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Tell your story and change the world
Jan. 19th, 2009 04:23 pmIt's Martin Luther King, Jr. day, a Congressionally-designated national day of service since 1994. Our president-elect has set an example by putting in some volunteer time at a teen shelter today, along with his family. On this day commemorating the civil rights struggle, as we wait for the inauguration tomorrow of our first black president, all over the country, many people are spending the day doing something to make this a better place.
Like lots of you, I volunteer on a regular basis for a few causes and on an irregular basis for a few more, mostly for writers' education. Most of the work I do is fundraising, and most of the way I raise money is to tell people that a cause I believe in, a cause I think they believe in as well, needs money. Then I ask them to send some money to the people doing the work. If they agree, and if they have money available right then, they send it along.
So that's what I'm doing today. I'm asking you to make a donation to the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Carl Brandon Society. The Butler fund sends writers of color to the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle or the Clarion Writers Workshop in San Diego (and will eventually send writers of color to Clarion South in Australia as well). It keeps Octavia's memory alive by trying to increase the racial diversity of writers working in fantastic fiction.
I miss Octavia. I wish I had known her better. I am grateful to have known her at all.
And while I'm at it, let me remind those of you who are writers considering attending Clarion West or Clarion this coming summer, get those applications in now! The deadline is March 1; the deadline for a tuition discount of $100 at Clarion West is February 1. Pass it on to other writers!
And if you write, keep writing. Only you can tell your story; you are the only one with your voice. Let your voice be heard.
Like lots of you, I volunteer on a regular basis for a few causes and on an irregular basis for a few more, mostly for writers' education. Most of the work I do is fundraising, and most of the way I raise money is to tell people that a cause I believe in, a cause I think they believe in as well, needs money. Then I ask them to send some money to the people doing the work. If they agree, and if they have money available right then, they send it along.
So that's what I'm doing today. I'm asking you to make a donation to the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship Fund of the Carl Brandon Society. The Butler fund sends writers of color to the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle or the Clarion Writers Workshop in San Diego (and will eventually send writers of color to Clarion South in Australia as well). It keeps Octavia's memory alive by trying to increase the racial diversity of writers working in fantastic fiction.
I miss Octavia. I wish I had known her better. I am grateful to have known her at all.
And while I'm at it, let me remind those of you who are writers considering attending Clarion West or Clarion this coming summer, get those applications in now! The deadline is March 1; the deadline for a tuition discount of $100 at Clarion West is February 1. Pass it on to other writers!
And if you write, keep writing. Only you can tell your story; you are the only one with your voice. Let your voice be heard.
