I’ll admit to being intimidated at first, not knowing anyone. It’s a good-sized local convention with a lot of history and people know already each other. What I finally realized, though, is that I just needed to politely join in the conversation. Everyone was welcoming and, even better, assumed I was Canadian. I swear, I am in all but name.

I saw there was a writing contest — 250 words based on a handful of prompts — and I pounced on that. It let me meet a nice group of writers and editors that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interact with at that level otherwise. I wrote the story Friday night (longhand first, then transcribed and edited), printed it out Saturday, and we received the results on Sunday. As these things happen, as I was sitting in the room waiting to talk to one of the judges, I had a breakthrough regarding flash that was soon confirmed by more than one of the judges. Flash fiction is like a single breath of air, and I’d forced the reader to stop and gulp in the middle of it.

Harry Turtledove was one of the Guests of Honor. I sat in one of his panels, on creating viable cultures in world-building. Fascinating stuff. It evolved into conversation about historical research and alternate history between him and Ed Greenwood, which was awesome and worth the price of admission alone. My two favorite quotes:

“That feeling of depth, that the world keeps going when the author stops looking.” Harry Turtledove, talking about Lord of the Rings

“The harder you make your reader work, the smaller your audience.” Ed Greenwood

It’s always great to meet people I’ve only known online. After a previous near-miss, I finally got to spend a few minutes chatting with Shay Darrach. I also got to spend some time with Gabrielle Harbowy, who I met through a mutual friend. That lead me to the launch party for Dragon Moon Press, which was a blast. Debut author Leah Petersen read from her novel and did a fabulous job, as did Marie Bilodeau.

Sunday, I went to a panel on ‘Revising and The Pitch’. At least, I thought it was a panel but it was really an interactive two-hour workshop led by Julie Czerneda and it was awesome. In groups of three, we were given prompts and created — and then revised — a pitch for a story. Again, some good quotes came out of the panel, these regarding revision:

“As perfect as time permits.”

“You have to learn to write to deadline; you may as well start by giving yourself one.” Julie Czerneda

Conventions have always left me with renewed spirits. Now, as I’m gearing up to finish this novel, I feel like I have even more clarity. Not necessarily about the writing itself, but about in believing it can be done. It’s easy to escape into short stories, because I’ve written those, had those published. They’re my safe place. A novel is a big, scary thing. That unknown feels less scary and more manageable right now, though, and that makes me very happy.

I’m relatively new to both country and the local genre community. I know there are a few members of Codex going and I recognize a few names from the panelist list (including Ed Greenwood, who was very kind towards a 19-year old me at Gen Con Milwaukee some years ago) but I’m otherwise winging this. I’m not exactly shy, but I’m not going to impose myself on people I don’t know, either.

Are you going? Please, say hi!

Best Novel

• Among Others, Jo Walton (Tor)
• A Dance With Dragons, George R. R. Martin (Bantam Spectra)
• Deadline, Mira Grant (Orbit)
• Embassytown, China Miéville (Macmillan / Del Rey)
• Leviathan Wakes, James S. A. Corey (Orbit)

Best Novella

• Countdown, Mira Grant (Orbit)
• “The Ice Owl”, Carolyn Ives Gilman (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction)
• “Kiss Me Twice”, Mary Robinette Kowal (Asimov’s)
• “The Man Who Bridged the Mist”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s)
• “The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary”, Ken Liu (Panverse 3)
• Silently and Very Fast, Catherynne M. Valente (WSFA)

Note: 6 nominees due to tie for final position.

Best Novelette

• “The Copenhagen Interpretation”, Paul Cornell (Asimov’s)
• “Fields of Gold”, Rachel Swirsky (Eclipse Four)
• “Ray of Light”, Brad R. Torgersen (Analog)
• “Six Months, Three Days”, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor.com)
• “What We Found”, Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)

Best Short Story

• “The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”, E. Lily Yu (Clarkesworld)
• “The Homecoming”, Mike Resnick (Asimov’s)
• “Movement”, Nancy Fulda (Asimov’s)
• “The Paper Menagerie”, Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction)
• “Shadow War of the Night Dragons: Book One: The Dead City: Prologue”, John Scalzi (Tor.com)

