Just got back from Dollectable last night, I stayed an extra day thanks to the kindness of folks on my f/list who are totally and completely awesome doll people and great to hang out with. Oh yes, and coincidentally, who are great writing voices.
At the writing panel, because I was tired and more stooopid than I’d like to be from a hard week, I may have shortened the pause that ought to happen between the impulse to speak and actually opening my mouth.
So, I am not certain that the inner feeling was conveyed quite as clearly as I wanted.
The goal I had set myself was to let people know that writing can be a non-linear fan-shaped set of paths, a continuum along which people travel in all kinds of interesting directions. Some of those end-points are valued and praised much more than others in public forums, but the quieter paths in the shade may end up in valuable places too.
One of those end-points happens to be getting published, but it is not the only end-point out there. I wanted to assure folks that their voices are all deserving of a reader’s interest. The flash-fic I heard was unique and interesting, every one distinctly different–and all made me want to hear more of the story. What else can you ask for from five lines?
As I said then, the Grandmasters of SF & F would be the first ones to agree, in my not so humble opinion.
At one point I said something like:
Just because some people may put out rhetoric that sounds as if the publishers are just grading apples, and no other kind of edible my apply to them, doesn’t mean that’s the only kind of writer developing out there in the woods, or the only kind of imagination who deserves our attention.
I’m not sure that’s helpful to folks who are in interested in a much more purely reader-based medium.
Bu tI had a lot of fun, and I’m hoping it was equally lovely for everyone who got to go.
I did tke some pictures in the public areas, haven’t had a chance to edit them yet.
Also, a friend emailed me:
TOR is offering free downloads until July 27th of about two dozen novels. The authors include some I’ve never heard of, and others from quite familiar writers (David Drake, Kage Baker, Mercedes Lakey, etc.). The books are in several formats (pdf, html, mobipocket). There’s also cover art from a number of books available for download (as wallpaper, for example).
Anyway, the address is:
https://tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=577
There don’t seem to be any limits on downloads at the moment, so if something interests you, go for it.