I am thankful for…

Nicola, who wants me to be my best self and loves me even when I’m not. Who writes like a murrain, or a bolt of lightning, or a jackdaw flying outward, outward and then home. Thank you, Nicola.

Kindness. So many people have been kind to me in small and large ways. Kindness is love, whether between best-known people or between strangers. If you don’t think strangers can love each other, go out and do a random act of kindness and see how it feels. And if people have been kind to you this year in any way at all, then I am happy for you, and I hope it has mattered as much to you as it has to me. Kind people have saved me this year by giving me so many chances to experience the impact of love in the everyday world. Thank you, kind people.

Writing. I haven’t told nearly all the stories I want to, but they are as strong inside me as a sun. Nuclear. My deep well of story and the dizzying, terrifying, exultant internal life it gives me is the oldest part of me. Other people love me for what I do, mostly — that’s what relationship is, after all, people in action with each other: I love myself for what I am when I am alive with story. Thank you, story-Kelley, for not giving up when the rest of the committee insists that of course you are important, but we’re a little busy right now and we’ll get to you real soon, we promise.

Life. I am doing and feeling and thinking and being a person with a life! My life! Thank you, life!

Also, I am thankful for sea salt, good red wine, tuna casserole, Zumba, all my fierce fabulous family and friends, kittens on the internet, the Grand Canyon, my tattoo, all the things that worked when they were supposed to, all the things that made me reconsider my own bullshit, all the things that I decided aren’t bullshit after all because my life!, laughing with other people so hard that it becomes one of the Great Laughs, conversations, hope, love, joy, breakfast tea with milk… The tea with milk I can get myself. The rest depends on other people. Thank you, all you other people.

And you’re welcome.

Enjoy your day.

sunflower

Come be Powers-ful with us!

Nicola and I will appear together as part of a workshop on creative partnership presented by Joshua Wolf Schenk, author of Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs.

The workshop is free and open to the public, at The Project Room in Seattle on Tuesday, September 23 at 7pm.

So what’s this all about? Well. A few years ago, I came across a series of articles about creative pairs by Josh. I was fascinated by the concepts he was exploring. I’ve thought a lot over the years about what it means to create and to collaborate, and the complex intersection when people create together, and the cultural primacy we place on I did it all by myself! I’ve thought about power and vulnerability and love and career. So I was jazzed that there was going to be a book, and I wouldn’t have to do all my own thinking anymore (grin).

I sent Josh an email about his articles, and told him a little about us. From there, we entered into a brief, marvelous, intense conversation about creative relationships, which gave me much to think about as I anticipated the book. And now the book is out, and Josh was kind enough to mention the exchange, and the joint essay Nicola and I wrote about creative partnership. He’s also been kind enough to invite us to be part of the discussion at The Project Room with two other creative pairs: Haruko Nishimura & Joshua Kohl (Degenerate Art Ensemble), and Gretta Harley & Sarah Rudinoff (We Are Golden).

And I hope you will all come! I would love to fill the space with energy and conversation and shared learning about the always-unfolding nature of creativity and relationship. Read Josh’s book, it’s terrific — lots of insights into the variety of dynamics that are possible between creative partners. Go hear him at Town Hall on Monday, September 22. And please join us for the workshop on Tuesday the 23rd. It’s free. It’ll be fun. And we would love to see you there.

Enjoy your day.

Come chat with me!

I’m tweetchatting in support of @ClarionWest #writeathon on Sunday July 27 at 11 AM PDT. Please come talk with me!

The Clarion West Summer Workshop and the Write-a-thon are heading into the final stretch next week. It’s been exhilarating to cheer on the 18 hardworking students in Seattle, and the 263 writers from 11 countries who are participating in the Write-a-thon.

This Sunday, July 27, at 11:00 AM PDT, I’ll be Tweetchatting with the brilliant Henry Lien about Clarion West, writing, and… well, whatever you would like to chat about. Because it’s not a chat without you there! Please join us at hashtag #writeathon for an hour of conversation.

And please consider supporting one of the many terrific writers participating in the Clarion West Write-a-thon. It’s our primary fundraiser of the year, and every dollar you pledge encourages a writer to meet her goals, supports the creation of new work, and helps to sustain the Clarion West Workshop. Your contribution touches the lives of so many writers, and through them, so many readers. Every writer matters. Every reader matters. Every dollar you give to Clarion West matters.

Enjoy your day.

Write, give, help, grow

Write, give, be a part of something wonderful in the @ClarionWest #writeathon!

It’s almost time for the Clarion West Write-a-thon, and there is space for everyone at the table!

