We’re still looking for volunteers to help out with the SFWA’s Table in the Dealer Room at Denvention3. Now that the preliminary schedule is out, I figure it should be easier for folks to look at their plans and see if there’s a time when you can volunteer.

In particular, we need help on Thursday. I, personally, need someone to cover my shift Thursday at 1:00 because I’ve been scheduled for a signing that I wasn’t expecting. I’ll pick up a different shift, but I don’t want to leave a hole there.

Just as a reminder, here’s what we’re asking folks to do.

* Job Title: SFWA table representative
* Estimated Time Required: 1-2 hours per shift, 34 shifts needed
* Job Description:
o Help SFWA by being a spokesperson at World Con.
o Set up and staff a booth to draw in new members.
o Be willing to answer questions and be friendly.
o Sell books and other printed material. Attract people to the
Table: tell them that the most wonderful stories in the world are sitting on the table and they’ll never forgive themselves if they pass it by. As a salesperson should, be outgoing & friendly.
* The membership committee will supply you with brochures and a list of talking points. Benefits: Visibility at con, good way to meet new people
* Skills required: Friendly., All Workers must be paying members of the convention. (Sorry, no freebies for working the Table.)

If you’re willing to help, please email me with how many shifts you are willing to take and a list of your conflicts (panels, meetings, departure date). You can also volunteer to take a specific time, but those will go on first come basis. Glenn Gillette, our table czar, will get you set up with a time slot.

Many thanks!

Later this summer I’m going to start with my official SFWA duties and I need to simplify my schedule before then. Step one: Ask someone to help with layout duties for Shimmer.

Job Description: Layout stories to conform to an existing template. Adjust for widows and orphans. Confer with art director on art placement.

Time Requirement: 10-20 hours per issue, quarterly.

Benefits: Exactly what I get. Bio and credit in magazine. Two copies of magazine per issue. Opportunity to hob-nob with talented writers during our conventions parties. Licensed copy of CorelDraw X3 graphic suite. ¹

Skills Required: Some experience with layout preferred, but will train the right person.

Drop me a line or pass this along if you know someone who might be interested.

1. If you make a strong case for moving to a different platform and are willing to do the work to make it happen, then we can talk about another program [↩]

I think I wrote almost all of this story on the subway. 2500 words of clockwork.

It’s in a password protected post, but it’s the usual password. Don’t know what that is? Drop me a line and I’ll tell ya.

And here’s the teaser.

The clockwork chickadee was not as pretty as the nightingale. But she did not mind. She pecked the floor when she was wound, looking for invisible bugs. And when she was not wound, she cocked her head and glared at the sparrow, whom she loathed with every tooth on every gear in her pressed-tin body.

The sparrow could fly.

He took no pains to conceal his contempt for those who could not. When his mechanism spun him around and around overhead, he twittered — not even a proper song — to call attention to his flight. Chickadee kept her head down when she could so as not to give him the satisfaction of her notice. It was clear to her that any bird could fly if only they were attached to a string like him. The flight, of which he was so proud, was not even an integral part of his clockwork. A wind-up engine hanging from the chandelier spun him in circles while he merely flapped his wings. Chickadee could do as much. And so she thought until she hatched an idea to show that Sparrow was not so very special.

Specifically, what are the dimensions of British 10 and 20 pound notes?

Thanks! Googlefu is failing.

Edited to add: A hearty thank you to Sean, who found the info for me.

I ran The Bride Replete through my real life critique group and hope that I’ve incorporated their notes successfully. If you have some time to read the whole thing and let me know if it makes sense, I’d appreciate it. 12,500 words of science-fiction. Think that’s long? You should have seen it in the 16,000 first draft. Ugh.

It’s in a password protected post, but it’s the usual password. Don’t know what that is? Drop me a line and I’ll tell ya.

And here’s the teaser.

When the matriarch announced that she was sending the sixteen members of Pimi’s small-family across the ocean to settle in Repp-Virja, Pimi thought it the end of her life. For though she had seen only seventeen full years, Pimi considered herself ready to fill her crop and begin the social rounds, seeking a mate. Her mother and the matriarch felt otherwise, though how they could expect her to find a mate in a strange, sideways land like the colonies was beyond Pimi’s understanding.

But Pimi packed her luggage and prepared to leave the warm underground rooms of their home. Before her small-family departed, the matriarch held a feast to fill everyone’s crop for the voyage. The gas lights gave a gentle glow to the Deep Hall. Four stations with each of the food families, nuts, fruit, dairy and grain, stood in corners of the room. Like the two fingers on a hand, the nuts and dairy stood at one end of the room; the fruit and grain at the other end represented a hand’s two thumbs. Each a distinct group, but vital for grasping life.

