A much belated note to mention that I have two conference appearances already scheduled for 2008: the Blue Ridge Writers Conference at the end of this month, and the Harriette Austin Writers Conference this summer.

At Blue Ridge, I will be conducting both an editorial/manuscript seminar and a writing seminar, similar to the Tennessee Mountain Writers Conference; at Harriette Austin, I’ve just sent in a description for a session called “It’s the Writing, Silly!” which will take a straightforward, and hopefully illuminating, look at the manuscript submission process.

At both conferences, I will also be conducting manscript evaluations.

If you’re going to be attending either conference, please feel free to drop me a line via the Contact page. See you then!

I’m just now catching my breath from Shore Leave and the Harriette Austin Writers’ Conference; both were a lot of fun, but they made for a very busy July!

It was a blast meeting all the other Strange New Worlds writers at Shore Leave. All of the stories are unique and fun to read. It’s sad that Strange New Worlds has to end, but I really think it’s going out with a bang. We had a great book signing the first night, followed up with a panel discussion the next day–special thanks to Pocket Books editor Margaret Clark for moderating, and for sharing all the behind-the-scenes information.

The Harriette Austin writers continue to delight me with their love and enthusiasm for writing. Anyone who heard the tribute to Harriette Austin herself on Saturday night knows that this goes beyond a conference to a family reunion for many of the members–and everyone’s made to feel welcome. This is a great conference and deserves continued support.

My writing seminar on Saturday was “The State of the (Small) Publishing Industry and You.” We talked about the shrinking book industry and the rise of large, conglomerated publishers, and how this can lead to less willingness to take risk on the part of publishers and bookstores, squeezing out new writers. I explained that NewSouth accepts both agented and un-agented writers, including first-time writers, and the personal attention that we offer is a benefit over working with a larger firm. The participants asked some great questions, including whether self-publishing can affect your future ability to be published, and how to know whether your work is ready for you to send it out.

Later that day I participated in a new item at the Austin conference, an author/editor panel discussions. Authors Susan Mary Malone and Chris Roerdon were very nice, and I found my discussion with editor Tony Burton fascinating–though we both work for small publishers, we often had different suggestions or policies for the writers, proving the old adage that if you have two editors, you’ll get five opinions. I myself found this kind of counterpoint very useful, and I hope the participants did, too.

This ends a busy season, but I’ve already got some more conference appearances in the works. Keep watching the Appearances page for the latest updates.

Dean Wesley Smith has announced that some time next week, the forums on his website will close. This Writing Discussion Open Board has been a great resource for writers new and experience, and I encourage everyone to go take a look before Dean takes it down.

Thanks to Dean for many things, and for hosting this board and keeping it as long as he did.

Simon & Schuster has just released the back cover text for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Vol. 10:

Ambassador Sarek meets his future wife. Captain Ransom atones for his sins. T’Pol pursues a composer, after she is captivated by the human’s music. Strands of DNA are woven together from four Starfleet captains, creating one man with one mission. An entity fights for its right to live, despite the fact that it is not alive.

From the ordinary to the extraordinary, all of these stories are embraced by the vision of Star Trek®. When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, he also tapped a wellspring of human imagination. Viewers were transformed into fans,who embraced the show and turned the definition of “fan” on its ear. However, when what was on the screen was simply not enough, fans started writing their own stories, which they then shared among friends and family.

Ten years ago, Pocket Books offered Star Trek fans a unique opportunity to become a part of the Star Trek mythos. A contest was created in which the best stories submitted by nonprofessional writers would be published. And over the course of a decade, hundreds of pounds of submissions poured in. Many of the writers who submitted to Strange New Worlds went on to become professional writers.

This time there are nineteen writers: Rigel Ailur, David DeLee, M.C. DeMarco, Rick Dickson, Louis E. Doggett, Aimee Ford Foster, Edgar Governo, Robyn Sullivent Gries, Jim Johnson, Gerri Leen, Muri McCage, Brian Seidman, Randy Tatano, Paul C. Tseng, Rob Vagle, Laura Ware, Carolyn Winifred, Jerry M. Wolfe, and Jeremy Yoder.

We welcome them to the book that is by the fans, for the fans.

Not sure if I’m allowed to say whether one of the stories described there is mine or not. If I could, let’s say, I would …

Thanks to everyone who came out to my “Editing and the Politics of Change” this past weekend at the Tennessee Mountain Writers Annual Conference. We had a packed room on Friday afternoon and a sleepy, intimate group on Saturday, and both brought a lot of energy, creative writings, and great questions.

We started the session talking about trends in the book publishing, and book buying, industry. I recommended New York Times articles by Rachel Donadio, who often writes about publishing. Building on the session by publisher George Brosi, we discussed how good writers are good readers, and that you can continue to distinguish yourself as a writer by broadening the sources that you read. One participant asked about modern short stories writers, and I belatedly mentioned both Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and Ethan Canin’s Emperor of the Air as good examples. See a full list of recommended reading here.

Next, I related to the group my experiences participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) last year. NaNoWriMo was great for my writing, especially in helping me turn off my “inner editor” and get a first draft down on paper. We mentioned Anne Lamott’s idea of “shitty first drafts” as she discussed in her writing book Bird by Bird.

For our writing exercise, we combined the idea of writing quick first drafts with the concept of levels of dialogue–direct dialogue, allusion, and “telling a story.” We talked about how television shows often show the internal struggle of their characters through exterior action, and examined how to integrate this into our writing, especially in regard to showing how our characters change in our stories and novels. (I can’t find the exact page, but I believe much of this was inspired by Robert McKee’s excellent screenwriting book, Story, which is a must-read for any fiction writer.) We read an excerpt from Lorrie Moore’s story “Agnes of Iowa” from her book Birds of America.

Again, I encourage everyone I spoke with to please keep me posted on the progress of your writing through this site’s Contact page. I read and heard about a lot of great writing, and I’m eager to hear how it goes. Thanks again!

I’m now officially scheduled for Shore Leave, one of the largest fan-run science fiction conventions, held this year in Baltimore, Maryland. Shore Leave is also the home of the annual Star Trek: Strange New Worlds mass book signing, where I’ll be participating. Nothing to sneeze at–also in attendance are science fiction writers Peter David (Star Trek: New Frontier and Fallen Angel), Greg Cox (Infinite Crisis novelization) and David Mack (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Warpath), among plenty of others.

Planning to attend? Drop me a line and let me know!

I’ve added a Strange New Worlds (or SNW, as it’s affectionately called) section to the site. Nothing there now, but when the book comes out this summer, take a look for story annotations and other goodies.

The Tennessee Mountain Writers Conference is not that far away, but if you’re nearby and you haven’t registered yet, there may still be time. If anyone’s planning to attend, drop me a line on my site’s Contact page so I can say “hi” at the conference.

Here’s the link I mentioned in my session, to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Writers Beware database. This site is a great resource to check out whenever you’re searching for an agent or publishing company. The SFWA offers plenty of tips to keep you safe as you send out your work, as well as a listing of known frauds and schemes.