Mur Lafferty, the Grand Dame of SF podcasting, joins Howard, Mary, and Dan to talk about ways in which writers can continue their educations. We’ve said time and again that nothing improves your writing skills like doing more writing, but there are some other things you can do so that your writing practice pays off faster.

We talk about writing workshops like Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp, Clarion and Clarion West, Writing Superstars, Odyssey, Taos Toolbox, and Launchpad. We also talk about podcasts like Writing Excuses (you might have heard of that one) and Mur Lafferty’s I Should Be Writing.

We also talk about information sources online like Turkey City Lexicon, Magical Words,  and Bookview Cafe, and of course we can’t let the episode end without touching on actual books writers can read, like Steven King’s On Writing, Ken Rand’s The 10% Solution, and Orson Scott Card’s Character and Viewpoint.

We wrap up with a reminder: learning a new thing will make writing more difficult before it makes it easier. Don’t panic. Don’t think you’ve broken your brain. It’s all part of the writing process. You’ll get your mojo back as soon as your brain finishes assimilating all this stuff you’ve just learned.

via Writing Excuses 6.22: Continuing Education for Writers » Writing Excuses.

RT Reviews sat down and asked me a bunch of good questions about the sequels to Shades of Milk and Honey.

Author Mary Robinette Kowal’s debut novel, the fantasy Shades of Milk and Honey, was awarded our August 2010 RT Seal of Excellence. Said RT Senior Reviewer Natalie A. Luhrs, “If Jane Austen had written a fantasy novel, Shades of Milk and Honey would have been the result.” Today, the author chats with us about what readers can expect in next April’s series second, and then get spoiled with exclusive details about Kowal’s two novels coming up after that — books three and four in the series!

Curious to find out what happens next? Check out Spoiled: Mary Robinette Kowal On Her Next Three Novels! | RT Book Reviews.

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow, and I’m going to be diving into writing Without A Summer. Since I wrote Shades of Milk and Honey as a NaNo novel, it makes sense to work on one of the sequels as my project this November.

If you are in Portland…

Case Study Coffee (NE 53rd and Sandy) has agreed to stay open late (from 6-9pm) every Tuesday in November just for us NaNo-ers. They have great coffee, snacks, teas, lots of plug-ins, lots of tables and are huge advocates of both reading and writing. They’ll also be doing a cool “wordcount” board for all of the combined NaNo words written at Case Study in November.

There are a bunch of writers who write there regularly already, so it’s also a great opportunity to meet other writers while you’re getting your words down.

Shanna Germain and I will be there for most of them too! Stop in and write.

And I’m off! Again! I’m in San Diego for World Fantasy, where I hope I will see some of you. My travel down was reasonable smooth, aside from a bizarre period of sitting on the tarmac because the North runway was closed. I don’t know why.

Here’s my schedule!

Friday 8:00 PM – 11:00 PM Town and Country/San Diego: Autograph Session

This is a WFC tradition for all authors, artists, and editors attending the convention. Everyone is invited to participate in this very informal event.  Tent cards will be available outside the room. Get your card, find a seat, and make yourself comfortable.  Refreshments and a no-host bar will be provided in the foyer.

Saturday 8pm Pacific 1: Out of the Broom Closet: Integrating Magicians and Fantastic Creatures into Society.

Most stories have vampires, werewolves, witches and other supernatural entities hiding within the greater society. But more and more look at them as just another facet of modern society. How does that change them as characters? How does it change human society? What does it add to the plot, in addition to the obvious possible social commentary?

S. G. Browne, Mette Harrison (M), Leanna Renee Hieber, Mary Robinette Kowal, Rebecca Rowe

Will I see you in San Diego?

We’ve done brainstorming casts before. This time we’ve prepared something quite a bit different. It’s different, in fact, because we prepared it — in advance, even.

Producer Jordo provided your hosts Brandon, Dan, Mary, and Howard with four wacky news headlines. From these, we each hammered together rudimentary bits of story, and we did so independently. You get four different takes on this four-headline mashup.