Best Related Work

• The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Third Edition, edited by John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls, and Graham Sleight (Gollancz)
• Jar Jar Binks Must Die…and other Observations about Science Fiction Movies, Daniel M. Kimmel (Fantastic Books)
• The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature, Jeff VanderMeer and S. J. Chambers (Abrams Image)
• Wicked Girls (CD), Seanan McGuire
• Writing Excuses, Season 6 (podcast series), Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Jordan Sanderson

Best Graphic Story

• Digger, by Ursula Vernon (Sofawolf Press)
• Fables Vol 15: Rose Red, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham (Vertigo)
• Locke & Key Volume 4: Keys To The Kingdom, written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez (IDW)
• Schlock Mercenary: Force Multiplication, written and illustrated by Howard Tayler, colors by Travis Walton (The Tayler Corporation)
• The Unwritten (Volume 4): Leviathan, created by Mike Carey and Peter Gross, written by Mike Carey, illustrated by Peter Gross (Vertigo)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form

• Captain America: The First Avenger, screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephan McFeely; directed by Joe Johnston (Marvel)
• Game of Thrones (Season 1), created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss;
  written by David Benioff, D. B. Weiss, Bryan Cogman, Jane Espenson, and George R. R. Martin; directed by Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, Tim van Patten, and Alan Taylor (HBO)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, screenplay by Steve Kloves; directed by David Yates (Warner Bros.)
• Hugo, screenplay by John Logan; directed by Martin Scorsese (Paramount)
• Source Code, screenplay by Ben Ripley; directed by Duncan Jones (Vendome Pictures)

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

• Doctor Who, ”The Doctor’s Wife”, written by Neil Gaiman; directed by Richard Clark (BBC Wales)
• “The Drink Tank’s Hugo Acceptance Speech”, Christopher J Garcia and James Bacon (Renovation)
• Doctor Who, ”The Girl Who Waited”, written by Tom MacRae; directed by Nick Hurran (BBC Wales)
• Doctor Who, ”A Good Man Goes to War”, written by Steven Moffat; directed by Peter Hoar (BBC Wales)
• Community, ”Remedial Chaos Theory”, written by Dan Harmon and Chris McKenna; directed by Jeff Melman (NBC)

Best Semiprozine

• Apex Magazine, edited by Catherynne M. Valente, Lynne M. Thomas, and Jason Sizemore
• Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
• Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams
• Locus, edited by Liza Groen Trombi, Kirsten Gong-Wong, et al.
• New York Review of Science Fiction, edited by David G. Hartwell, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Dikeman, and Avram Grumer

Best Fanzine

• Banana Wings, edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer
• The Drink Tank, edited by James Bacon and Christopher J Garcia
• File 770, edited by Mike Glyer
• Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, et al.
• SF Signal, edited by John DeNardo

Best Fancast

• The Coode Street Podcast, Jonathan Strahan & Gary K. Wolfe
• Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alex Pierce, and Tansy Rayner Roberts (presenters) and Andrew Finch (producer)
• SF Signal Podcast, John DeNardo and JP Frantz (presenters), Patrick Hester (producer)
• SF Squeecast, Lynne M. Thomas, Seanan McGuire, Paul Cornell, Elizabeth Bear, and Catherynne M. Valente
• StarShipSofa, Tony C. Smith

Best Editor, Long Form

• Lou Anders
• Liz Gorinsky
• Anne Lesley Groell
• Patrick Nielsen Hayden
• Betsy Wollheim

Best Editor, Short Form

• John Joseph Adams
• Neil Clarke
• Stanley Schmidt
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

Best Professional Artist

• Dan dos Santos
• Bob Eggleton
• Michael Komarck
• Stephan Martiniere
• John Picacio

Best Fan Artist

• Randall Munroe
• Spring Schoenhuth
• Maurine Starkey
• Steve Stiles
• Taral Wayne

Best Fan Writer

• James Bacon
• Claire Brialey
• Christopher J. Garcia
• Jim C. Hines
• Steven H Silver

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer

• Mur Lafferty
• Stina Leicht
• Karen Lord
• Brad R. Torgersen
• E. Lily Yu

• Whoever is running the parking system is making a killing. We spent as much on parking as we did on food for two.
• The profits from parking aren’t being spent on hospital IT, because I’m pretty you’d have to try pretty hard to make a system that failed in its communications that badly.
• The need for patient advocates is just as great, if not more so, here. I’m undecided if that’s because it’s a large city with a supposedly interconnected system or public health in general.

