five ways to fall in love on planet porcelain

Well, the statement’s up in the SFWA forums, so I should probably put it here as well. I am running for SFWA VP. I think I can do a good job. Even if you’re not voting for me, please vote if you’re a SFWA member.

Dear SFWA Members:

I am running for Vice President of SFWA.

I joined SFWA in 2005, as soon as I made my first qualifying sale. Among the work I’ve done for SFWA are stints on the Nebula short fiction and Norton juries, work with the Copyright Committee, interviews and articles for the SFWA blog, articles for the SFWA Bulletin, assisting with the YA-SIG’s move to a mailing list, and helping develop guidelines for and moderating the discussion forums. At the time I joined, I was excited and proud to be joining the ranks of so many writers I’ve admired, and I continue to be an enthusiastic advocate for and supporter of SFWA.

I have worked with the current administration and know that I can interact smoothly with it to maintain and continue to build the organization as a valuable resource for speculative fiction writers and one whose members can take pride in their membership. I’m pleased to see SFWA continuing to adapt to changes in the publishing landscape, such as the recent rate increase for SFWA-qualifying markets and the work of the Self-Publishing committee, and hope to lead similar efforts.

As far as my qualifications go, I’ve worked as both a writer and an editor. I have over 100 original short story publications, including in such places as Asimov’s, Weird Tales, and Tor.com, and three collections (two solo, one with Jeff VanderMeer) (for a complete list, see http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/fiction/). My short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” was a 2012 Nebula nominee, while others have been nominated for the Locus Award and the Million Writers Award. I was the editor for several years of award-winning Fantasy Magazine, receiving a 2012 World Fantasy nomination for my efforts there, and I have multiple editing projects coming up in 2014. I have also worked as a volunteer with both Broad Universe and the Clarion West Writers Workshop. Last year I wrote and self-published Creating an Online Presence, a guidebook for writers trying to navigate the confusing world of online self-promotion, and am currently writing a similar guide on podcasting with Folly Blaine, the podcast manager of Everyday Fiction. I teach a popular series of online classes on writing and editing and do some podcast narration. I am a frequent convention-goer and make a point of participating in SFWA activities when they’re available at such gatherings. This year, I will be attending Norwescon, the Nebula Award ceremony, the Locus Awards, and Worldcon, with tentative plans for a couple of other conventions.

My priorities as a board officer include:

• Building SFWA’s name and influence by reaching out to both established and newer F&SF writers who have not joined but would find it useful. I’d like to see SFWA’s social media presence continue to expand and to work to interest and intrigue potential members.
• Preserving SFWA’s institutional memory through archives and collecting existing information.
• Improving the existing volunteer structure in order to more effectively connect volunteers with SFWA’s needs, as well as recognizing and rewarding volunteers more consistently.
• Assisting SFWA as it determines qualifications for self-published writers as well as how it can best serve such writers.
• Working to address internal miscommunications by better communicating what the board is doing and how people can assist in such efforts. I’d like to help current volunteers and SFWA officers tell other members what they do.

My primary role as VP, though, would be to support SFWA’s President. To assist me in that role, I’ve got good people skills, a sense of humor, and the fact that I don’t take myself overly seriously. I will continue to represent SFWA with enthusiasm and the respect such an august organization deserves.

Currently I am head moderator of the SFWA discussion forums. To avoid a potential conflict of interest, I have asked the other moderators to oversee the election subforum. Over the last six months, I’ve been recruiting new moderators and working out processes so someone else can take my place, should I be elected. As VP, I would continue to work with the moderating team to help make the transition as smooth as possible.

Sincerely,
Catherine (Cat) Rambo

This Sunday, Folly Blaine and I are teaching another podcasting class. Here’s the description:

Podcasting Basics
Podcasts, both audio and video, are an increasingly popular way to reach an audience. In this two hour session, learn what you need to know to record and edit your own podcast, how to promote your podcast, and what equipment and software to use. As Folly Blaine, Christy records and acts as Podcast Manager for Every Day Fiction, and has also recorded podcasts for Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Wily Writers, and This Mutant Life; Cat is the former fiction editor of Fantasy Magazine and has recorded podcasts for Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Fantasy Magazine. Limited enrollment ““ reserve a slot now!
Sunday, 9:30-11:30 AM PST, February 9
$99

Why might you be interested in podcasting and learning to do your own? Here’s a few reasons:

• It’s a good way to reach a new set of readers. Many of the people who listen to podcasts prefer that to finding your stuff in text form inline. They’ll listen to your story in the car, while exercising, while working, and other places where text isn’t convenient. And they’re always looking for new, good stuff.
• It’s a great way to polish your reading aloud skills. As a writer you’ll need to do readings. We’ll give you some tips in the class, but the best way to get better at it? Practice.
• It makes you comprehend your work in a new way. I always read aloud stories as a last step in polishing them. Combine that with recording a podcast and you’re examining your work in order to figure out how it sounds.
• Last week, my agent told me that authors who record their own books see a significant bump in sales, but that publishing houses don’t like to have them do it, because they’re unsure of the quality. If you can point to previous podcasting experience, you can back up the suggestion that you read your own work and even have samples of what you can do.