The four headlines:

Wary of Iguanas, Bored Germans Finally Venture Out

Heroic Mailman Saves Three Lives While On the Job

Dolphin Charged With Battery Against Girlfriend

Austrian Power Company Tells Customer She is Dead

via Writing Excuses 6.21: Brainstorming From Story Seeds » Writing Excuses.

There’s a wonderful post at the Oregon Regency Society by Stephanie Johansen about riding sidesaddle. Not only is she a member of the ORS, she’s a serious horsewoman. If you write anything that is historic, this is a great post. She also has a load of links to other useful resources.

So when trying to pursue becoming a sidesaddle rider, ladies need to keep in mind that fit and safety should be the two most important considerations when shopping for a sidesaddle. It is more important than authenticity, I’m afraid. So if you are a die-hard reenactor, I’m afraid it would not be advisable to have a saddle made to emulate the Regency period sidesaddle unless it had modern measures built in to compensate for the Regency design’s flaws. In fact, any saddle style prior to the Victorian sidesaddle would not be safe for you or for your horse. Even antique Victorian saddles, if you can find them, must fit your horse well enough as to prevent any issues, and may require modification.

You can read the full article at The Oregon Regency Society: Riding Sidesaddle; a very horsey post!.

I just got back from the Surrey International Writers Conference, about which I cannot say enough good things. I highly, highly recommend this conference if you are a writer. I’m planning on going back next year, schedule permitting, whether or not I’m a presenter. It left me energized and charged to write. That’s a beautiful thing.

Aside from a slight delay at the border crossing as one passenger was detained, the bus trip from Surrey was uneventful. We got into Seattle about half an hour late due to that, but I still had plenty of time to go to Zeitgeist Coffee and meet up with Andrew and Scott James.

Allow me to pause here and put in a plug for Zeitgeist. They noticed me tweeting to invite folks to meet me there and tweeted a welcome back. I mentioned to someone else that I really like their lavender shortbread — lovely! — and when I arrived, the barrista recognized me and gave me a piece of lavender shortbread. If I hadn’t already liked the coffeeshop, that would have cemented it. Plus, they make a darn fine cup of coffee. Thanks, guys!

The train ride from Seattle was smooth and almost all things delightful. The infant in my car was mostly delightful and I went to the dining car when the child became less than delightful. You can’t do that on an airplane.

I’m home for the next 35 hours and then I fly down to San Diego for World Fantasy. If you are in the area, come by Mysterious Galaxy on Wednesday evening for the meet-and-greet with me and a metric ton of other authors.

Meanwhile, whew, it’s nice to be home.

Allow me to evangelize about the Surrey International Writers Conference just a little. I’m having a great time, because the people are nice, but what I’ve been impressed by is how open people are to trying new things and to learning. It is a professional development conference for writers and it is clear, from the caliber of writing that I’ve been seeing from repeat attendees that they are doing something write.

I’ve just gotten in after a lovely evening spent talking to folks. I a wee bit tuckered so I’m going to turn in BUT for the folks who were in my Writing on the Fast Track workshop today, here are the exercises I mentioned.

Exercising your storytelling techniques
Using narration and context to shape dialogue

First of all, I have to say that the Surrey International Writers Conference is incredibly well run and they take really, really good care of their presenters. I’ve had a wonderful time and it’s only Friday.

I promised the people in my workshop today that I would post a link to the transcription exercise that I was talking about.  La!

I also gave the keynote speech tonight, which was an interesting experience because I was nervous. I’ve spent a lot of time in front of audiences and almost never get nervous anymore so when it happens I am at once annoyed and sort of fascinated. I wasn’t worried about the crowd, because the attendees are lovely.

No, I was nervous because Robert Dugoni did a fantastic keynote speech this morning. I mean, the sort of speech that made me leave lunch feeling inspired about writing and THEN go back to my hotel room to revisit my speech. I tell you, there’s nothing like seeing the bar set high to inspire one to revision.

