Holly Walrath's Blog, page 17

Comicpalooza 2019 Schedule

I'm stoked to once again be a panelist at Comicpalooza this year in Houston, Texas. Comicpalooza has grown to be a massive comic con with cosplay, celebrities, and of course literature panels! This year we host the mother of dragons, Emilia Clarke, and I for one will be waiting in line for her panel. 

If you see me around at the con, come say Hi! 

Panels for Comicpalooza 2019: 
​Art & Writing Crossovers, from Comics to Artist Collaborations
Room 370D
Friday May 10, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Art and literature have always inspired each other. How do visual art and writing inspire and reveal a creative process? What can emerge when one form is refracted through another? Has there been a different emergence of the combination in a reality that seems more visualized and surreal? Join us for a lively discussion of the mediums' crossover and influences.

Speculative Poetry Deathmatch!
Room 370D
Saturday May 11, 2019 4:30pm - 5:30pm
Join us for an entertaining and interactive panel on science fiction, fantasy and horror poetry. Learn a little about speculative poetry, hear poets read some of their works, and then participate in a lyrical death-match in which you, the audience, decide which poet walks away with a tinfoil crown and bragging rights.

No Right Way to Write: Techniques for New Writers
Room 370D
Sunday May 12, 2019 12:00pm - 1:00pm
There is no one correct way to write. One of the challenges of new writers is to find the way that works best for them. Some people require strict outlines. Others require just bullet points. And still others require nothing more than an idea and a few notes on a napkin. This panel is on writing techniques, from outline usage to writing organically, allowing your information to come out in a smooth fashion. Learn the way to write that is right for you!


  Beyond Earthsea: Ursula K. Le Guin's Writing Legacy
 Room 370E
Sunday May 12, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm
As one of the greatest science fiction writers, Ursula K. Le Guin explored politics, the environment, myth, gender, and their intersection with our reality. She was an advocate for social justice and women writers. Join us for a discussion celebrating and paying tribute to Le Guin's work and influence.

Creating a Writer’s Mission Statement

Today at Medium, I write about crafting a "mission statement" for your writing career and how it can help you meet your goals. Thinking about your writing as a brand helps to combat self-rejection and imposter syndrome. It puts a bit of distance between you and your work — and that can be a lifesaver in the future when you’re looking at hard decisions about where to publish and why.

Read the whole post here . . . 

Listen to Me on Houston Public Media, Local NPR Station

I am on the radio today reading poetry! If you're in Houston you can catch my segment in the 2019 edition of Voices and Verses on Houston Public Media. Click above to listen!
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In this sound portrait, Walrath describes how she fell in love with poetry in high school, her love of the weird and her inspirations. She reads her poem, “Blue Cadillac.”

Blue Cadillac

Oh, the way you sat in
the drive, taking it all up.

I climbed into your cool interior, sliding
across the widest, darkest navy seats
spread beyond me, beyond my vision.
They seemed to expand and dissolve
into a bright light on the driver’s side.

We drove, through endless lanes
of white picket fences, long green,
green lawns, the Texas sun staccato
in the trees, and it may be that I wore
an Easter Sunday dress, all laced in white,
and bows on my tights, or white slumping socks
above black buckle shoes shining with polish.

And in the heat of a Texas summer,
how you could swallow me up
in your blue dusty smell, that
sweet sweet tobacco tucked
into the glove compartment
beside a lady’s silver lighter.
For the sun merely seemed
to enclose you, a line of gold
light above the leather dash.

But the very roundness of you, round seats
and silver knobs and panels like porthole
windows into another time, but mostly
the round, stitched-leather steering wheel
which was surely made for white driving gloves.

And somehow in this memory of you,
your massive lines like some primordial
behemoth long since dead and buried in
ice, the very blueness of you, I may have
remembered myself, another classic beauty.

This poem was published in my chapbook, Glimmerglass Girl.

New Poem at Mirror Dance: Farewell Dead Men

I have a new poem up today at Mirror Dance called Farewell Dead Men. I also talk about why fantasy is a genre I love: 

While science fiction is based in science, mystery is based in the pursuit of a question, and horror is based in evoking an emotion of fear, I believe that fantasy is the only genre which is purely pulled from the author’s deepest dreams and imaginings. The ability to dream up fantastical beasts and worlds seems to me to be a peculiarity of the human condition—one that even the most mundane of minds can learn to cultivate. Where did the idea for a dragon first come from or the hero myth? They are deeply ingrained paths that we continue to walk, following our ancestors through the mists of imagination.

Read my poem "Farewell Dead Men" here . . . 

March 2019 News from the Ansible

I have a new update for Interstellar Flight Magazine today. As Managing Editor, I’m excited to share with you some of our news for this month. We are working on building a staff of editors, slush readers, and writers! As a new indie press, it’s a lot of work getting started.

Read my March Round-Up  here . . .

Submitting Short Fiction: Literary/Realism Edition

I have a new post up at Medium that's a comprehensive guide to submitting literary short stories! Find out how to tier your submissions, keep track of them, what multiple and simultaneous submissions are, and more!

Read the full post here . . . 
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NaPoWriMo: A Poet’s Challenge

I have a new post at Medium about April and NaPoWriMo! National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. It’s also NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month)— an offshoot of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). During this month, magazines, workshops, radio shows, news sources, and readings showcase poetry in all its forms. Writers participate in the challenge of writing one poem a day during the month of April.

Read my full post at Medium . . . 

New Guest Post at Dream Foundry: The Cone of Silence

I wrote a guest blog post at Dream Foundry on whisper networks and breaking into the SFF community. 

Dream Foundry wanted me to write a guest post aimed at new creatives, and it got me thinking about how I got my start in the SFF world. It wasn't an easy journey. When I look back at my early years trying to find my own voice and place, sometimes I cringe. Because I'm not perfect, and the community isn't perfect, and to be honest, things could be better. There's a lot of emotion wrapped up in those memories. 

I am writing from personal experience, but a lot of the experience I've had has been hurtful and hard to process. Which is to say, I am not perfect and I do not represent all experiences. Everyone has their own story about how they got into the SFF community, and those stories range in their measure of negativity/positivity. 

I'd like to thank Dream Foundry for letting me talk about this important topic. Also, if you're a new writer or new SFF community member and you want advice/help/support/to chat, please know that I am here. I'm always willing to talk to new folks and help if I can. 

Read the guest post at Dream Foundry . . .

New Reprint in Flash Fiction Online

Artwork inspired by my story, by Houston artist Marlo Saucedo, as part of the Color:Story 2019 exhibit
I have a reprint up at Flash Fiction Online this month of my little boney, witchy story "knick knack, knick knack." This little story has seen a lot of love since it first appeared in Fireside last February 2018! It also appeared as part of a local art exhibit, Color:Story. The above artwork is the piece that Houston artist Marlo Saucedo made after reading this story.

What I love about this story is that so many people have different interpretations of it. I first wrote it inspired by the kodama in Japanese film Princess Mononoke, and also the idea of wanting to tell a mother/daughter story about aging. Marlo interpreted the story as following the tradition of the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos. The idea of skull spirits is not central to one culture, but many. We put a lot of weight in the dead as humans, and I've always been fascinated by the different myths we create about the spirits who guide us. So I'm grateful that people continue to enjoy this little flash story. 

Read the story at Flash Fiction Online . . .

Defining Art

I have a reprint essay over at Medium today! This is a reworking of an article I wrote for ARTHouston magazine a few years ago. Just as relevant today, it asks how we define art and our legacy as artists. 

Read the article here...