Category: Uncategorized

I have been really lax on keeping short fiction out in the mail, but did submit a story this week. Now, back to the novel!

So, here’s something cool–I just did my first work for hire. An opportunity came via a friend to write the Alberta Ballet’s version of the Nutcracker (based on the synopsis in their program) for oral story telling at their children’s parties, so the kids would understand what what happening when they saw the ballet. The length was to be 15 minutes, and man, oh, man, is the plot complex–and some of the motivations are extremely unclear. But two of us collaborated with a 4-day turnaround to create a text that we are both proud of, and which the ballet company loved. Cool, eh? The payment is in tickets to the dress rehearsal, so the equivalent of $24, or $0.75/word. Not bad, eh? Unless I get there early and scoop the $800 seats.

I had never been to SF Contario before, but it was really neat. I did a reading and got to sit on 4 panels, with some very high level conversation–very interesting. Also attended really enjoyable and thought-provoking panels.

I have eight students in my year-long novel writing course, most of whom are doing speculative fiction. My section is one of three the Alexandra Centre is running this year–they had an explosion of people signing up. My students are very talented, and a collegial group, and very dedicated to setting deadlines for themselves. I’ll tell you, the two and an half hours each evening zip by!