Writer’s Desk…on the Road

Hello, dreamers. My Writer’s Desk is late this week, because by the time I got up it was already too late. And that happened because I am not at home.

So, welcome to my first Writer’s Desk from Los Angeles.

As many readers will remember, late last year I won first place in the third quarter of Writers of the Future. Included among the laurels was a free week-long writing workshop, leading up to the ceremony where I’ll be presented with my award. Thus, I’m currently soaking up the SoCal sunshine. The lovely folks at Author Services, which runs the contest, have paid for both my hotel and two-way airfare, and even sent a car to fetch me at the airport (which definitely did not go to my head). Now, I’m sitting at a coffee shop on Hollywood Boulevard, polishing off a superlative breakfast burrito and sipping coffee less than a block from the Chinese Theater. Still working on believing this is real.

Since arriving in LA, I’ve shaken (I’d conservatively estimate) around two hundred hands, been introduced to a lot of people and remembered maybe a third of their names. I’ve had my picture taken and voice recorded more in the past twenty-four hours than in the past twenty-four months. People involved with the contest have practically tripped over one another to talk to me.

After so many years trudging through the “Invisible Work”, I gotta admit, it’s making me tear up a little seeing so many people making such a fuss over me.

Over the course of this week, I’ll be posting about my experience here. About the workshop, my explorations of Los Angeles, and my first, tentative steps into a much larger world. And all of that begins today, with twenty-four hours to write a story.

A Story in A Day

So, the major challenge of the Writers of the Future workshop is currently in progress: all of us were given twenty-four hours to write a story, starting yesterday at 2 PM. Tim Powers and Jody Lynn Nye, who are running the workshop, made a big deal about this, urging us to work fast. They gave us random objects to use for inspiration, as well as tips on how to come up with an idea for a story quickly.

While they were speaking, I neglected to mention that this was basically how I write every story.

Thus, over the past half a day or so my fellow winning writers have been plugging away. For my part, I took a three-mile walk last night and got dinner at Pink’s Hot Dogs. In the midst of that (through an evening ending at the hotel bar), I cranked out a roughly 6k-word story. I doubt it will win a Hugo Award, but it’s…interesting? And considering I took part of an afternoon and most of an evening to write it, I dare say I did alright. With the principal writing done, this morning I rose early, grabbed a cup of coffee in the hotel lobby, and strolled the Walk of Fame.

Much of what the hosts of the workshop have said so far is stuff I’ve said in many of my posts. Which isn’t to say this workshop doesn’t feel worthwhile; rather, I find it vindicating. It’s telling me that maybe, just maybe, I’m actually on to something. And one of the pieces of advice I give out most frequently is that, particularly for short fiction writers, it pays to be prolific.

Anyone who even casually reads my blog will know that I’m pretty much constantly writing. I can generally knock out a story in a couple of days, and the high rate of turnaround on my short fiction has primed me for exactly this sort of challenge. And that leaves me with a little spare time to fully enjoy Los Angeles. Frankly, so far this really has felt like a vacation.

Keep an eye out for another post tomorrow, where I’ll be talking more about my current host city: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Until then, as always, dare to dream. —MK