Now THAT was promising

[robvagle]

Over the weekend I was in Lincoln City for a short story workshop with Dean Wesley Smith, Kris Kathryn Rusch, and Asimov's editor Shelia Williams.  Highlights:

• Dean and Kris are currently NOT editing anything, so in this workshop forum Dean played editor as if he were still editing for Pulphouse and Kris played editor as if she were still editing

Comments

Thanks!

[bjcooper]

I enjoyed seeing you there, and it was a lot of fun.

[michaeljasper]

Sounds like a great time! This sounds a little different from the weeklong story workshop I went to in 2002 (was it that long ago already??) w/ Kris and Gardner D. Looks like you got some great direction for what to focus on next.

I was interested in what you said about Kris saying writing SF not being hard! Care to elaborate? :)

[robvagle]

Hey Mike!

My far future story was disguised as "finished" when it really wasn't. I held back because there were too many possibilities in the far, far future. I let fear stand in the way and held back

And Kris talked about SF not being hard before we even got to my story. Really, it was only encouragement on a superficial level, but it resonates with me because of what I did with my far future story. For the most part, Kris was saying don't think of it as hard, don't let that stop you from writing it.

What also resonated with me was the whole bit about her fellow workshoppers at Clarion saying she wasn't a science fiction writer. Now she appears in Asimov's and elsewhere often and makes award ballots. In other words, there was a time when writing science fiction was difficult for her.

[michaeljasper]

Interesting -- what some people would call writer's block is probably just fear. Thanks for sharing!