I am delighted that my story has been picked for the new anthology WILFUL IMPROPRIETY: 13 Tales of Society and Scandal (to be published in the US by Running Press. This is a Victorian YA anthology that takes a fine look at the social restrictions of the period.

Having already seen the proof, may I say that there are some darn good stories in here. Just look at the TOC.

Introduction by Ekaterina Sedia

• THE DANCING MASTER by Genevieve Valentine
• THE UNLADYLIKE EDUCATION OF AGATHA TREMAIN by Stephanie Burgis
• AT WILL by Leanna Renee Hieber
• STEEPED IN DEBT TO THE CHIMNEY POTS by Steve Berman
• OUTSIDE THE ABSOLUTE by Seth Cadin
• RESURRECTION by Tiffany Trent
• MRS BEETON’S BOOK OF MAGICKAL MANAGEMENT by Karen Healey
• THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND by Sandra McDonald
• FALSE COLOURS by Marie Brennan
• NUSSBAUM’S GOLDEN FORTUNE by M. K. Hobson
• THE COLONEL’S DAUGHTER by Barbara Roden
• MERCURY RETROGRADE by Mary Robinette Kowal
• THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS by Caroline Stevermer

You can read an excerpt from the introduction at ekaterinasedia.com » Blog Archive » New anthology.

If you are a writer seeking an agent AND participating in the Month of Letters Challenge, let me tell you about a neat thing. My agent, Jennifer Jackson, is offering to respond with letter to one randomly chosen query letter per business day. That’s right. A  personal response, mailed back with feedback on either the query itself or the concept of the novel.

In support of this endeavour, I am offering a special query letter #LetterMo. Due to the nature of this proposal, the kind and beneficent Mary Robinette Kowal has given me a variance on rule #2 (see official site here and sign up to participate in the challenge). I will only be responding to the queries received once and not engaging in additional correspondence (unless, of course, I request your manuscript).

For full details, go over to The Month of Letters Challenge | Et in arcaedia, ego. And for heaven’s sake, read the guidelines.

So, people who are new to following me on Twitter sometimes wander in when a game of #marygoround starts up and are justifiably confused. Allow me to explain.

I have had some extraordinarily bad travel karma. It ranges from things like being delayed for two days coming home, to an airline stewardess being so severely shocked that she had to be removed from the plane, to brake failure. On a plane.

Someone suggested that there needed to be a drinking game. So there is.

The rules are simple.

1. When travel goes right, you take a drink (This does not need to be alcohol, nor the entire beverage)
2. When travel goes wrong, I take a drink.

(The advanced version says that for Rule 2 you get to take two drinks.)

You can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #marygoround

The Guardian has written an article, “Writers bid to revive letter-writing,” about the revival of letter writing. I’m interviewed about the Month of Letters Challenge along with Rumpus editor Stephen Elliot, and publisher Scott Pack who are also bringing back letter writing.

Also… The Guardian. Eep.

My outgoing mail. I keep it on the typewriter closest to the door so I can just grab it as I head to the post office.

I feel like this is the little challenge that could. I had thought that I was going to issue a challenge to my readers and that it might spread a little beyond that. To say that I am stunned by the reception that my Month of Letters Challenge has received would be to understate it quite a bit.

Something in the neighborhood of 20,000 people have at least read the challenge. I’m not certain how many of them are participating but it has certainly spread far beyond my expectations.

I started a website for it, where I’m also blogging throughout the month. And of course, I’m writing letters and postcards.

Here’s my post, Welcome to the first day of The Month of Letters from A Month of Letters Website.

I know what you might be thinking… depending on where you are, it could still be January 31, but in Australia people are already starting to send their missives.

You can send anything. A letter, a postcard, a ticket from a movie you saw with a note jotted on the back… You can hold something in your hands, put it in a little box, and then somewhere else the person you were thinking of can hold the same thing. It’s sort of amazing, when you think about it. Sometimes starting the letter is difficult, but let me share with you some advice from Hill’s Manual of Business and Social Forms, published back in 1879.

“The expression of language should as nearly as possible be the same as the writer would speak. A letter is but a talk on paper. The style of writing will depend upon the terms of intimacy existing between the parties… In your letter be yourself write as you would talk.”

There is a tendency to overthink before putting pen to paper because it seems more permanent somehow than a computer screen. There is no delete key. Don’t fret. The letter you are sending will delight the recipient simply because you thought of them. The little bobbles simply prove that you are not a robot.

Be yourself.  Are you ready?

I have been a little nervous, waiting for the official reviews to start coming in. Library Journal has this in their current issue. May I just say, whew.

