Clarion 2007: The two final weeks

 

As I was about to post the last section of my blog on Clarion 2007, Tania, the marvelous Clarion administrator let us know there were 194 applications to Clarion this year. Given two stories for each sub, the selection team is going to be reading 388 stories...
I'm jealous. I wish I could go again this year. But I'd probably wish that every year.

Here's my blog for the last two weeks at Clarion, with the amazing Ellen Kushner and the wonderful Delia Sherman.

Weeks Five and Six: Whirlwind

Ellen and Delia brought a sense of urgency to Clarion. They themselves had a number of other activities planned, but managed to make time for more activities for all of us. They also brought a good deal of amusement.  Meetings now started with a 1930s (?) holy text, “Write to Earn!”  Brother Jerome did the readings, with able support from Sister Kari and other members of the congregation.

The last two weeks whirled by. Liz Gorinsky of Tor came and spoke with us. We saw two plays: After the Quake, and The Deception. We went to Comic-Con, exciting, overwhelming and exhausting. We met Sarah Ryan, Clarion '91, who has just published her second YA novel. We had theater exercises. We had a discussion about potential short-story markets. We had a full-moon visit to the beach, along with Dave and his wife and the cutest little puppy.

 I lent my 2GB flash drive with 1500 Clarion photos on it to whoever wanted copies. I’d been posting a selection each day, compressed. (There are some 450 photographs in the Group files…) Caleb took a marvelous picture of Nick and Justin as battling mages, and modified it into an even more marvelous picture:

 

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