Holy buckets. I got into the Clarion UCSD writer’s workshop!

To be honest, I had low expectations for my chances this year. When I first applied in 2024, I got a form rejection. Not even a “your stories were good but not quite good enough please try again next year.” And I wasn’t sure how much I’d improved over the past two years. Sure, I’d written a bundle of short stories and a 6+ indie novels under various pen names, but that doesn’t mean much. Some writers take 5+ tries to get in, and many others never do. I thought I had a 5-10% chance this year, maybe less.

But then I got the email. And now that all the dancing and hugging and celebrating is done and over with, I’m ready to put my head down and do the work needed to make Clarion worthwhile.

Clarion has produced some legendary writers, but it’s produced many more writers who are just okay, and even more who never go pro. In the end, I think, the workshop is what you make of it. If you show up with an ego, can’t take feedback, aren’t willing to learn, etc., you’ll probably flop. Same goes if you aren’t willing to put in the hard work.

I have less than 3 months before I get on a plane, leave Tokyo, and fly to California for the craziest 6 weeks I’ve experienced so far in my writing career. And I want to make the most of it.

So here’s what I plan to do to prepare.

Get used to the workload

Clarion is famous for its workload. From looking around the internet, it looks like each week we’ll be expected to:

• Write a new short story
• Read ~18 stories and give feedback on them
• Listen to lectures for 2-3 hours a day

I don’t want to show up and not learn what I could learn because of overwhelm or burnout. So I’m going to approach this like an athlete. I’m going to practice for Clarion by, well, doing my own Clarion at home. The plan is to:

• Write a short story a week
• Critique 2-3 stories a day - I’ll do this at my usual writer’s groups and also, if I need more stories, on various online workshops (discord, critters, and so on)

I won’t be listening to lectures, but I will be doing all my usual job/work/family stuff, along with reading the instructors’ books (see the section below on that), so I figure the hours should balance out.

The plan is to slowly increase volume (again just like an athlete) until I hit “Clarion pace” somewhere in late May or early June. Then I’ll do a taper and get on the plane. That’s the plan, anyway.

Read the instructors’ books

I’ve already read a few books by the instructors, but I want to get a more in-depth understanding of each of their styles. I think that will make it easier to digest what they’re teaching. We’ll also get one-on-one, so having read all/most of the instructors’ books will make it easier to ask questions that aren’t just boilerplate.

My goal is to read at least 3 books from each of the 6 instructors, which totals to 24 books in 3 months, or about 2 books a week. Which shouldn’t be too hard. Ideally, I’ll read more.

Figure out what stories I want to write

I already have a 10+ page document full of short story ideas, but before showing up to Clarion I want to add some meat to the bones. I won’t be plotting/drafting any of these fully—that would ruin the point of the workshop (the point is to use the things we learn there, after all)—but I think it will be reassuring to know that, if I get stuck, that I can just pull up my document and fish for ideas.

Get all my socials set up

For the past few years, I’ve been 99% off-grid, not doing any social media, not posting anywhere, just reading and writing and grinding. But I think I’ll be adding some social media presence going forward, which means this blog, and also X, Bluesky, and so on.

That’s all for now.

I might also do a diary thing where I log all the stuff I did to prepare.