I arrived at WHC 2006 with an hour to spare before Mort Castle's writing workshop. I decided to wander the streets of San Francisco and grab some lunch before heading to the workshop.
I remember visiting San Francisco when I was about ten years old. The trip lasted less than a day and consisted of seeing the Golden Gate bridge, looking at Alcatraz through a pay-per-view binocular device and walking around a seafood market. This trip was three days longer and I saw even less of the city than I did on my previous visit. I really need to force myself to either allow an extra day for sight-seeing since I can't seem to justify ditching part of the con to go out and take in the town.
That said, I enjoyed some of the best and worst food San Francisco has to offer. I highly recommend Darbar Restaurant (Indian) and the Polk Street Station Diner (good chocolate milkshakes.) However, stay away from the Italian restaurant on Polk Street. I don't know how anyone can screw up a pannini...very disappointing.
I'd heard many positive comments about Mort Castle's workshop and decided that I would give it a try this year. The main concept I took away from it was to "write the experience, not write about the experience." This is a variation on "show, don't tell" which I've heard many times in the past. I guess it boils down to describing the characters and events on the page as if you were living it with them. Paying attention to details, like what things smelled like or how something felt by touch. I am having a hard time putting my thoughts on that idea into words at the moment, but it seemed to make more sense to me this time around.
I also took Nancy Kilpatrick's editing workshop and got good feedback on the story I brought for the group to critique. It's amazing to me that I could not figure out what was wrong with this particular story on my own, yet someone who heard me read it identified a major problem with the plot that I had overlooked.
Friday night, I read a story in the Flash Fiction contest. I was once again awe struck by the performance of Martin Mundt with his piece, "So Long Uncle Joe," which the judges declared the 1st prize winner. Not a shabby feat considering Peter Straub and F. Paul Wilson were part of this year's panel of judges.
To be continued...
I remember visiting San Francisco when I was about ten years old. The trip lasted less than a day and consisted of seeing the Golden Gate bridge, looking at Alcatraz through a pay-per-view binocular device and walking around a seafood market. This trip was three days longer and I saw even less of the city than I did on my previous visit. I really need to force myself to either allow an extra day for sight-seeing since I can't seem to justify ditching part of the con to go out and take in the town.
That said, I enjoyed some of the best and worst food San Francisco has to offer. I highly recommend Darbar Restaurant (Indian) and the Polk Street Station Diner (good chocolate milkshakes.) However, stay away from the Italian restaurant on Polk Street. I don't know how anyone can screw up a pannini...very disappointing.
I'd heard many positive comments about Mort Castle's workshop and decided that I would give it a try this year. The main concept I took away from it was to "write the experience, not write about the experience." This is a variation on "show, don't tell" which I've heard many times in the past. I guess it boils down to describing the characters and events on the page as if you were living it with them. Paying attention to details, like what things smelled like or how something felt by touch. I am having a hard time putting my thoughts on that idea into words at the moment, but it seemed to make more sense to me this time around.
I also took Nancy Kilpatrick's editing workshop and got good feedback on the story I brought for the group to critique. It's amazing to me that I could not figure out what was wrong with this particular story on my own, yet someone who heard me read it identified a major problem with the plot that I had overlooked.
Friday night, I read a story in the Flash Fiction contest. I was once again awe struck by the performance of Martin Mundt with his piece, "So Long Uncle Joe," which the judges declared the 1st prize winner. Not a shabby feat considering Peter Straub and F. Paul Wilson were part of this year's panel of judges.
To be continued...
posted by Martel @ 7:03 PM
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