I had the honor of speaking to Marge Pellegrino's Writing for Children class over at Pima Community College today about Three Paths to a Story--basically, my struggle to figure out the right way to write. (The very short version: Every story is different, and I just need to live with that. :-)) (More importantly, every writer is different, too, and what works for one might well not work for another.)

If you're in Tucson, want to write for kids or teens, and ever have a chance to take Marge's class, go for it. She does a wonderful job of creating a supportive workshopping environment--one that strongly encourages constructive feedback, yet makes sure it's given in positive ways.

To her students and the other class visitors: thanks for listening, and thanks for all your great questions!

Spent a terrific day today at the Arizona Young Authors' Conference, meeting young authors, hearing their ideas, and listening to them share their stories. (They were brave--they read aloud to people they'd only just met, something I didn't have the courage to do until I was an adult!)

Keynoter Amanda Shepherd did a fabulous job of showing the attendees (and me, too!) how illustrators work, and of sort of tricking us into drawing something by breaking things down into manageable steps, and along the way reminding everyone that the things you draw (or write) don't have to be perfect. She also said something I liked: "Sometimes if you make a mistake it's part of the answer to how your story comes out."

In the smaller group sessions I ran, we brainstormed ideas for stories about talking animals, people who can fly, and exploding toilets--great stuff, all of it.

Back from WFC. Good conversations and good company had (my main goal, when going to cons, is to hang around having fun talking with fellow readers and writers), and nearby family visited.

While at WFC, I also picked up a contributor's copy of Cabinet des Fées 2, which contains my story "Lost or Forgotten." And many other things that I'm looking forward to reading now.

Home now, catching up on email, and planning to be at our local TusCon this weekend.

When I posted about going to World Fantasy, I forgot to also mention that I'll be reading a short excerpt from Bones of Faerie as part of the Broad Universe rapid fire reading -- Friday, at 4:00 p.m. Do come by! It's a great chance to sample 8 or 10 writers at once--I know I've discovered some new writers whose work I enjoy myself that way.

I'm still deciding which part of Bones to read from--the opening chapter stands really well alone and I love to reading, but I did read that chapter at last year's rapid fire reading ... on the other hand, not all the attendees at WFC overlap year after year.

Clearly, this calls for a livejournal poll. :-)

Poll #1079402
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Which part of Bones of Faerie should I read from?

All of which is a way of saying, the first round revisions on Bones of Faerie went back into the mail late last week. :-)

Spent Saturday at the Arizona Reading Association conference, presenting on "Five Minutes in the Life of a Children's Author" along with B. G. Hennessey, Terri Fields (whose Danger in the Desert was just named this year's One Book Arizona for children), Juanita Havill, and Jennifer J. Stewart (jennifer_j_s). Teachers and librarians are delightful folks to hang out with. (They have the hardest job, out there on the front lines every day, while we writers write alone in front of our computers.)

Various bits of business and household catchup this week, and then off to World Fantasy Convention. :-)

cynleitichsmith gives a roundup of the children's track of this weekend's Wrangling with Writing conference. Said account includes a really nice list of middle grade writing resources from her talk on Imagining the Middle Grades.

I'll be at the Society of Southwest Authors conference this weekend, talking on Sunday about writing fantasy for children and teens. If you're there, stop by and say hi!

Back from St. Louis, where I attended NASFic/Archon and did some writerly research as well. I got to hang out with my old writer's group, the Alternate Historians (Thomas Drennan, Laurell Hamilton, Deborah Millitello, Mark Sumner, Marella Sands, and Sharon Shinn) for the first time in ages and ages; and chattted with old college friend bryan314 and new lj friend kaitiana and defictionalized ecbatan after years of our knowing each other online; and visited with my former coworkers at Washington U. I also got to thank Les Haven and Michelle Zellich for patiently keeping me on Archon's invite list for a decade and a half until I finally made my way back. :-) (Through many years of my saying, "Not this year, but maybe next," during which I kept wanting to return, but couldn't quite seem to make it work.)

I lived in St. Louis for eight years (four as a student), and Archon was one of my home cons for the last three--and also the first con I attended as a pro. When I moved to Tucson, I made it back once just a couple years after leaving, and then twelve years somehow managed to go by before this year, finally, I made it back again. I'm still not quite sure how that happened.

Anyway, I've said before that the people are the main thing I miss about St. Louis, and I found that still very much true. :-)

Sarah Beth Durst, author of Into the Wild, has been doing a series of fairy-tale themed author interviews in her journal. Her interview with me just went up here. Thanks, Sarah, for the fun questions!

In St. Louis for Archon--lnhammer headed home on Sunday, but I'm spending just a couple days visiting friends and doing book research before following him back. More on that, when, well, I'm back. (And more Iceland reports, too. I'm way behind on same.)

My NASFic (St. Louis) schedule is online.

A few specifics from the schedule:

- Saturday, 3:00 p.m., reading from Bones of Faerie
(Note that I won't be reading from Bones at 2 p.m. Thursday. I will be in an airplane at 2 p.m. Thursday. Sorry about that!)

- Saturday, 4:00 p.m., The Little Workshop That Could, along with Laurell K. Hamilton, Deborah Millitello, Marella Sands, and Sharon Shinn
(More than a decade ago now, I was a member of the Alternate Historians--my first critique group, the place where I really learned to write. I'm looking forward to being on a panel again with them!)

- Sunday, 2:00 p.m., Kaffeklatch
(My first Kaffeklatch. Do come!)