Caroline M. Yoachim's Blog, page 6
August 8, 2016
MidAmericon II Schedule
I’m attending MidAmericon II in Kansas City next week! My collection is launching there, and Patrick will be selling copies at the Fairwood Press table in the Dealer Room and at the Fairwood Press Release Party on Friday night. If you want to find me at worldcon, here is my schedule:
Thursday 10:00am – 11:00am, SFWA Table
SFWA Autographing: Caroline M. Yoachim
Thursday 8:30pm – 9:00pm, 2202 (Readings)
Joint Reading: William Ledbetter & Caroline M. Yoachim
William Ledbetter has kindly offered to split his reading slot with me! I’ll be reading from my brand new collection Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories. Also: free chocolate!
Friday 2:00pm – 3:00pm, Fairwood Press Table (Dealer Room)
Autographing Session: Caroline M. Yoachim
Friday 8pm – 11pm, Exhibit Hall, Hospitality
Fairwood Press Release Party
Five Fairwood Press authors are launching books at Worldcon, and all of us will be at the party: Caroline M. Yoachim, Tina Connolly, Patrick Swenson, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, & Carrie Vaughn
Saturday 10:00am – 11:00am, 3501D
Flash Fiction: Short, But Not Easy
Many people think that Flash Fiction must be easy to write since the stories are so short. It takes real skill to be able to tell a compelling story in only a few hundred words. Our panel will discuss some of the key skills needed, and the best places to get your flash fiction noticed.
Caroline M. Yoachim (M), John Wiswell, Anna Yeatts, Betsy Dornbusch, Chris Phillips, David VonAllmen
Saturday 2:00pm – 3:00pm, 2503A
Alienbuilding
We talk a lot about worldbuilding, but alienbuilding is just as important and often takes even greater sensitivity. From bothans to orcs, what does it take to create a believable psychology, language, and civilization for aliens and non-humans alike that still keeps them relatable to us? What makes a believable species? What pitfalls and dangers should we avoid?
Caroline M. Yoachim (M), Sheila Finch, G. David Nordley, Larry Niven, Ctein
Saturday 4:00pm – 5:00pm, 2209
Thinking Through Neuroscience in SF and Fantasy
Neuroscience is a complex and rapidly developing area of technological advancement. We look at some of the recent advances as well as discussing how these are reinterpreted in SF and Fantasy media.
S.B. Divya (M), Anna Kashina, Benjamin C. Kinney, Caroline M. Yoachim, Sandee Rodriguez
Saturday 5:00pm – 6:00pm, 2202 (Readings)
Magazine Group Reading: Lightspeed Magazine
Our Magazine Group Reading Series continues with a special group reading that features authors from Lightspeed Magazine.
John Joseph Adams (M), John Chu, Sarah Pinsker, Caroline M. Yoachim, Carrie Vaughn, Kenneth Schneyer
I have an agent!
I am excited to announce that this morning I signed on with Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown, Ltd! I’m completely thrilled to be joining Ginger’s client list (which includes amazing writers like Tina Connolly and Ursula K. Le Guin!!!!).
July 9, 2016
Publishers Weekly Starred Review!
My collection got a starred review at Publishers Weekly!
From the review:
“Full appreciation of the more science fictional worlds takes time, as Yoachim circles back in successive stories to add layers to major themes: interchangeable or malleable bodies (“Temporary Friends,” “Stone Wall Truth,” “Grass Girl”), displaced consciousness (“The Philosophy of Ships,” “Do Not Count the Withered Ones,” “Pieces of My Body”), time warps (“Rock, Paper, Scissors, Love, Death,” “Harmonies of Time” “Honeybee”) …. Her gift for reshaping and polishing dulled old gems makes Yoachim’s collection truly noteworthy.”
Seven Wonders of a Once and Future world is available for preorder at Fairwood Press or at Amazon.
June 24, 2016
Clarion West Write-a-thon!
I’m raising money for Clarion West by participating in this year’s Write-a-thon!
