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I will be at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena tomorrow, April 13 at 1 pm, together with Marcelo Vignali, Ken Maruyama and Chad Hellmuth (for Sony Pictures Animation and Imageworks), to review portfolios of the animation and vizdev/concept art graduates. Any of you who will be there, please stop by and say hello.

Oh, what a fun chat we shared tonight! Lots of new ScribeChat-ers, and a visit from special guest Lorin Oberweger of Free-Expressions Seminars (@WriterLor). Lorin  offered an opportunity to apply for a full scholarship to her next week-long intensive workshop with NY agent Donald Maass, worth $1,900! Submissions close next week. Check the transcript for [...] Related posts:

1. TOPIC: It’s Conference Season!
2. TRANSCRIPT: The Dark Allure of Gothic Literature

We still have about 11-15 spaces left for the worldbuilding seminar this Saturday, so if you were thinking you might come but weren't sure if there'd still be room for you, be assured that we've got plenty of room. If Paypal was the trouble, at this point, just bring your check ($45 for an individual, $35 if you're in a group of 5 or more) with you to the library, but still be sure to email my intern, Chersti, at cjstapley AT gmail DOT com with your registration information to let her know you'll be coming.

Hope to see you there, and for those of you not local, I'm still working on the online workshop idea. Last week was rather slow on that end, however, due to a family emergency and my own asthma problems--I'm still waiting to hear how my ten-year-old niece is doing (thank you all for your thoughts and prayers--she's doing better, and every time they do a test, like taking her off the heart bypass machine, she continues to improve, but we're still just waiting to hear about a number of tests that I'm not sure that they've been able to do yet). I'm trying to get that ox back out of the mire from last week, which means getting several critiques back to people who have been very patient as I've been dealing with other things. Thank you all for being so kind and thinking of my niece--between all of my friends, and all of my siblings' and cousins' and aunts' friends, I think there must be thousands of people thinking of her and praying for her. Thanks, everyone.

I don't have a date pinned down yet, but I'm planning to do another community seminar in early June: Worldbuilding in Fantasy and Science Fiction for Children and Young Adults. Writing fantasy and SF for children and YA is different than writing it for adults because of that added children's/YA component: it's a whole different readership and market that you're writing for. So we'll talk about how important worldbuilding is, how to use concrete details to create a world without bogging down your prose, and a number of related topics. This will be a more nitty-gritty, in-depth kind of seminar compared to the last one, but we'll build on the format of talking first of principles, looking at examples, and then workshopping with each class member's work in progress, so be thinking about the sample you want the most worldbuilding help with (or perhaps better put as your *best* worldbuilding example, so we can discuss both what you're doing right--which will help your classmates--and where you might be able to improve).

Come prepared for an afternoon of lots of tips and the give and take of constructive feedback. Plan on it costing $45 for individuals or $35 each for groups of 5 or more--I'll give you a link and more information when I pin down a date and time. I'll also be handing out handouts for it at Conduit next weekend, so if you'll be heading to that convention and want to get a group together, you can hand me your registration forms and payment right there at the con.

I'll post here and on my Seminars page when I've pinned down a firm date, hopefully sometime in the next week or so.

Also, don't forget that the Provo Children's Book Festival is this Saturday from 11 to 4 down at the Provo Public Library. The Utah children's writer community is quite large, so look for Brandon Mull, Shannon Hale, Jessica Day George, Nate Hale, Mette Harrison, Aprilynne Pike, Ann Dee Ellis, Emily Wing Smith, Will Terry, Ann Cannon, Carol Lynch Williams, James Dashner... the list goes on and on.

Which reminds me that I need to remember to take my copy of Rapunzel's Revenge with me to get it signed!

Speaking of Carol Lynch Williams, her new book, The Chosen One, is out today. I was just at the local B&N (okay, it's been a few hours now) and got to hear her read from it. Intriguing, and I can't wait to read it. It's about a girl in a polygamous colony who is told that she must marry her uncle. Carol has some great blurbs from some really great authors--Meg Cabot, Gregory Macguire, Cynthia Kadohata, Kathi Appelt... and some great reviews. You also might know Carol from BYU Writing for Young Readers, which she runs with the inestimable Cheri Earl.

So, to sum up: Provo Children's Book Festival this Saturday! Conduit next weekend--Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 22-24! Worldbuilding class coming sometime in June! See you then! I'm out, and taking all my exclamation points with me!

(Good night.)

René Colato Laínez

These pictures are courtesy of many Macondistas. ¡Gracias!


*The Macondo Writing Workhop was celebrated from July 29 to August 5 in San Antonio, Texas.

