If you’re holiday shopping this year, you may have noticed there are problems getting stuff due to a combination of supply chain issues and here in the US, our beleaguered postal system.
Part of my solution is that I’m making a lot of my gifts this year, including my favorite gingerbread caramels, flavored marshmallows, and a family staple, chocolate spritz cookies. I’ve even invested in an old model metal cookie-gun for the last of those after going through several plastic ones. It’s always fun to take it down from the shelf.
Other people are getting presents like plants I’ve started for them, rocks I tumbled, and of course – plenty of books! The nice thing about the latter is that I can do it electronically, and Patreon supporters will get a special story on Christmas as a result!
If you’re shopping for a writer and were wondering what the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers offers, here’s some options I’ve assembled. I’m happy to offer gift certificates for any of the following:
A certificate for a live two-hour class. I am still putting together the January-March calendar, but it’s shaping up as an interesting slate. Cost is $79.
A certificate for a half-hour coaching session via Zoom. Happy to talk about overall career, a specific issue, or even an individual story. Cost is $50.
A certificate for a year’s access to the virtual campus: Discord server; Zoom events like co-working, writing games and story discussion club; and occasional free classes. Cost is $25.
Recipient will get an electronic certificate, and you can choose whether they get it right away or on the actual day of the holiday you’re celebrating.
Want access to a lively community of writers and readers, free writing classes, co-working sessions, special speakers, weekly writing games, random pictures and MORE for as little as $2? Check out Cat’s Patreon campaign.
Want to get some new fiction? Support my Patreon campaign.
"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
You may also like...
Presenting #CritClub
I’m pleased to announce that the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers is once again expanding its offerings.
This answers a question that writers have expressed to me over and over again in workshops, on panels, in e-mail and one-on-one conversations, including several of the mentoring sessions I did last weekend at DragonCon:
How do I find a writing group of other fantasy and science fiction writers so I can trade critiques?
I’ve got an answer now that I feel 100% happy with: the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers #Critclub.
#CritClub is an online space where fantasy and science fiction writers of all levels can talk with each other and exchange story and novel critiques. Its Discord server provides chat rooms where members can trade critiques as well as discuss market news, tips, and trends, recent rejections, and supportive advice and feedback. Critiquing is totally optional and there is no pressure to participate! Join for the gossip and chatter if you feel so inclined.
Are you already a member on the Chez Rambo server? Like the Patreon supporters, your access is already there. Thanks for being part of the community!
Subscribe using one of the buttons below for $5 per month or $50 per year. After you subscribe, you will receive acknowledgement and an invitation to the Discord server within 24 hours.
Can’t afford it? I understand that these expenses add up. As with the classes, I’ve got plenty of free slots available, with the only criteria being that you think it would be useful to you as a writer but can’t afford it. I particularly encourage you to apply if you’re a writer of color, QUILTBAG, a person with disabilities, or are otherwise othered. We want you as part of the community. There is no obligation to participate in the critiquing portion.
How the Critclub Critique System Works
Members receive 3 credits when they sign up; everyone currently participating has 3 as well.
The cost of putting a story up for critique is:
1 credit for a story up to 7500
If the piece is longer, 1 additional credit for every 5000 words above that
You earn credits at the same rate. Credits are non-transferable.
Initially this will run on the honor system; if need be, we’ll add something more formal. Tips and formatting for critiquing are here, but as a rule of thumb, critiques should be at least 250 words (ish) and address developmental issues rather than line edits (unless the author requests otherwise).
Additional Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers Community Benefits
Each week, channel #thepanel will feature discussion centered on a specific topic, sometimes with guest moderators to lead discussion. September’s topics are: Week 1: Conventional Talk (Whether Conventions are worthwhile and how to make the most of them), Week 2: The Coaxing, Care, and Feeding of Story Ideas, Week 3: The Fine Art of Rejectomancy, or How to Use Rejections to Get Better, and Week 4: What’s the Slush Pile Like?
Channels include Rejectomancy for discussing submissions, Motivation, Market News and Book Club for discussing recent reading, among others.