My goal for the first two weeks is to finish revisions on my middle grade novel–Junk Craft Magic, the story of an 11-year-old mixed-race girl who uses arts-and-crafts magic to help some junkyard pixies defeat a hazardous waste monster.
For the rest of the write-a-thon, I’m working on a novella: A space opera with alien-human hybrids! And fire kittens! My goal is to add 14k words (to the novella already in progress).
Want to motivate me to get words written AND support Clarion West? I’m looking for sponsors:
http://www.clarionwest.org/members/cyoachim/
In past years I have been terrible about updating my sponsors (I always feel like I am spamming people), but this year I will send out weekly email updates, each with a short excerpt from the work in progress.
May 10, 2016
Stories in Fireside and Daily Science Fiction
I have two new flash fiction stories this month! An Army of Bees is in Issue 33 of Fireside Magazine, and The First Snow of Winter is at Daily Science Fiction.
March 28, 2016
Norwescon Wrap-Up
I had a great time at Norwescon this weekend! This was my second time going to the con, and my first time on programming. My reading slot was at 10:30 Friday morning, so I wasn’t sure how many people would be awake and around…but I ended up with a packed room!
My fantastic audience! (photo courtesy of Randy Henderson)
I read “The Right Place to Start a Family,” a short story that I’d written for Alex Shvartsman’s anthology Humanity 2.0, which is due out later this year. I also sang my Lovecraft/Little Mermaid song:
http://carolineyoachim.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Lovecraft_PartOfYourWorld_Sept1_wBackground.mp3
In addition to my reading, I was on two writing panels (one on rituals of productivity, and one on the art of critique), and two panels about aliens. The panels went well–my co-panelists were fantastic, and there were some great questions from both the moderators and the audience.
But the best part of cons, in my opinion, is hanging out with people. I met a bunch of people that I formerly only knew online, and got to hang out with some old friends, too. I’m not going to name drop because I inevitably forget someone, but the whole weekend was a blast.
Missed me at Norwescon? I’ve got an assortment of upcoming events:
May 1 – From Idea to Story Tina Connolly and I are co-teaching a Clarion West 1-day workshop. From the class description: Writers often start with one piece of a story—e.g. an amazing setting, a fascinating character, or a cool scientific discovery. It’s a great idea with lots of potential, but now what?
May 25, 7:30pm – I’m doing a reading at Cafe Racer for their Two Hour Transport series. It’s a really cool concept–they do an hour of 5-minute open mic readings, followed by longer readings from a couple featured authors. Sign-up for open mic starts at 7pm; open mic readings run from 7:30-8:30ish, and then the invited readings start at 8:45pm.
August 17-21 – I’ll be at MidAmericaCon in Kansas City
March 1, 2016
My Story is the Cover Story for the March Lightspeed!
The March issue of Lightspeed Magazine is now available, and my story “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station, Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” is the cover story!
The cool cover art is by Reiko Murakami.
Also in this issue of Lightspeed: Christie Yant did an interview with me, to go along with the story. We cover allergy shots, SF tropes, and writing advice. (The interview talks briefly about the story, so I recommend reading the story first.)
February 29, 2016
Norwescon Schedule
Coming to Norwescon? I’m doing a reading at 10:30am on Friday. There is even a rumor that I will SING my Lovecraft/Little Mermaid mashup song at the reading. You wouldn’t want to miss that, would you? Also, the reading comes with free chocolate!
