Arinn Dembo's Blog: Mill on the Inspiration River - Posts Tagged "charity"

Once again that magic time of year is here: high summer, time for the Clarion West Writer's Workshop. (In less than 20 days in fact! The Workshop begins on June 18th this year!)

What is the Clarion West Workshop? An annual summer bootcamp for new and unpublished writers of science fiction, fantasy and horror. For six weeks every summer, a group of students receives intensive instruction and critique from a group of their peers and a series of six seasoned professionals in the field of speculative fiction.

Typically the instructors are five authors and one editor (the mix varies). Students attending this year, for example, will be receiving instruction from Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, Connie Willis, Mary Rosenblum, Stephen Graham Jones, George R.R. Martin ("Game of Thrones") and Chuck "Fight Club" Palahniuk.

Why do we care? Well, the fact that the Clarion West Workshop is coming also means that the Clarion West Write-a-thon is also coming.

The Write-a-thon is the annual charity fundraiser for professional writers and graduates of the workshop. It runs concurrently with the Workshop, so that while the new kids are in the boot camp, writing their guts out and suffering from sleep deprivation and caffeine poisoning, the alumni are out in the field, raising money.

We do whatever we can to keep the workshop in printer paper and staples--and of course to provide scholarships for those students who might not be able to attend without a little help.

Like last year and the year before, I will be doing my part as a participating pro. So if you like my writing, and you'd like to be among the first people in the world to read SIX brand new short stories (never-before-read-by-anyone) in science fiction, fantasy and horror genres this summer...all you have to do is sponsor my Write-a-thon with a donation of $5 or more.

As a thank you for your support, I will email you a free .pdf at the end of each week of the Workshop, with the text of a brand new story. And your donation, I would add, is completely tax deductible! :)

If you mention that you are a Goodreads reader, I would also be happy to throw in a .pdf, .epub or .mobi copy of either of the two books which has been the subject of a Goodreads giveaway this year. My novel The Deacon's Tale and my short story collection Monsoon and Other Stories are both eligible for this Charity Giveaway--so if you'd like to grab a digital copy because you didn't end up getting the free print copy, I'd be happy to hook you up.

For those of you who wonder why you should support Clarion West in general? Well, if you love SF, fantasy and horror, the answer is pretty easy.

I myself graduated from Clarion West in 1990, and the workshop played a large part in boosting me from amateur status to a working professional. It has done the same for a lot of other great writers, editors, game designers, reviewers and publishers over the years. The contribution of Clarion West to the field of speculative literature and art is just one of many reasons that I participate in the Write-a-thon, trying to raise as much money as I can to help pay for quality instructors and to provide scholarships for students who might not otherwise be able to attend.

Those of you who choose to support the future of SF and chuck in a few bucks for a worthy cause? Please put a note in the comment section of your Donation to let me know if you saw my post on Goodreads. And thank you for helping to foster the literature of the future.

Every donation is tax deductible, every donation helps, and you get free stuff. You can't lose. :)