Progress Report: What's Up For the Rambo Academy in 2019
I started my little online writing school, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, with the launch of Google Hangouts, which enabled me to host classes for people across the globe. Since then, Hangouts has declined, but the school continues strong, having hosted hundreds of students from around the world. Over a dozen of the best writers and teachers in the fantasy and science fiction field — with several new folks joining us in early 2019 — have led workshops on over three dozen topics.
Perhaps the most rewarding thing about the school has been the network of friends it’s helped me build, with students joining on to score Nebula and Hugo awards and multiple publications, many moving into the F&SF world as editors and publishers as well. Another is that I get to sit in on classes by some amazing folks, which enriches my writing.
Looking back at my own bibliography, I have to laugh at how many flash or shorter pieces started as writing exercises for the classes that I did along with the students. And one of the things that amuses me most about the school is that it is partially responsible for Rachel Swirsky’s lovely, luminous, and somewhat notorious “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,” which she wrote when sitting in on the Literary Techniques for Genre Writers class.
When I started recruiting other writers to teach, I kept in mind the reason I had started teaching online in the first place — irritation with a local college, where I was teaching a six week workshop, and making $25 an hour there teaching a class whose participants were paying several hundred dollars to the college to take it. The philosophy of the Academy is that the bulk of the money should go to the teacher and that’s worked well, to the point where one teacher said recently that teaching for me had spoiled them for teaching unpaid convention workshops.
Another part of the school’s philosophy is paying things forward and making the class accessible to people who couldn’t otherwise afford by providing three free slots in each class (sometimes more). These are the Plunkett scholarships, named for the fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, aka Edward Plunkett. The only criteria for a Plunkett is that you want to take the class but can’t currently afford it, and people are welcome to apply multiple times. One class, Stories that Change The World, is 50% Plunkett slots. Teachers are not told which students are Plunkett recipients and are paid for those students as well.
Nowadays I actively go out and recruit some instructors, looking for workshops that aren’t being given, deep dives into a specific area rather than a broad overview. Some great examples are Build a Better Monster with SCIENCE with Seanan McGuire or Ann Leckie’s To Space Opera and Beyond as well as some of my own workshops, like Punk U, which covers all the -punk variants like steampunk, cyberpunk, hopepunk, solarpunk, monkpunk, and more, or Stories That Change the World: Writing Fiction with Empathy, Hope, and Insight.
So what’s coming up in 2019 for the Academy?
New live classes! People asked for a class on plotting novels, and I have set up one taught by Kay Kenyon, who I’ve co-taught with multiple times and is an engaging and talented teacher. I also just confirmed that Catherine Lundoff will be teaching live workshops In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes and So You Want to Write an Anthology?
Other topics I’m talking with people about are workshops on writing superhero fiction, politics and worldbuilding in SF, and writing when short of time.
More on-demand classes! I’m currently working on an on-demand version of the Flash Fiction workshop and after that will do the Punk U class. Also working on turning the Sutter class into an on-demand version. I’ve developed a more consistent format that I’m happy with, a mix of video, text, and writing exercises.
Transcripts for the video components and (possibly) subtitles. This is a big accessibility issue that has been bugging me for a while and I apologize for not having addressed it before.
More activity on the school blog, including guest posts and interviews with faculty.
We have to move away from Google Hangouts! Currently I’m exploring options and am probably going to go with Zoom.
If you’re holiday shopping this year, you may have noticed there are problems getting stuff due to a combination of supply chain issues and here in the US, our beleaguered postal system. 
I started my little online writing school, the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, with the launch of Google Hangouts, which enabled me to host classes for people across the globe. Since then, Hangouts has declined, but the school continues strong, having hosted hundreds of students from around the world. 
Nowadays I actively go out and recruit some instructors, looking for workshops that aren’t being given, deep dives into a specific area rather than a broad overview. Some great examples are Build a Better Monster with SCIENCE with Seanan McGuire or Ann Leckie’s To Space Opera and Beyond as well as some of my own workshops, like 
