Clarion Write-a-Thon

I’m participating in this year’s write-a-thon to support the Clarion Writers’ Workshop at UC San Diego.

I am not a Clarion alum, nor have I ever considered applying. A weeks-long, intensive workshop has never been logistically feasible for me (never mind the financial expense). And frankly, I’m not sure if I’d find the environment anxiety-inducing or creatively inspiring. I very specifically eschewed creative writing classes in college (though that was also influenced by wanting to write SF/F and guessing that there might be an unpleasant bias against genre). So in short, I’ve never had a strong desire to figure out how to vault over the barriers to workshop participation.

But! Some people absolutely thrive in this type of workshop environment. I like it when people are creatively fulfilled! I like reading what they write! And I especially like it when marginalized people are able to participate in creatively fulfilling activities. Lowering barriers is a good thing.

This year, the Ghost Class gets to attend, after repeated delays due to the pandemic. (Which is still ongoing, though large swaths of the population choose to deny it.) People finding safe ways to get back to normalish activities is something to celebrate.

So I’m going to use the write-a-thon as a reason to get my butt in the chair and produce some words. If you want to donate or sponsor an author, me or someone else, it will help enable other authors to add an intensive workshop to their creative journey.