Clarion West is one of the world’s best and most highly regarded workshops for emerging writers of speculative fiction. Each year, the workshop receives submission applications from writers all over the world: each year, CW invites 18 of them to a six-week intensive residential workshop experience in Seattle. A different professional writer or editor serves as the instructor in residence each week. Stories are workshopped 5 days a week. Students are encouraged to write, write, write, and write some more as they stretch to embrace new ideas and internalize new skills. Clarion West writers reach for the stars, lose a lot of sleep, forge a strong community with their peers; many leave transformed by the experience.

The Write-a-thon is CW’s primary fundraising event, held in parallel with the workshop each year. Any writer anywhere can participate. Sign up; set a writing goal; find a sponsor (or several) to donate to Clarion West in support of your writing; and then join an astonishingly varied and vibrant community of Write-a-thon participants worldwide on Twitter and Facebook as everyone works hard, laughs a lot, shares their struggles, and offers each other support.

Come write. Come give to a writer. Come watch the writer and the work grow. And support a workshop that for more than 30 years has been changing writers lives.

And for those who have supported me in past Write-a-thons — thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am not currently signed up to participate, but I hope that you’ll pick a writer to support this year — maybe someone whose never had a sponsor before — so they too can experience how wonderful it feels when people have your back.

Thank you! And enjoy your day.

Coode Street podcast fun

Had a splendid time with the terrific folks of the Coode Street podcast! Maybe I’ve finally found my alternative to convention panels…

Nicola and I had the great pleasure last night of a lengthy conversation with Jonathan Strahan and Gary Wolfe on the Coode Street podcast, in which we talked about Hild and the boundaries of SF/fantasy, and corporate politics, and outsider stances. It was fun, and I’m only sorry we weren’t actually all around a table with drinks in hand.

I love the opportunity for this kind of conversation that the internet has made possible. It’s funny, because I generally dislike doing panels at conventions, but I’m quite happy to hang out on Skype and have a discussion that I know people will hear. Perhaps it’s because I prefer conversation to staking out positions and expounding (which is sadly my experience of most panels). At any rate, this was a terrific experience for me and I look forward to finding more like it. I hope you enjoy listening.

Thanks so much to Gary and Jonathan for inviting us!

Enjoy your day.

Reminder: reading Tuesday night in Kirkland

Reading Tuesday night in Kirkland and hope you can join me!

I am reading Tuesday night in Kirkland, and hope you will join me.

It’s been a while since I’ve read in Seattle, and this one is special from my perspective: an opportunity to share work that I haven’t read to Seattle audiences yet. I love to read, and I’m excited to read something new.

Location details below, and you can head over to Nicola’s blog for more details about the structure of the event (because I am just that lazy, ).

Wilde Rover Irish Pub and Restaurant
111 Central Way
Kirkland, WA 98033

Starts at 7PM.

Enjoy your day, and come share some story with us if you can.

Local reading January 14. Drinks! Stories! Cool writers!

Reading in Kirkland on January 14 w/@nicolaz and @JFreemanDaily. Will be fun, so please join us.

I’m delighted to be part of the SFWA Pacific Northwest Reading Series with Nicola Griffith and Janet Freeman-Daily .

It is FREE. It is AT A PUB. We will read Interesting Stories that perhaps have not been read in public before… Really, how much more do you need?

Please join me, Nicola, and Janet at:

Wilde Rover Irish Pub and Restaurant
111 Central Way
Kirkland, WA 98033

Start at 7:00 PM, event finishes by 8:30 PM

If you know now that you’d like to attend, please take a moment to RSVP at this link. You do NOT have to RSVP to attend — if you find at the last minute you can come, please do regardless of RSVP status. This is just a way for the restaurant to get a rough headcount.

Any questions, let me know! I hope to see you there. It will be fun.

Enjoy your day.

Grateful Project 2014

Excited about my Grateful Project for 2014. Come share some daily joys with me!

I’m doing a Grateful Project this year, for which I will take a photo of something each day that I’m grateful for, and why. You can see the daily photos on my brand new Flickr account, on Instagram, or on my Facebook album.

Here are the first two days of the year:

“I am grateful for Nicola every day, so it feels perfect to start my 2014 Grateful Project with her beautiful smile. Jan 1, 2014”

“We helped a hurt crow last year and now the crow tribe has adopted us. Their company makes me feel special. Jan 2 2014.”

Life is short and it’s forever. It’s hard and it’s beautiful. It’s full of unexpected treasures and everyday joys. It all matters. So thanks in advance for joining me for some of the daily moments.

Enjoy your day.