*Most of the Macondistas stayed at the Our Lady of the Lake University dorms.

*Our famosas workshop teachers were Joy Harjo and Dorothy Allison.

*Our Macondistas teachers were Levi Romero, Liliana Valenzuela,
Alex Espinoza and Jackie Cuevas.

*We had great seminars throught the week. Just check the titles and presenters.
-Borderlands With in Us by Dr. Marga Speicher.
-Creating Real Life Characters- Yourself and Others by Gregg Barrios.
-Making Peace in Time of War by Baldemar Velasquez and Amelia Mesa-Baines
-The Political Essay by Norma Alarcon and Macarena Hernandez.


*Our invited literary agent was the talented Stefanie Von Borstel from Full Circle Literary.

*Natalia Treviño organized the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center visit.

*Noche de Macondo at Esperanza Peace and Justice Center was a blast. Joy Harjo gave us a great concert.


*Jump-Start Theatre featured Dorothy Allison. Two or Three Things I know For Sure are that Dorothy is great, great and great.

*Lucha Corpi and Dr. Amalia Mesa-Bains received the Gloria Anzaldua’s Milagro Award.

*The yoga teacher was our Macondista Michelle Otero.

*The readings at Macondo BBQ were amazing and unpredictable.

*The talented children's Book Author Amada Irma Pérez read at the San Antonio Public Library.

*And as always Sandra Cisneros was our angel, amiga, consejera and la mera mera. Sandra all the Macondistas love you!



About the Macondo Workshop

The Macondo Writing Workshop is a unique summer gathering for writers working on geographic, cultural, social and spiritual borders.

Founded in 1995 by writer Sandra Cisneros and named after the sleepy town in Gabriel García Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, the week-long workshop transforms San Antonio, Texas — and more broadly, La Frontera — into a space of intense artistic and cultural creativity.

Macondo is a master's-level workshop, meaning that participants are expected to take their writing seriously and to have fulfilled at least one of the following:

1. published a book or several stories in journals or magazines,
2. enrolled in or completed an MFA program, or
3. studied under at least three professional writers.


An essential aspect of the Macondo ethic is a global sense of community; workshop members should, in addition to being already established and capable of participating in a master's-level class, recognize their place as writers in our society and the world.

A second element of the Macondo ethic is a spirit of generosity. In the spirit of Sandra Cisneros, who volunteers valuable writing time for the nourishment of other writers.


Monetary contributions are accepted from those with better means to assist workshop participants who cannot fund their own airfare and lodging.

In addition, workshop members are expected to review each other's work with rigor and vision. Time is viewed as a gift equal to that of money, so time given is as valuable as cash!

The workshop is divided into three mixed-genre groups, each of them headed by an accomplished writer or team of writers. After attending one year, participants are allowed to enroll in Sandra Cisneros' class.

Mornings are spent individually reading each other's work, afternoons consist of "workshopping" by groups, and evenings are spent discussing various artistic, political and spiritual issues related to writing.



For more information visit www.macondoworkshop.org

Aw, what the hey. I like Ms. Munro's style. Observe the following:

Seminar Details At-A-Glance
Seminar: Mastering the Maze
Date: April 20, 2007
Time: 11 a.m. Eastern Time [10 a.m. CT, 9 a.m. MT, 8 a.m. PT]
Format: This is a Web-based seminar. Registered participants will receive participation instructions, log-on information and a toll-free number to dial in for the audio portion of the seminar upon payment of the registration fee. Seminars run for one hour.
Cost: $50 per person
Discounts are available for group registration.
To Register: send name and contact information to: [email protected]

Man has been creating mazes for at least 4,000 years. Early mazes were used for rituals and processions - and were not puzzles meant to be solved as they often are today. Educators and librarians use mazes in activities that encourage creative problem-solving, build math skills and improve concentration - and simply because they are fun.

In this online seminar, award-winning author/illustrator Roxie Munro will discuss the techniques she developed for her well-known books which include Mazescapes; Amazement Park; Wild West Trail Ride Maze; The Inside-Outside Book of New York City, a New York Times Best Illustrated award-winner; and Mazeways: A to Z to be published in August 2007. She will explore the history of mazes and show how mazes occur in real life. She will also talk about how to create mazes and games that can be adapted for children's and YA library programming.

Ms. Munro is the acclaimed author/illustrator of 27 books for children. She also creates oils, watercolors, prints, and drawings, primarily cityscapes, which are exhibited widely in the US in galleries and museums. Fourteen of her paintings have appeared as covers of The New Yorker magazine.