What I'll Be Talking About At Balticon

[dr_pretentious]

I just got my draft schedule from the programming folks for Balticon. It’s still subject to change, and it looks like they lost track of the fact that I’m supposed to be at the book launch events for both Dark Quest Books and Fantastic Books, so I don’t know when the Dark Quest launch is. So there’ll definitely be an update. Meanwhile, here’s where things currently stand for my Memorial Day weekend:

• Anthologies (Panel) (Participant), Sat 17:00 – 17:50, Chesapeake (Hunt Valley Inn)


• How To Read Writers We Don’t Understand (Panel) (Participant), Sun 12:00 – 12:50, Salon B (Hunt Valley Inn)


• Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading Sunday (Panel) (Participant), Sun 16:00 – 16:50, Pimlico (Hunt Valley Inn)


• Your Novel: Getting to Second Draft: (Panel) (Participant), Sun 19:00 – 19:50, Parlor 1041 (Hunt Valley Inn)


• Trafficking in Magic/Magicking in Traffic and The Memory Singer Launch (Panel) (Participant), Sun 20:00 – 21:50, Parlor 1041 (Hunt Valley Inn)


• Why Writing Can’t Be Taught And How To Teach It (Panel) (Participant), Mon 13:00 – 13:50

More information to come!

Comments

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

I am slightly disheartened by the title of your last panel - esp. given the enthusiasm for testing writing skills in local standardized tests. But I'd be curious how the panelists address the second part of the title!

A went to a local "writing festival" for kids from 4th grade through HS. They had a mini-workshop where they brought writing samples and they heard a talk by an author for their age bracket (tho' A's group had a mystery writer, a genre she's not a fan of) and there were a couple workshops about writers & writing. She came out so jazzed up by the experience!

(sorry, was that a post hijack? I've been thinking of you and wanting to talk to you about how A's lifelong storytelling and imagination are being turned on by writing and the time difference and busy schedules make that a veritable impossibility. Hope you have a great event! Can't wait to read Trafficking in Magick/Magicking in Traffic!)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Not a hijack. I don't suppose you're coming east for Litha? I've wished so many times I could pick your brain about homeschooling, and then there is the general missingness.

My take on the panel title is that nobody can turn somebody else into a writer. You can teach a person all the skills a writer needs, but what drives a person to put it all together and do the thing comes from somewhere other than the classroom. A teacher can create the conditions that make learning potentially easier or happier or faster or deeper -- it's worthy work, being a writing teacher. Still, the student does the hard part, or the good stuff doesn't happen.

I got to take a look at my newest student's copy of the One Year Adventure Novel (http://www.oneyearnovel.com/) curriculum, and if A is still keen on writing and/or storytelling when she gets to be high school age, you might want to check it out. It it weren't so pricey, I'd get a copy myself and try it out. From my examination of the material, it's a fair price, just not something I can do on a lark in the same year I buy a house and move away from my entire Jersey client base.

[jasminewind.livejournal.com]

He has a MS curriculum too!!! More later, have exam this AM. <3!

[jaime-sama.livejournal.com]

"How To Read Writers We Don’t Understand" There are so many PhD-program jokes in there, that I can't decide which one to make.

These seem like really interesting panels. Wish I could be there.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

When I looked over the draft list of panel titles and saw that one, I thought immediately of something you said about Patrick O'Brien. I was struggling to learn to write fight scenes and sea scenes, and I asked you what you looked for when you read the Aubrey/Maturin books. You said, "A sentence I can understand," which pretty much covers any non-nautical reader's experience of the series. And yet, it's un-put-down-able fiction. How does he do that?

Wish you could be there, too. Don't know when we'll make it west again. Our guest room isn't set up yet, but you and G are always welcome in it.