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Feb. 22nd, 2006 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wordwhackerSo I said to myself earlier today, I said, "Cass? You need to update your writing journal." Apparently I said it louder than I thought, because ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
the_bookshelves promptly updated. Neat. Has my cerebral cortex gone wireless? Man, I've gotta invest in a firewall or somethin'. I'm probably all spyware infested already.
First, a week after the fact: The Writing Workshop
Last Wednesday I woke up early. Too early. Before-seven-O'clock early. If you know me, you know why this is a terrifying, nigh-soul-sucking thing for Cass to have to do. NINE IN THE MORNING is early, m'kay? I really don't do well when you invert the digit, thanks kindly.
I got my sorry butt uptown to meet L, with whom I drove to Fredericton (well, she drove me). This was, potentially, the scariest part of this whole trip. I've met L a few times, and we got along fine, but this would be an entire hour of being trapped in the same car together travelling at 100+ KPH down the highway. Luckily we weren't short on things to talk about, either on this trip or the one back to town. We're both somewhat lackadaisical geeks (me more so on the "lackadaisical" part) with a fondness for Joss Whedon and the original Star Wars trilogy. Clearly this trip was Meant To Be.
The workshop itself was really interesting and engaging. It took place in the Fredericton City Library, which I'd never seen before. We were tucked away in a back room that, despite being sort of barren (absolutely NOTHING on the walls - no windows, nothing) and, um, lousily chaired, was a great venue. We were out of the way, and we were a small group (only 20 or so people, I'd say), so I never had any trouble hearing.
There were three speakers: two authors (Ken McGoogan and Marilyn Simonds) and someone from the Writer's Union of Canada. They would each trade off for 20-40 minute segments talking about, in detail, every aspect of the publishing industry in Canada (with an emphasis on book publishing, though they touched on both Fiction and Non-Fiction as well as Poetry.) I kid you not - they were VERY thorough. They started with talking about how to submit your manuscript for publication, what the process is like on the publishers' side, what will happen if/when you get accepted and assigned an editor. They talked about the myriad ways to earn money as a writer - doing editing work, book reviews, a whole host of things.
They talked about contracts - what you want, what you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT, and what you'll want to take into consideration. They talked about taxes - how to make the most out of claiming expenses for being self-employed as a writer, and why (if you get a significant book deal) to "incorporate" (ie: register yourself as a corporation in order to not be horrifically taxed on your one lump-sum of money.) They talked about the joys of writing, the sorrows of writing, the importance of ergonomics... you name it, they talked about it. And they provided everybody with a LOT of resources, from websites to books to information about writers' retreats.
The only thing they didn't talk about was the actual CRAFT of writing - putting the words on the paper, turning out a final draft. And that's okay with me - I can go to writing workshops geared specifically to that sort of thing. But this side of it was what sort of freaked me out, and I'm glad to finally be armed with some information. PARTICULARLY information that is from a Canadian standpoint - that's the kind of thing that is harder to find on the internet.
On the way back we drove up (and I do mean UP - the whole thing is on a frickin' huge hill) through the UNB Fredericton campus. Brick buildings. Makes me feel cheap to come back to the campus here at home - the Saint John branch is, like, six buildings. The Fredericton campus is probably at LEATS ten times the size. But then again, that's no surprise - Fredericton gets all the cool stuff, Saint John gets diddly.
So if any of the writers on my friends list need any info about publishing, hit me up. I probably have a pamphlet and/or a website for it.
In other writing news, I've been working on a story lately and having a ball. I'm almost writing it twice at once - I started it longhand, and am still in the process of penning it. But I've gone back and started typing what I've written so far, adding and culling things as I go. I'm enjoying the process a lot. What I write longhand feels chunky and soupy, cluttered but raw and right out of my head. Then I put it on the screen. Just seeing it typed in nice, clean characters in black on a white background is making the story come alive again, clearer and more defined, and is making the editing process feel a lot more involved and lively than it has when I've typed my first draft. I'm going to have to do this more often.
It's due for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crimsonata on Friday, so I'll post it here then, assuming I'm done. I'm pretty sure I will be. That is, if I stop making LJ posts and get back to actually writing. *cough*
SO! How about you folks, my lackadaisical readers / fellow writers? What projects are you working on / putting off? Any new and interesting ideas bite you on the butt lately? I've had a few, but I really want to concentrate on this one and get it out of the way. I want to actually finish some things this year. (Other than school papers, anyway.)
the_bookshelves promptly updated. Neat. Has my cerebral cortex gone wireless? Man, I've gotta invest in a firewall or somethin'. I'm probably all spyware infested already.First, a week after the fact: The Writing Workshop
Last Wednesday I woke up early. Too early. Before-seven-O'clock early. If you know me, you know why this is a terrifying, nigh-soul-sucking thing for Cass to have to do. NINE IN THE MORNING is early, m'kay? I really don't do well when you invert the digit, thanks kindly.