When publicizing “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” I made sure it was available in audio form. Did that help earn it a Nebula nomination? I don’t know, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

Enjoy this advice for writers and want more content like it? Check out the classes Cat gives via the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, which offers both on-demand and live online writing classes for fantasy and science fiction writers from Cat and other authors, including Ann Leckie, Seanan McGuire, Fran Wilde and other talents! All classes include three free slots.

Prefer to opt for weekly interaction, advice, opportunities to ask questions, and access to the Chez Rambo Discord community and critique group? Check out Cat’s Patreon. Or sample her writing here.

Well, as you may know, Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain made it onto the Nebula ballot. I can’t express how much that means to me. The Nebulas are voted on by members of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, all of whom are writers in their own right, and so this feels very much like recognition and validation from my peers. Wow. That’s all I can say about that.

I’m definitely headed down for the Nebula Awards weekend, which is also a welcome chance to visit one of my favorite places in the world, the Winchester Mystery House.

But! My other great news, somewhat related to that, is that I’ve got an agent now, the excellent Seth Fishman of the Gernert Company. He’s as excited about the novel as I am, and so I’ve been figuring out my rewrite roadmap and planning to devote March to that. Huzzah! Onward and forward.

This is the last day for getting the special deal on the Writing F&SF Story class or Editing Class! Sign up for one of those and you get a bonus class as well. Bonus class options include: the First Pages workshop, Flash Fiction workshop, Everything You Need to Know about E-Publishing, Literary Techniques in Speculative Fiction, Building an Online Presence for Writers, and Art of the Book Review.

Hey, congrats to everyone on the list, particularly Ken Liu, who is just smoking up the awards lists lately. I am just tickled pink to be on the ballot.

If you’re checking my site out because you haven’t heard of me before, let me make sure you notice two parts of the site.

1) Here’s a list of all my fiction, with links to the online versions.
2) Here’s a list of the online classes I teach. Sign up by Feb 28 for a special deal.

The Nebulas are upon us, and if you’re a SFWA member, you’ve got until this Friday, February 15th to vote. Here’s the page for voting.

I’ve got a couple of stories I hope people will consider. One is a short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” which is available in both audio and print form on this page, and the second is a novella, A Seed On the Wind, which you can find uploaded to the SFWA fiction site.

No matter what, if you can, please vote! It’s a requisite if you want to be able to complain about the results later on. 😉

Here’s my holiday gift to you. This story was original to the collection that came out in September, Near + Far. It’s one of my favorites. Here’s the print version as well as a link to the audio version, read by me and edited by the wonderful Lauren Harris.

UPDATE: Thank you to the people who put the story on the 2013 Nebula ballot! I am tickled pink.

Audio version.

Five Ways to Fall In Love on Planet Porcelain

Over the years, Tikka’s job as a Minor Propagandist for the planet Porcelain’s Bureau of Tourism had shaped her way of thinking. She dealt primarily in quintets of attractions, lists of five which were distributed through the Bureau’s publications and information dollops: Five Major China Factories Where the Population of Porcelain Can Be Seen Being Created; Five Views of Porcelain’s Clay Fields; Five Restaurants Serving Native Cuisine at Its Most Natural.

Today she was composing Five Signs of Spring in Eletak, her native city.

Here along the waterfront, she added chimmerees to her list as she watched the native creatures, cross between fish and flower, surface. Each chimmeree spreading its white petals as it rose, white clusters holding amber centers, tendrils of golden thread sending their scent into the air along with the most delicate whisper of sound, barely audible over the lapping of the water.

The urge towards love beat along every energy vein of her silica body, even down to her missing toes, but she resisted it. She would remain alone this spring, as she had every spring since she had made her vow and inscribed it in the notebook where she kept her personal lists, under “Life Resolutions,” 4th under “Keep myself clean in thought and mind,” “Devote myself to promoting Porcelain’s tourism,” and “Fall in love.” The third item had been crossed off at the same time, in vehement black pen strokes.

Her first sign of spring had been the singing of the tree frogs, which had awoken her three nights ago, in the small hours when most of the citizens cracked, gave way to despair, and crumbled in the manner of the elderly.

She was afraid of cracking, examined herself with obsessive care in the sluice for any sign that her surface was giving in, allowing the forces of time to work at her. She’d lain awake in the darkness, checking her mind with the same care. Were there any sorrows, any passions that might lead her thoughts along the same groove till it gave, eroded into madness?