Here’s my full schedule:
WRI17 – Patterns of Success, Patterns of Failure
Thu 6:00 PM-7:00 PM – Evergreen 1&2
Nicole Dieker (M), Gregory A. Wilson, Caroline M. Yoachim, Annie Bellet, Dean Wells
R07 – Reading: Caroline M. Yoachim
Fri 10:30 AM-11:00 AM – Cascade 1
Caroline M. Yoachim (M)
SF08 – A Culture By Any Other Name
Sat 12:00 PM-1:00 PM – Cascade 10
Jason Bourget (M), Caroline M. Yoachim, Kim Ritchie, Lawrence M. Schoen, Luna Lindsey
MISC28 – Autograph Session 1
Sat 2:00 PM-3:00 PM – Grand 2
Amber Bariaktari , Caroline M. Yoachim, Dave Bara, Dean Wells, Erik Scott de Bie, G. Willow Wilson, James C. Glass, Jennifer Brozek, John (J.A.) Pitts, Kristi Charish, Django Wexler, Frog Jones, Randy Henderson, Rhiannon Held, Sonia Orin Lyris, S. A. Bolich, Tina Connolly, Morgue Anne, Robert J. Sawyer, Spencer Ellsworth, Steven Barnes, Tim McDaniel, Tori Centanni, Cat Rambo, Don Maitz, GregRobin Smith, Jeremy Zimmerman, Laura Anne Gilman
EP02 – The Art of Critique
Sat 3:00 PM-4:00 PM – Cascade 9
Marta Murvosh (M), Caroline M. Yoachim, Leslie Howle, Suzanne Brahm, Jeremy Zimmerman
WRI08 – Worldbuilding: Alien Means Different
Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM – Evergreen 3&4
Pat MacEwen (M), Robert J. Sawyer, Caroline M. Yoachim, Dean Wells, Erik Scott de Bie
February 1, 2016
Locus Recommended Reading List
The cover story for my collection, “Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World,” made it onto the Locus Recommended Reading List! Really thrilled to have my story listed with a bunch of other top-notch work. A lot of what I’ve already read from the list has been awesome, and I’m looking forward to checking out some of the stories and books that I hadn’t seen yet.
December 31, 2015
Year in Review: 2015
36 stories published:
23 originals
13 reprints
33 acceptances:
1 short story collection
14 original stories
17 reprints
1 non-fiction essay
13 new stories written (45k words*)
* I don’t track my daily wordcount, so my yearly wordcount is based only on finished stories. My actual wordcount is probably somewhat higher. But definitely not high enough. Generating more words is really something that I need to work on for next year.
Year in Review
2015 has been big for me in a lot of ways. I had 23 original stories out this year, which is far more than I’ve ever had out in a single year. It’s more than twice as many as I had in 2014.
I sold a short story collection, which is coming out from Fairwood Press in August 2016! I am beyond excited about this, because it means that next summer I will have a book. Earlier this month, I turned in the final manuscript to the publisher, which means the table of contents is set. We have a cover. It is all coming together. I am still kind of beside myself, though. I’m going to have a book!
Also this year, I wrote a commissioned story for Drabblecast in 6 weeks. I wrote a novelette in 18 days, for an anthology deadline. I wrote an invited essay. I’ve always sort of suspected that I’d do well writing to a deadline (I’ve written things on short notice for submission windows before), but it is nice to know that when I have a true deadline, I can hit it.
I did my first ever reading (at Armadillocon), and later did my first ever reading where I performed a song in front of a roomful of people (at World Fantasy). I was a complete mess of nerves before both readings, but from what people told me afterwards they went pretty well. Success!
Goals for 2016
Really and truly revise the Middle Grade novel that I have been working on forever. I am halfway through my third revisions pass on this, and there is a lot going on in this novel that I love. My main problem is that every time I really get going on the novel I blow out my wrists, so clearly I need to learn to pace myself better.
More words. 2015 was great in a lot of ways, but my wordcount was relatively low. I wrote almost exactly the same number of words in 2014 as 2015, despite having more writing time this year. Partly this has been due to wrist issues–I have reinjured my wrists on a couple of occasions this year, and after that my productivity completely grinds to a halt. My default work style is to write in bursts, and in my ideal world I’d sit down to write a story and not stop until the draft is finished–but (as with novel revisions) I need to figure out how to force myself to take breaks without completely losing momentum.
More conventions. In the past I’ve only made it to a couple cons per year, but for 2016 I’m hoping to make it to at least four: Norwescon, MidAmericaCon II, World Fantasy Con, and Orycon.