I got my sorry butt uptown to meet L, with whom I drove to Fredericton (well, she drove me). This was, potentially, the scariest part of this whole trip. I've met L a few times, and we got along fine, but this would be an entire hour of being trapped in the same car together travelling at 100+ KPH down the highway. Luckily we weren't short on things to talk about, either on this trip or the one back to town. We're both somewhat lackadaisical geeks (me more so on the "lackadaisical" part) with a fondness for Joss Whedon and the original Star Wars trilogy. Clearly this trip was Meant To Be.
The workshop itself was really interesting and engaging. It took place in the Fredericton City Library, which I'd never seen before. We were tucked away in a back room that, despite being sort of barren (absolutely NOTHING on the walls - no windows, nothing) and, um, lousily chaired, was a great venue. We were out of the way, and we were a small group (only 20 or so people, I'd say), so I never had any trouble hearing.
There were three speakers: two authors (Ken McGoogan and Marilyn Simonds) and someone from the Writer's Union of Canada. They would each trade off for 20-40 minute segments talking about, in detail, every aspect of the publishing industry in Canada (with an emphasis on book publishing, though they touched on both Fiction and Non-Fiction as well as Poetry.) I kid you not - they were VERY thorough. They started with talking about how to submit your manuscript for publication, what the process is like on the publishers' side, what will happen if/when you get accepted and assigned an editor. They talked about the myriad ways to earn money as a writer - doing editing work, book reviews, a whole host of things.
They talked about contracts - what you want, what you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT WANT, and what you'll want to take into consideration. They talked about taxes - how to make the most out of claiming expenses for being self-employed as a writer, and why (if you get a significant book deal) to "incorporate" (ie: register yourself as a corporation in order to not be horrifically taxed on your one lump-sum of money.) They talked about the joys of writing, the sorrows of writing, the importance of ergonomics... you name it, they talked about it. And they provided everybody with a LOT of resources, from websites to books to information about writers' retreats.
The only thing they didn't talk about was the actual CRAFT of writing - putting the words on the paper, turning out a final draft. And that's okay with me - I can go to writing workshops geared specifically to that sort of thing. But this side of it was what sort of freaked me out, and I'm glad to finally be armed with some information. PARTICULARLY information that is from a Canadian standpoint - that's the kind of thing that is harder to find on the internet.
On the way back we drove up (and I do mean UP - the whole thing is on a frickin' huge hill) through the UNB Fredericton campus. Brick buildings. Makes me feel cheap to come back to the campus here at home - the Saint John branch is, like, six buildings. The Fredericton campus is probably at LEATS ten times the size. But then again, that's no surprise - Fredericton gets all the cool stuff, Saint John gets diddly.
So if any of the writers on my friends list need any info about publishing, hit me up. I probably have a pamphlet and/or a website for it.
In other writing news, I've been working on a story lately and having a ball. I'm almost writing it twice at once - I started it longhand, and am still in the process of penning it. But I've gone back and started typing what I've written so far, adding and culling things as I go. I'm enjoying the process a lot. What I write longhand feels chunky and soupy, cluttered but raw and right out of my head. Then I put it on the screen. Just seeing it typed in nice, clean characters in black on a white background is making the story come alive again, clearer and more defined, and is making the editing process feel a lot more involved and lively than it has when I've typed my first draft. I'm going to have to do this more often.
It's due for
crimsonata on Friday, so I'll post it here then, assuming I'm done. I'm pretty sure I will be. That is, if I stop making LJ posts and get back to actually writing. *cough*SO! How about you folks, my lackadaisical readers / fellow writers? What projects are you working on / putting off? Any new and interesting ideas bite you on the butt lately? I've had a few, but I really want to concentrate on this one and get it out of the way. I want to actually finish some things this year. (Other than school papers, anyway.)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-02-23 04:28 pm (UTC)In terms of ideas (for writing), I've got a few that have been percolating for a while. I don't know when I'll next want to write or whether or not I'll be able to do much with them. They all seem to fall into that, "I don't think I can write this," or, "I'm not good enough to make a good story out of this," arena. I want to re-write Like Animals, but there are also two new ideas that I keep mulling over and which don't seem to quite want to go away.