Out of respect for his privacy, I’m not going to go into too many details publicly. T- is ill (fuck cancer, so say we all). We took him for an outpatient biopsy Tuesday and suffered from a rare complication that landed him in the hospital overnight. That postponed a diagnostic test for an equally serious but unrelated condition scheduled for Thursday. Not the news that T- wanted to hear, but his doctors — and there are many — are working hard to get him healthy again.

I was thinking of heading to Toronto next weekend for Ad Astra. The last convention I went to was World Fantasy in 2010 and I’d like to start meeting some local-ish writer folk. The doctors rescheduled T-’s next test for the day after Ad Astra so that cleared me for con activity without guilt.

The Green Man has haunted our churches and buildings and global subconscious for countless generations, becoming just another forgotten mythology that is relegated to garden statuary and English pub signs.

No longer. Witness as the Green Man rises to capture our imagination in this anthology of original new fiction, the Urban Green Man.

I’m pretty excited by this anthology. I’m a huge fan of the Green Man mythos; I’m only sad that this own’t be my chance to rewrite my Green Man-on-a-generation-ship story. Still, I’m sure I will come up with something that keeps me awake at night.

Demeter’s Spicebox is opening for their third issue. There are so many things that I love about their guidelines. They are inclusive, seeking diversity and setting out to explore lesser-known fairy tales from underutilized regions of the world, and that those stories must be done with some attempt at authenticity.

The Third Issue of Demeter’s Spicebox will continue the journey for the items from Mari Ness’s and Shveta Thakrar’s stories, but will also incorporate elements from Joshua Gage’s and Mae Empson’s stories from Issue Two. We invite brave writers who are willing to join this storytelling experiment and dialogue between tales. We would also like to encourage writers from diverse backgrounds to submit; Demeter’s Spicebox is and always will remain a diversity-​​friendly venue. Our goal is to highlight voices that are strong, unique and brave. We pay attention to the strength of the story and to the strength of your voice as a writer.

There are additional requirements for issue three (see the guidelines for the full list) in order to connect these stories with the previously published ones.

Crossed Genres announced Winter Well: an upcoming anthology of novellas featuring older women.

We’re looking for speculative stories featuring women of advancing age (late middle age and older). They’re smart, they’re tough, and they have wills of their own.

They may be warriors, politicians, adventurers, etc. Even if they are also wives, mothers, wise women or healers, those archetypes must not be their defining characteristics. Their motivations, their driving force, must be their own. Whatever was in their past, they’re not interested in being in the background now.

We want stories about women breaking free of suppression; we also want stories of women who’ve been empowered all their lives.

CG does awesome work. They’ve published me before, and I support them whenever I can.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Friday a government crackdown on marriage fraudsters: people who marry and enter Canada under spousal sponsorship, only to abandon their partners shortly thereafter.

[..]

Sponsored spouses will also be restricted from sponsoring others for five years – a change effective immediately. This is meant to put an end to the “revolving door” of serial marriage, sponsorship and divorce, Mr. Kenney said.

Basically, foreigners have been wooing Canadians into marriage in order to get permanent residence and absconding once they have it. Some unscrupulous folk, in turn, see this as an opportunity and have been marrying for profit, in exchange for legal status. Good that they’re fixing this loophole. Surprised it’s taken this long. Saddened that it’s necessary in the first place.

The last realization might have led to a discussion of Dungeons & Dragons character alignments. I am totally Lawful Good, btw. If I stop and think about it, I know people can be dicks and do horrible, horrible things but on an individual level its hard for me to fathom this.

There’s another pending change to immigration law:

Starting this summer, those who are sponsored by their spouses to come to Canada will only be given temporary resident status for two years before they can gain permanent residency. If, during that period, the government discovers the marriage was one of convenience, the individual will be denied permanent residency. The new policy will include a provision to protect spousal abuse victims, who may be reluctant to end their marriages out of fear of jeopardizing their chances at gaining permanent resident status.

The fine print clarifies that the temporary resident status would only applies to couples who’ve been in a relationship less than two years when they file for sponsorship.

When you’re going applying for permanent residence in-country, you can’t help but feel like a non-entity. I was able to get on Ontario Reciprocal Drivers License (eventually), but I can’t work so I can’t pay taxes. Without paying taxes here, I get no benefits, like health insurance and I can’t buy it, either. Supplemental insurance is for visitors with fixed times of entry and exit, and even if I could finagle that, they only a) cover emergency room visits and b) are cost-prohibitive when you’re on a very tight budget.

