The Clarion Write-a-Thon starts on June 23rd this year, and runs the six weeks of Clarion 2019, when a small group of writers will attend the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop—a workshop that changed my life, gave me a circle of fantastic writer friends, and opened so many industry doors for me.
“You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych” may never have worked had I not gone to Clarion. It, “The Faerie Tree,” and “The Butler Effect” were sold as a result of attending Clarion, and “The Ocean That Fades Into Sky” was written and sold as a result of those publications. I cannot stress enough how much attending Clarion improved my fiction and accelerated my writing career. If you can attend Clarion, do.
I was the Clarion 2016 class’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar. That scholarship, funded by the Carl Brandon Society, paid my tuition and made the expensive workshop far more financially manageable for me. The Octavia E. Butler Scholarship is available to people of color, however, so not every student is eligible.
The Write-a-Thon raises money to fund scholarships available for any student who needs financial aid, however, which is why it’s so important. You can sponsor participating writers with a single donation, or pledge to pay an amount based on how many units of their writing goal metric they achieve.
My writing goal is to write at least 100 words a day for the 30 weekdays of Clarion, which runs June 23 – August 3, 2019. My fundraising goal is to raise at least $100 for the 2020 class scholarships. I did well with both my goals last year. I’d like to do better this year.
I hope you’ll sponsor me and the other writers participating this year! If you’d like to support me, click “Donate” on my writing profile page, select the amount you’d like to contribute, and the site will walk you through the rest.