Assigned to the fruit dishes, Pimi ate until her crop distended the spotted green and amber skin of her belly like a bride’s. She adjusted her tunic to show off her growing roundness.

SFWA is creating a new, updated website for the Nebula Awards and is looking for a SFWA member to partner with the professional web designer they’ve hired to do the heavy lifting.

Estimated Time Required: 10-30 hours per month, (Variable depending on time of year. Heaviest commitment: March, April, and May)

Job Description:
1. Advise the Board on the nebulaawards.com web presence, set priorities for nebulaawards.com consistent with the overall goal of promoting the Nebula and Norton Awards, the nominees, the winners, the Awards weekend, SFWA anthologies, and through them all, the genres of science fiction and fantasy. Assist in recruiting, training, and coordinating volunteers as needed.

2. Review existing Nebula-related and other genre promotional material and its organization to remove extraneous and confusing material and create an organizational map that is easily navigable and makes relevant material easily discoverable.

3. Suggest, gather, organize, and provide content to the Nebula webmaster, including interviews, opinion essays, images, and bios/essays from Nebula and Norton Award winners.

4. Serve as liaison between the sfwa.org webmaster, Nebula webmaster, Bulletin and NAR editors, Executive Director, and SFWA members.

5. Create press releases regarding important Nebula website updates and work with media representatives as necessary to publicize the website.

Benefits: Extensive networking, connection with the redesign of a high-profile website suitable for resume mention, and increased visibility in SFWA.

Skills required: A high level of organization, ability to lead a team, editing and document management experience, experience with content management systems, blogs, and making video/audio material web accessible. Any level of SFWA membership

If you are interested, send a brief introductory letter to sfwavolunteer@gmail.com

I promise that I won’t post all SFWA all the time, but if you don’t mind helping spread the word on this one, I’d appreciate it.

As part of a study on contracts, SFWA is seeking to enlarge and update their database of representative contract terms from the major publishers. Authors interested in participating may email e-contracts, or scans of their paper contracts, to president@sfwa.org or mail paper copies to SFWA, Attn: Michael Capobianco, at P.O. Box 877, Chestertown, MD 21620. Please redact anything that you don’t want to reveal.

If possible, please note if the contract is boilerplate language or if it has been negotiated. Of particular interest are e-book rights.

Those of you who aren’t interested in the politics of Science-Fiction and Fantasy can skip this post. For the rest of you, I have some explaining to do.

I’ve volunteered to help SFWA by chairing the Service to SFWA committee, which has been revamped to recruit, retain and reward volunteers. Any service organization, like SFWA, relies on its members to be active participants in supporting its goals. More specifically, it relies on its active members to set those goals.

I have not been happy with a number of things about SFWA lately, however, when I look at the organization as a whole it has accomplished some very good things. Griefcom, the Legal Defense Fund, the Emergency Medical Fund, raising the pro-rate standard from 3 -5 cents… These are good things that volunteers accomplished. At its core, SFWA exists to promote and aid Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers.

That’s me. I am a science-fiction and fantasy writer.

So my choice is to walk away from the good things or to try and change the things that I don’t like. I want an organization that represents me and that represents my interests. From working with other non-profits, I’ve found that quickest way to be taken seriously is to volunteer. So that’s why I’m doing this.

And that’s why, if you aren’t happy, I think you should consider volunteering. Shift the balance. Help me.

If you’d like to learn more about how you can help your fellow Science-Fiction and Fantasy authors, please fill out the following questionnaire and email it to sfwavolunteer@gmail.com or leave it in the comments here.

1. I am interested in volunteering for SFWA — [short-term/long-term] (ie.a quick one-time job, versus an ongoing position)

2. I can offer [x] hours per month for volunteer work.

3. I am interested in learning more about volunteering to help with
a) Website
b) Writing related advice
c) Legal advice or issues (ie contracts, copyright, etc.)
d) Outreach (ie, Youth, Speaker’s bureau, Conventions, etc.)
e) Publicity (ie publications, Nebulas, PR, etc.)
f) Operations (ie audits, procedures, run for office, etc.)
g) Grunt Work (ie stuffing envelopes, sorting lists, lifting tables, etc.)
h) Other (ie I got mad skillz you don’t even know to ask about, teleportation, graphic design, an active fan base, FTL travel, etc.)

4. My SFWA membership status is: [non-member, affiliate, associate, active]

Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to working with you.

Mary Robinette Kowal

Edited to add: You don’t need to be a member to volunteer for anything except those things that involve voting, such as running for office or chairing a committee. All you need is an interest in support science-fiction and fantasy writers, or concern with helping to shape the future of the organization.