My visitor visa doesn’t cover me going to school, either, so that excludes any formal continued education; I’m mostly self-taught, but it would be nice to take some classes. You know, maybe something like French to help me better integrate? There isn’t a huge French population in our part of Ontario, but I have a maybe, possible job offer waiting for me when I do have my permanent residence in Ottawa, a stone’s throw from Quebec and it would sure be nice to get more of a leg up on top of the other stuff I’m teaching myself.

That’s a lot of putting life on hold. We want to find a place of our own. Take some classes together. Have kids. It’s next to impossible to do any of that, though, until I can do my part.

By the time our application is approved, I’ll have been living in Canada for almost 18 months. I may have to wait another two years before I can apply for citizenship and you can be damn sure I will be as soon as I’m eligible. Under the new plan, an applicant may have to wait a year to get a temporary residence permit, two years to earn their permanent residence permit, and then another two years to be able to apply for citizenship — effectively five years.

You could argue that having a residence permit is not much different than having citizenship and I’m not sure all of the differences but it includes the ability to vote, which is kind of a big deal, at least for me.

I don’t think there are any easy solutions. Fraud is fraud and I’d like to flay the soles of anyone caught red-handed. I would like to see, though, a better solution for those of us who are trying to make a new life here. Make it easier to obtain a work permit — and pay taxes — while I’m waiting. Let me volunteer, or study, and integrate better.

This is one of my Clarion stories. Like any writer, I’m happy when a story sells but I’m also particularly pleased that this story has found its home.

Best. Question. Ever.

Sprinting is this — pen to paper, writing around 500 words/day until a story is done. What you’re holding at the end is a complete story, but is it finished?

I’ve heard conflicting schools of thought from various writers. Some revise as they write and submit when they hit the end. Others write a draft, revise, repeating as necessary, and submit. Everyone’s process is different, and probably varies by story. It does for me, at least.

Right now, my process is a little like this:

• Write draft 0 longhand, offline, ignoring typos and grammatical errors. Use TK for placeholders.
• Type up draft 1.0, correcting for most typos and minor grammatical issues. Most placeholders stay, but this also serves as my first read-through. Make detailed editorial notes in Scrivener.
• Revise draft 1.1, fixing all typos, grammatical errors and replacing placeholders. Address editorial notes.

At this point, if I’m trying to submit to an anthology with a looming submission deadline, I’ve read the story a few times and have a gut feeling as to whether it’s working the way I intended or not. Otherwise, the story is grounded, along with all of the other bad little drafts who live in my basement.

One thing Clarion taught me was to write less shitty first drafts, so in many cases draft 1.1 of stories I’ve written since aren’t embarrassingly bad. I can do better, though.
Sprinting is easy, because at the end of that race I can wave my arms around and say, “Look at me, I finished a story!” The truth, though, is it’s not finished. The real finish line is looming ahead and I’ve just stopped short because that’s a longer, lonely road that seems so futile at times.

The rewards are worth the effort.

I’ve got a story coming out on Thursday, at Goldfish Grimm’s Spicy Fiction Sushi. With “Control”, I was a long distance runner. I wrote the first draft during Clarion 2010. It was revised several times, including after a rewrite request, where I added 1,000 words. It saw three title changes. It took a while for this little story to find the right home, but it did and I knew it would. I didn’t just write that story; I finished it.

I have ADHD-like tendencies. When I’ve finished a draft, I tend to move on to the next shiny idea. That’s why I have so many 1.0 and 1.1’s lounging around, begging to see sunlight. I’ve proven, to myself at least, that I can sprint. Now it’s time to stay the course see these other stories finished.

So, instead of talking about how I’ve been making progress on most of the things and what else I’ve been doing, I lost the morning to the Unix mines. My old friends sed and grep were happy to see me as we strolled down the old familiar path of forensic analysis and recovery (or, as much as can be done with limited privileges). I don’t know if my password was compromised or not, but it’s been changed. One of my WordPress plugins was manually installed and severely out-of-date. It had known XSS vulnerabilities and some of the infected files originated in its folder. It has appropriately been nuked from orbit and installed to current.

Dreamhost’s been notified, in case this was part of a larger attack on the machine itself. For the time being, all is as it was, or should be at any rate (I’ll be keeping a close watch for any recurrences).