The 2007 CSSF workshop ended today, and boy what a memorable ending it was.  Jim was making his final remarks when the tornado siren went off.  We ended up lounging in the basement until the threat had passed.

After dinner, we finished watching Flash Gordon (the original serial from the 1930's).  It's so campy that you can't help but watch and laugh. The friendships you build with your fellow workshop attendees and teachers is just as valuable as the lessons you learn during the workshop, I think.  Science Fiction is about people, after all.

I'm off to Kansas City tomorrow afternoon, where I'll be reunited with Dena.  We haven't been apart longer than a few days since we started dating over a decade ago. The workshop was worth every minute away, but it will be good to be back.

Much digesting of knowledge still to do.  I think I have a pretty solid handle on the things I need to focus on next (passive writing in particular).  I feel really good about the revisions I need to do and think I've got a decent shot at getting published once I finish.

Tonight a group of us went to see the new Transformers movie.  I have been apprehensive about seeing a remake of one of my favorite childhood cartoons, but my fears turned out to be unfounded.  Yes, Bumblebee will always and forever be a Volkswagen Beetle to me.  Besides the continuity issues, the movie was action-packed, campy fun.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is our last workshop day.  Thursday sometime I'll pack up and drive to Kansas City.  Dena flys in on a late flight, and we'll be staying at the Westin Hotel for the Heinlein Centennial.  The only people I know there will be the ones I've met at the workshop.  It should be a good opportunity to meet some new faces.

We'll be getting home sometime between Tuesday and Wednesday next week.  I'm not entirely sure which day yet.  We haven't decided which route we're going to take.  We may swing through St. Louis, or we might visit the Amana Colonies in Iowa.  Either way it will be an adventure.

It's going to take me a little time to digest everything I've learned here at the workshop.  I'll be posting my thoughts on the workshop experience, lessons learned, and some writing exercises I've assembled after I've had a chance to spend time with Dena, sleep and play with the dogs. 

The three workshop stories will go through one more round of rewrites before I start sending them out.  I'm aiming to have that done this month.  I've got a few other stories that I'd like to get working on soon, but my first priority needs to be finishing the ones I already have written.  They're mostly where they need to be, or I at least know what I need to do to get them there.

The first week of the workshop is over. I'm tired and still processing everything, which I suspect will take weeks to fully seek in and be realized.

Yesterday was a more relaxed day. I went shopping in downtown Lawrence and bought a few t-shirts:


The Zelda shirt is for Dena; the rest are for me.

We all went out for dinner (I had Costa Rican Corn Tamales) and watched old Sci-Fi at mckitterick's house.  Johnny Quest, Flash Gordon (the serials from 1936) and some interviews with people about John W. Campbell.

Today's going to be a working day.  I need do some laundry and finish my rewrite of "Wholesale Goods" for group tomorrow.

The workshop has been busy-busy-busy so updates have been sparse.  I've mostly kept up on emails but that's been all.  Reading has occupied most of my time, followed by assignments and sleep.  There must be something with the water in Kansas; I've slept more than five hours every night I've been here.  Peculiar.

Critiques are going well.  The feedback has been invaluable and I'm looking forward to the weekend, when I'll be rewriting one of my stories (how to choose?!) for re-review next week and going through some writing exercises I've been thinking about.

Today was the beginning of the CSSF Short Story Workshop and I'm pleased to announce that I have survived relatively unscathed.

My first story, "Recycled Dreams," was up for critique.  It is the most polished of the three stories being reviewed, so I was glad we covered it first.  We had a good discussion about the things I could have done differently, better ways I could have presented the idea and had a more dramatic impact.  It really sparked some ideas on where to go with the story, if I can work through one pesky logic problem.

I have my newest story, "Wholesale Goods," up on the block tomorrow.  I'm a bit more nervous about this story.  It's my newest piece, written specifically for the workshop.  Very first draft.  Dena is the only person I've let read it.  I tried to be a little looser in my prose, since I have the tendency to be sparse when I write.

We all went out to dinner at the Mad Greek.  I received some very nice encouragement from kijjohnson over some flaming cheese.  She compared my writing to her own when she was just starting out.  It's always good to get reassurances that you're on the right track.

I have three stories to critique tonight and one small assignment from Jim Gunn, to write a couple paragraphs of a new start to "Recycled Dreams."  I've got an idea where I want to start it but I need to noodle on it a bit more.

I'm all settled into the dorm, after a very long day.  The drive to Kansas was pretty boring.  Breakfast in the Amana Colonies was spectacular.  I don't think I've ever walked out of a restaurant so full before.  I didn't eat again until dinner.  Thanks, mckitterick!

I expect to be pretty busy with the workshop over the next couple weeks but I'll do my best to keep people updated on how things are progressing.  Everyone I've met has been great and I'm really looking forward to sitting down and getting to work.  I'm even going to sit in on some of the novel workshop run by kijjohnson.  I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle that first novel but I've got the itch.  I told myself that I won't start writing one until I've had at least a few short stories published but it won't hurt to be prepared.  Who knows, maybe I'll return again next year and take the novel workshop for real.

Off to bed for me.  I want to get up early and re-read all the short stories up for critique tomorrow.