My Favorite Thing Ever today is the 2001 film The Cat’s Meow
To anyone who may be madly clacking away, trying to meet your self-imposed Nanowrimo goal before tomorrow, I cheer you on from the sidelines. You’re in the home stretch, folks!
Walter Jon Williams has announced that Taos Toolbox 2011 will take place July 10-23 at Snow Bear, and that he will be teaching the two week master class in fantasy and SF along with Nancy Kress and Jack Skillingstead.
What does that mean? Here’s a taste:
This is not a workshop for beginners. We won’t teach you correct manuscript format or what an adverb is and why you shouldn’t use one, because we’ll assume that you already know. We want to concentrate on giving talented, burgeoning writers the information necessary to become professionals within the science fiction and fantasy field.
Though short fiction will be enthusiastically received, there will be an emphasis at Taos Toolbox on the craft of the novel, with attention given to such vital topics as plotting, pacing, and selling full-length works.
More details can be found here: www.taostoolbox.com. They are accepting applications beginning December 1.
As some of you know, 
Kelly attended Taos in 2007 and found it to be a wholly helpful and useful experience. If you are or know someone whose writing could benefit from a master class, with wonderful teachers in a beautiful scenic setting, consider applying. And please do pass the word along!
This being Monday, I am at Favorite Thing Ever, blogging about the wonders of The Vinyl Cafe. Or, if you’d like a behind-the-scenes look at Indigo Springs, check out “Magic Calls to Magic” in the Tor-Forge blog. Enjoy!
This weekend I will be at Orycon 32, meeting up with many wonderful people, reading, speaking, and generally saying hello to anyone who’s greetable. My finalized schedule is here:
Saturday, November 13
11:00 am Reading – 30 minutes of Blue Magic
12:00 pm The unique challenges of urban fantasy
3:00 pm Later Afternoon Autograph Session
5:00 pm To Outline or Not to Outline, that is the question
8:00 p.m. Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading, with M.K. Hobson, Jessica Reisman, Camille Alexa, Cat Rambo, and other wonderful Broads! (I’m thinking I’ll read the opening of “The Cage.”)
Sunday November 14
2:00:pm Does writing speed matter?
5:00 pm Sci Fi AuthorFest IV at the Beaverton Powell’s
If you cannot be there and want to hang out with me in a more virtual fashion, my Quantum Leap rewatch of M.I.A. is now live at Tor.com.
My contributor’s copies of Filled with Glee have arrived, and they look very fine indeed, packed with interesting articles like “You think this is hard? Try being an Antagonist, That’s Hard!” by Jennifer Crusie, (Quote: “Aristotle would have loved Sue Sylvester”), “Musical Promiscuity” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Diane Shipley’s “Not Just a River in Egypt.”
Editor Leah Wilson’s introduction is here: it’s all about the brilliant imperfections of the show, and how it rises above them.
And, of course, I’m in it too, with “Who’s the Real LIMA Loser? The Curious Friendship of Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman,” in which I say, among other things:
Cheating, lying, and competing for the affections of women are all ancient human behaviors, of course, and if he were called upon to explain himself, it seems more than likely that Puck would say he was letting his groin make his choices for him. But on Glee, nothing is ever so simple. Fans of Puck’s bad-boy mystique have to ask whether poor impulse control is the whole story.
If you’d like a chance to Gleek out more than once a week, check it out. All articles should be entirely spoiler-free for S2, as the deadline for the book was just after the S1 finale. Enjoy!
photo by Kristy Boyce
The Color of Paradox
The Cage