Five Ways
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Nebulas 2013

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. 😉

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"(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

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Advice on Writing Mentors

Image of French novelist Colette
Colette's husband used to lock her in an attic to force her to write. Don't assume a mentor is going to go that far. You're the only one who determines how productive (or not) you are.
One of the things that sometimes comes up when talking to new writers is the question, “How do I acquire a mentor?” There’s a glazed and desperate look in the eyes of each querier, and sometimes a bit of professional jealousy, because occasionally we see people in positions where we’re not convinced they really should be, and an easy explanation is that a mentor’s personal pull helped get them there.

Well, maybe. But I don’t know that the kind of mentor people are envisioning really happens that often. They’re thinking of a wise, kindly figure who will guide their career through writing advice, secure them spots in anthologies and magazines, and make sure they appear on award ballots.

That’s pretty goddamn rare, and sometimes what one is attributing to the influence of a mentor is actually the writer’s hard work and talent for networking. And networking helps a lot — but it can’t substitute for enough skill to write at the professional level, at least in my opinion.

I do have people who have helped me along, and they’ve been great. I don’t think of any of them in this light, though. They’re people I can go to for the occasional sanity check or word of encouragement, sure. But are they out there sedulously working away on my behalf? No. They have their own careers to build, their own projects to promote, their own words to write.


You can’t just wait for a mentor to arrive. Or even just mail someone and say, “I want you to be my mentor.” You need to a) be writing and b) be getting yourself out there through publications, participation in social networks and message boards, and working with other people. One of the most valuable things I did for myself was agreeing to help edit Fantasy Magazine. Beside teaching me a ton, it brought me in contact with a number of people. I even got to hold a manuscript from Tanith Lee in my hands and email her how excited I was to be publishing something from her.

And take classes, for Pete’s sake. That’s one of the best ways to not just improve your craft, but do a little networking on the side. I tell my students to let me know when they publish something so I can spread it on social networks, although that’s a somewhat self-serving act – it helps me publicize my classes when I’m able to point to people getting published and take some smidgen of unwonted credit for it. 😉

Let’s say you do find a writer who’s further along in their career path than you are, and who seems to be amenable to providing you some guidance. What then? Well, be a good mentee and help them help you. Here are my suggestions for doing so.

  • Be proactive. Don’t limply wait for a mentor to lift you up. A mentor is not an excuse to stop working on your own behalf. Do shit. Look for opportunities to get your name out there, just as you would without a mentor.
  • Be responsive. Answer e-mails. Let them know what you’re up to. Don’t be one of those flakey writers who vanish for months and then reappear with daisies in their hair, acting as though they had never been gone. Don’t let suggestions slide by without acknowledgement.
  • Be appreciative. Say thank you or acknowledge their efforts in other ways. They don’t have a quota of people they need to help each month. Every minute spent helping you is being taken from their own store of work time, and for all of us, that’s a valuable commodity.
  • Listen. If your mentor suggests something, either do it or tell them why you’re not (and have a good rationale for that). (See also: Be responsive.)
  • Be pleasant to work with. Save the cynical or curmudgeonly attitude for elsewhere, and don’t be a sad sack bemoaning your own lack of talent just so you can evoke reassurances. Positivity, cheerfulness, and good humor make for someone who’s pleasant to help – negativity, gloom, and humorlessness make it a discouraging, uphill battle.
  • Be a good sport. A mentor has their own life. And they may have other people they’re helping. In fact, if they’re helping you, they probably do. Don’t act like a jealous sibling if they’re paying attention to someone else.
  • Be a good citizen. It’s never too early to start paying it forward, to helping other new writers publicize their work. Volunteer to read slush or help staff tables at a convention. One of the best ways to promote yourself is by promoting other people, even though that may seem paradoxical.

Enjoy this advice on writing mentors 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.

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Five (More) Gifts for Speculative Fiction Writers

Christmas illustration
Often thinking what you might like will lead to a present another person will enjoy. You do want to take their tastes and needs into account, though - don't buy your lactose intolerant friend a big bar of chocolate!
A couple of days, I blogged with five gifts for speculative fiction writers. Here’s an additional five, which you can get in time for the holidays still.

Help them exercise their creativity. Provide them with clay, paints, fabric, glitter glue, sketchbooks, pens of magnificent and splendid color. Try Daniel Smith or the U. Bookstore for great selections.

A donation in their name to an appropriate charity. I like Heifer.org, Kids Need to Read, and Kiva.

For the power traveler perpetually on publicity tour, an Aerotray, a solar phone charger, a Tom Bihn bag, or a set of GoGear travel bottles.

Time. Either spend some time with them (take them out for lunch, dinner, to the zoo, up in a balloon, out for coffee and chat, on a cruise) or save them some time (sign them up for a delivery service, offer to baby-sit, help out with errands or household work). Or offer them proof-reading/copy-editing time.

Learning, via a gift certificate for my online classes. Right now through January 1st, 2014, mention this post on social media or in a blog (or spread the word some other way) and you’re entitled to a special deal. Buy two, get one free (one day workshops only) OR enroll in Writing F&SF or Advanced and get a free one day workshop.

Upcoming classes include the six week workshops Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction and Advanced Workshop and these one day workshops: Building an Online Presence for Writers, Character Building, Editing 101, First Pages Workshop, Flash Fiction Workshop, Literary Techniques for Genre Fiction, Moving Your Story from Idea to Finished Draft, and Podcasting 101. See here for dates.

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