. Communion.

This is one of the reasons I love to listen to audiobooks, especially those read by the author. It’s like my own private bedtime story. In the reading of a story, the author has given me something, more than the words and the world they shape (although those are treasures). In an audiobook, as in a reading, they have given me an experience of the story.

It was an honor to hear my story read aloud on that stage, to experience my words delivered in such a beautiful and provocative way. I didn’t win the prize, but I certainly felt like I was given something to treasure. (It made me all the more excited to hear the audiobook for my novel when Xe Sands finishes recording The Silence of Trees for Iambic Audiobooks.)

The Naked Girls Reading Series is now in cities across America, so you too can experience the glamour and allure of Naked Girls Reading.

Rick Kogan said it so well in an article he wrote for the Chicago Tribune in April 2011:

It is a beautiful and bold experiment to be sure, with the emphasis on, well, beautiful and bold.

After the Naked Girls Reading, with a fully-clothed Michelle L’amour and Greta Layne.