Kowal, Mary Robinette. Glamour in Glass. Tor. Apr. 2012. c.336p. ISBN 9780765325570. $24.99. FANTASY

At the start of 1815, newly married and eager to explore her gifts as a glamourist, Jane Vincent (Shades of Milk and Honey) is pleased with life. A recent glamural, commissioned by the Prince Regent, has provided the Vincents with the funds and status to travel abroad. Their destination is Binché, near Brussels, and the workshop of artisan M. Chastain, where they secretly attempt the groundbreaking work of containing a glamour within glass. But soon Jane’s husband’s erratic behavior and misleading communication leave her feeling unsure of her future. VERDICT This sequel to Kowal’s Nebula Award–nominated debut continues to build a historically recognizable world made anew by the addition of “glamour.” The focus remains on Jane’s internal struggle to find a satisfying balance between society’s restrictions and the person she’d like to be, endearing her further to series fans. Espionage and tangled feelings over family create a nice sense of mystery and provide great action and drama. Prepare to settle in and snuggle up in your comfiest chair; once you start reading, you won’t want to stop.—Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH

The current Battersea Bridge crosses the Thames and is an iron structure. In the days of The Glamourist Histories, it was still a wooden bridge and the oldest remaining wooden bridge crossing the Thames. This painting is from 1840, so twenty-five years after the events in Glamour in Glass, but looking very much the same. It does give you a sense of how much more rustic certain parts of London were.

An excerpt from Glamour in Glass

The following morning, Jane rose with the intention of visiting her family before their mutual journeys separated them. Vincent declined the opportunity to accompany her, saying that he wanted to paint the Battersea Bridge and catch the morning light. After the fi asco of the previous evening, Jane could hardly blame him for wanting to escape under the thinnest pretence.

Dan and Mary were joined by Sam Sykes at World Fantasy, and invited him to talk about sensory writing, which he had recently discussed in a workshop.

The heart of the discussion is which senses (typically beyond sight) to include as we write. Sounds, smells, tactile information, and even tastes are necessary to engage the reader. And while it’s possible to include too much of that, Sam counsels writers to err on the side of excess because it’s always easy to edit things back a notch should you find upon re-reading that you’ve gone too far.

Sam, Mary and Dan offer lots of good advice on the matter — when it’s important and why, how to do it well, and how not to overdo it.

via Writing Excuses 7.5: Sensory Writing » Writing Excuses.

It is also tempting, watching that last very long sentence, to see how long I can make a single sentence without either resorting to semi-colons, which is a form of cheating since it combines two sentences into one, or to parentheticals that contain entire other sentences, (although I will grant that a parenthetical such as this one, which contains a diversion that is directly relevant to the subject at hand, could be interesting under the right circumstances provided that it is part of the current thought and not some tangent thrown in for the express purpose of making a sentence longer through perambulations into areas of no import) because the exercise might be one that would allow me to explore both structure, and theme, in an expanded form in the same ways that something like a haiku allows one to explore structure and theme in a very condensed form, but the nature of a long sentence is such that it requires utmost attention not only from the person writing the sentence but also from the reader, who is, without a doubt, wondering at the length and attempting to parse the various parts of the sentence while laughing — at least I hope laughter comes at some point — at the very length and the structure that is the subject of the exploration while at the same time recognizing that the entire sentence is an exercise in punctuation and the effect it has on breath and also that there is a distinct possibility that the sentence might never come to an end and then it does.

In all seriousness — well, perhaps not ALL seriousness — or at least in partial seriousness, try to read it outloud because the punctuation actually works for breath management even if it is not, at all times, grammatically correct.

It was late. The scene was making me cranky. That is all the explanation you get.

I have just realized that Jane, from Shades of Milk and Honey should participate in the Month of Letters Challenge. So, she is.

If you want to write to her, address correspondence to:

Mrs. David Vincent
P.O. Box 13346
Portland, OR 97213-0346

I will tell you, as a teaser, that she will be writing back to you with an actual quill pen on a writing slope from the 1800s. The letters will be “Real time” for her in that they will be coming from February, 1815. This means that they will contain references to the first chapters of Glamour in Glass and definite spoilers from Shades of Milk and Honey.

As the subject line says, Scalzi has thrown his hat in the circle for another run as SFWA President.  On his blog he speaks of were-badgers and our work with the volcano powered laser.

Then he closes by saying:

Let me also take a moment to note to the SFWA members among you that you may wish to consider to run for office as well, even for the position of President. There are five positions up for election: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer and Western Regional Director. SFWA does good work for its members and for writers, but that work is dependent on the service of volunteers, including board members. It’s entirely possible to serve on SFWA’s board and maintain an active career — I’ve written two books while serving on the board (and am working on one now) and will have released three by June 30. Serving on the board is work, but it’s not all-consuming. Think about what SFWA does for you, and then ask if it’s time for you to do for SFWA. Here’s the call for candidates, in SFWA’s forums. Give it some thought, please.