But people laughed in the right places and were very generous in their response. So… whew. My body didn’t need to generate all that extra adrenalin.

I also did a Blue Pencil Session today which is this really neat thing where writers come in and talk to a pro one-on-one. They bring the first three pages or so of their WIP and talk to the pro about what’s going on with it and what they need to work on. I don’t get to see it ahead of time, it’s just me reading it in front of them and responding right there. We only have fifteen minutes, but it seems like this condensed session is capable of providing some really useful feedback.

I’ve got more tomorrow.

Here’s the Saturday schedule, if you want to see the fun we are having.

Wish you were here.

I’m sitting on the train on my way up to the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in Canada. Why the train?

I’ve finished a short story, had breakfast, strolled, and am enjoying a beautiful view out my window. I love the train SO much. Of course, in Seattle, I’ll have to switch to a bus for the last part of the trip, but it’s a fairly comfy bus.

In any event, if you are going to be at the SiWC, I’d love to say hello. If you aren’t attending the conference, but are in the area, the Saturday evening Bookfair is open to the public and there are lots of amazing authors signing.

Friday night, I’m the keynote speaker at the banquet and will be doing a short talk on “How a Life in Theater Prepared Me for Rejection.”

I hope to see some of you there.

As we know, writers often have trouble with medical bills later in life. There’s an auction to help Ed Bryant, Jr. that I want to draw your attention to. Many people have contributed to help him out. The auction includes things like lunch with Neil Gaiman; a pencil/graphite drawing of the chapter head and tail piece for BRIENNE Book Two of A Feast for Crows (George RR Martin), signed by the artist, Thomas Canty; Peter Straub’s fountain pens; a fiction critique by Harlan Ellison…

Some of these items only have two days left.

Here’s what the auction has to say.

Ed Bryant, Jr., a Colorado writer and all around great man, has found himself in a bit of a financial predicament brought about by, among other things, medical costs.  The “Friends of Ed” organization has decided to showcase a two-pronged auction event to help raise funds for Ed’s immediae needs.

A live auction will take place on October 23, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency in the Denver Tech Center during MileHiCon 43.  Additionally, an online auction through Ebay will take place in the week prior to MileHiCon 43, ending on both Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23, 2011. THIS ITEM IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON EBAY.  It will not be offered during the live auction at MileHiCon.

Interested bidders can either visit during the MileHiCon 43 convention to bid during a live auction or participate online through the Ebay auction here:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/FriendsOfEd/m.html?_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_sop=12&_rdc=1

If you are interested in helping further, please visit the Friends of Ed organization here:

http://www.friendsofed.org/

Or visit the Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/friendsofed/

Please remember that your bidding dollars go to Ed Bryant directly, after overhead costs.  He thanks you for your support and encourages you to dig deep!

Thank you so much!

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ll be narrating the audio book for Tim Pratt’s first novel, The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl. I’ve been a fan of his work for quite a while and this novel is going to be a load of fun.

The deal came about in a thoroughly modern way. Tim and his agent, Ginger Clark, tweeted that they were auditioning voice talent through ACX.com, which is a new website through audible.com for audio books. I’d signed up for ACX as soon as it opened up, but hadn’t auditioned for any projects yet.

Rangergirl had the perfect blend of a narrative voice that I liked, by an author I respect, and a reputable publishing house. It is a great one to give this new venture a try with.

Plus, once again, I’ll say that I’m a fan of Tim Pratt so it’s a real privilege to be trusted with his book.

Today has turned absolutely beautiful. I think Portland is trying to convince me not to leave town on Thursday. This is the view outside my office window. Strangely, the sunlight is not conducive to getting work done today.

Dear Marlowe,

You are not fooling anyone into thinking you are a typewriter. Yes, you are the right size and the right color, but you are covered in fur.

Fondly yours,
Mary