I’ll be appearing next at the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference in Fort Bragg, CA. That’s about 150 Miles north of San Francisco, right on the ocean. For someone from Tucson, it will be a cooling off of 45 degrees F. I brought flannel shirts and a windbreaker. I’m sure the locals will find that funny.

I chose the conference because of the location, the modest cost, and an instructor I think I’ll like, David Corbett, author of a useful craft book, The Art of Character, which I reviewed earlier.  The three-day workshop has 12 students, so I’m not sure how much workshopping will actually get done in 18 classroom hours. Maybe an hour per paper?

I submitted a chapter from my hard-boiled-detective novel, so it’ll be a rather severe head-twist to get out of androids and into detectives. I think the android work has been successful (to the extent it has been) because the natural voices of the characters are close to my own natural voice (I am half android). The detective however is entirely human, and I’m going to need help developing that character and finding his voice.

I’m not going to review the chapter I submitted until I must, so I can keep working on the androids as long as I can. I’m struggling with a plot turn right now and it’s hard to concentrate while on the road and in hotel rooms, accumulating laundry, eating bad food, always tired.

One more day in Los Angeles with family duties, then I slalom through forest fires to the College of the Redwoods, and hopefully there, have revelations.