Revisiting Past Decisions

[liralen]

About ten years ago I applied to Clarion West, the infamous SF/F writer's bootcamp that has launched hundreds of genre writers' careers and torn others apart so badly that... well... anyway. I got a favorable response, but as part of the response they asked if I really was going to be a professional writer. There's a very limited number of spots at Clarion West; and at that time I was in the midst of, pretty much, the probable acquisition of a startup.

While I could have taken the six weeks off, software jobs were flexible like that back then, I didn't really want to and I had things to do in the computer world, first. Plus, back then, I was scared to death of the kinds of feedback that people were getting.

So I wrote back saying, no, I probably wasn't going to be a professional any time soon, so the spot probably should go to someone else. And it did.

But now... it's tempting again. Especially since all those earlier constraints are gone. Applications are opening up just about now for the 2009 session in August. If I plan for it now, it'll be fun and interesting. So I created an account there. I'm putting together a plan for the tuition. Plus... I'm starting to *get* what I can really get out of constructive criticism from someone that knows what they're talking about. Before I used to be too scared of someone "changing my deathless prose" now, it's just another craft and I could *learn* a lot from other people.

I'll cheerfully blame nosferatu_blue for her description of her disappointing creative writing class for reminding me of exactly what kind of "creative writing class" I really want to get into.

[Edited to add: Wow, the San Diego version's teachers sound like they're much more up my alley, though... and my family lives down there... ]