I want to echo that. I’ve said before that I’m not running for the board again. It was tempting to run again, for all the reasons Scalzi is — the real reasons, like the work that we still want to do — but I’ve been on the board for four years.

I’m also moving this year.

I need a break. Now, I’ll run again in the future because I’m committed to the organization but this year, I need to step down.

And I need you to step up.

If you are committed to the future of science fiction and fantasy, this is a pivotal time in the industry. We need smart, engaged people on the board. Please consider running for office. If you have any questions, drop me a line and I’ll talk to you about the time commitment.

Meanwhile, you can read Scalzi’s post I Am Running For SFWA President (Again) (Again) at Whatever.

As you might imagine, we’ll be meeting some new characters in Glamour in Glass. Allow me to introduce you to one of them, or at least to her dress.

When Jane was introduced to Mme Meynard, she had a moment of coveting the belle’s beautiful Pomona green gown with blond lace embellishments.

The original dress was Published in Ackermann’s Repository of Arts, September 1815 and described thus:

A white satin slip, worn under a dress made in pomona green French gauze, terminating at the feet with a full flounce of blond lace, headed with a double border of the same, gathered in full, and confined with folds of satin, of corresponding colour to the dress; handkerchief-front, trimmed with white satin, and a falling collar of blond lace; long sleeve of white satin, the fulness upon the shoulder confined under an epaulet of the French gauze, trimmed with white satin; the sleeve drawn alternately across the arm with the pomona green satin ribbon. Long white sash of white satin, tied in front.
The ends of the hind hair brought forward, to fall in ringlets over the temple, confined with a plain white satin ribbon, and ornamented with a tiara of pearl. Necklace to correspond. Gloves, French kid. Slippers, white satin.

One of the things that I’ve found interesting in the response to the Month of Letters Challenge is the notion that mailing something everyday is too much. The idea that writing a letter, postcard, addressing socks… what have you, is somehow more difficult than other forms of communication.

How many tweets, status updates, and emails do you send in a day? I’ll grant that you do not need to look up an address for those. You do not need to  scrounge for paper, put a stamp on a page, or walk to the mail box. I grant that it is easier to click “Send” than any of those.

I suspect, however, that the physical is the smaller of the difficulties. Because the only personal things that come in the mail now are Things of Import, like wedding invitations or birth announcements, we’ve attached an unconscious weight to mail. If one is going to send a letter, then it seems like it should be something significant.

Not really.

I mean, that’s nice and all, but the significance is the connection and the fact that it is tangible proof that you thought about someone specific. Where a tweet expresses my thoughts about me, a postcard is for someone else.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a heavy social media user and I love twitter. This Month of Letters Challenge is not about dissing anything modern. It is about finding out what the archaic medium of postal mail is good for. Much the same way photography did not replace painting, but taught us what painting was uniquely good at, postal mail is good for something different than electronic communication.

Do you still feel daunted?

Then, let me put this into perspective for you.

• A postcard is a slow tweet or status update.
• A letter is a delayed blog post or an email.

It’s just that it is for an audience of one.

Brevity! Use fewer words!

After the obligatory “we-are-going-to-cut-this-short-after-the-intro” joke, we talk about how we can be appropriately brief, even in the context of writing epic fantasy. Mary offers us some rules of thumb for story brevity in the short fiction she writes, and Howard talks about how he accomplishes the extreme brevity of language required by his comic. Dan points out that the shorter you work, the more important your individual words become.

via Writing Excuses 7.4: Brevity » Writing Excuses.

Feel free to download this web badge and post it to show your participation.

Last September, I took a month off from the internet. During my vacation, I told people that they could correspond with me by paper letter. Some people did. Some people still are. Every letter delights me.

When I write back, I find that I slow down and write differently than I do with an email. Email is all about the now. Letters are different, because whatever I write needs to be something that will be relevant a week later to the person to whom I am writing. In some ways it forces me to think about time more because postal mail is slower. “By the time you get this…” It is relaxing. It is intimate. It is both lasting and ephemeral.

How so? I find that I will often read the letters that I receive twice. Once when I get them and again as I write back. So, that makes it more lasting. It is more ephemeral because I don’t have copies of the letters that I write and I am the only one who has copies of the letters that my correspondents write. So, more ephemeral.

When was the last time you got a letter in the mail? December sees a lot of mail and you remember that sense of delight when the first card arrives. You can have that more often.

I have a simple challenge for you.

1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs.  Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
2. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.

All you are committing to is to mail 24 items.  Why 24? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 24 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month. You might enjoy going to the mail box again.

Feeling intimidated? It’s fewer words than NaNoWriMo and I know how many of you do that. Join me in The Month of Letters Challenge.

FAQ – Website (Yes, I just made one) – Facebook – Twitter or as #LetterMo