Tag Archive for Writing

Listen to “Submission Caws” at the Centropic Oracle!

In the madness of moving, I haven’t had time to share this news: “Submission Caws” received an audio production by the Centropic Oracle!

centropic oracle, thlush a lum, rebecca gomez farrell

The recording was released on January 29, which was the day we were originally scheduled for escrow to close. The release of “Submission Caws” stayed on schedule, though our escrow took a few days longer…

…but that’s another story! This story is a fictional rant about the process of submitting manuscripts out for publication. It is funny and silly, particularly if you are also a writer undertaking this process on a regular basis. It’s a fantasy take on the concept, with recipes for magic spells subbed in for manuscripts themselves. It ends with a dare that the editors at the Centropic Oracle took, just like Defenestration did before them when the story was first published in 2019.

Jill Raymond performed the audio version, and I quite enjoy her take on the story — the character of Betty, a bubbly and annoyingly successful composer of magical recipes, comes through loud and clear. To listen to or read “Submission Caws,” head to the Centropic Oracle’s website here.

Or of course, you can read “Submission Caws” at its original home at Defenestration, right here.

The first few lines to entice you onward:

A black crow swoops onto the open window ledge, and yearning gushes from deep within me. I tamp down the emotion swifter than the crow can deliver its charge: a rolled parchment that bangs against the bookshelves as it flips toward the floor. The crow musses its feathers and launches into the air, off to retrieve its next assignment. Soon, someone else will receive fresh misery. I retrieve the parchment, find it quaint that the Gate Keepers use it for correspondence when they could just place a call by sandspelling. The parchment’s seal displays a sentinel guarding a mountain of scrolls piled behind an ornate, locked gate.

And some photographic inspiration:

Fall Workshops at Liminal

I concluded my writer-in-residency at the Liminal Center in June, but I am still fully in support of this awesome, communal, feminist space for women in the creative arts to come together to learn and grow our talents together.

Liminal Oakland artwork

Fall Workshops Offered

One of Liminal’s primary purposes is to provide hands-on writing workshops for writers who identify as female. These six-week sessions provide valuable instruction from experienced writers and instructors in small groups, and they are starting soon! The full list is here, but sign up before these classes begin on 9/18.

May I recommend Origin & LIMINALITY: Experimental Writing with Gina Goldblatt? It’s one of two workshops Gina is leading, and as the founder of Liminal, you’ll get a great view into the heart of this organization. Learn to write subversively while exposing truth through fiction.

Liminal stalwarts Terrilynn Cantlon and Brenda Usher-Carpino are both at the helms of workshops as well. Terrilynn will be Silencing the Critic Within, an essential dragon to tame for anyone seriously venturing into the creative arts. Brenda will delve into the Art of Dramatic Dialogue for character development in the dramatic arts.

The Liminal Fall Workshops are offered on a sliding scale of $200-$320 — Pay what you can afford to support this awesome literary organization! Liminal also reserves two spots in its workshops for participants who can’t pay at all. Contact Gina at gina@theliminalcenter.com if that’s your situation.

One Day Intensive Workshops

For the first time, Liminal is offering one-day writing seminars, which I personally think is a great idea as that’s the commitment level I can handle. The first one is happening tomorrow, September 10th, and it’s not too late if you’d like to Get Into the Writing Groove with Jenee Darden. Just head here to sign up and get the full list of one-day sessions offered this fall.

There is a great set of one-day classes on the agenda throughout the fall, including how to Write Characters of Social Action with Jasmine Wade, creating the heroes we need to see in fiction these days. Jasmine is also teaching the Wonderland of Myth: Writing into the Past and Present, which I would love to take if I were in town that day. *cry* Sessions on grief writing, healing from trauma through writing, and writing about negative experiences are also on the agenda.

Pricing for the one-day intensive sessions depends on the length of the course, whether a couple of hours or a full day. Again, head here for the full list!

Whatever course or workshop you choose, Liminal will greet you with welcoming, supportive arms. Or at least that was my experience co-working at Liminal with these lovely women this last spring.

Liminal Coworking Oakland

Coworking at Liminal with Aqueila and Terrilyn!

Still Seeking Validity, or, Self-Worth Struggles for Bread-Eaters

“I’m a writer,” I say proudly, adding on the descriptor of fiction, entertainment, or food and drink depending on the company. “But I don’t support myself or anything.”

Ah, there it is. My caveat. Why am I compelled to add it in? Something within me thinks it’s important for people to know, although it isn’t. It’s none of their business how much money I make in my career, but somehow, after six years at this gig, I still view my financial contributions to the household as an essential part of my identity. Other bread-eaters I know have had to deal with judgments as to how they spend their days from other people, and I wouldn’t hesitate to rise to their defense, raise my voice and yell, “How dare you try to devalue this person’s work?!” whether that work be a career, raising children, keeping up a household, or a combination of all of the above. Yet I do it to myself all the time.

I’m ridiculous. You’d think I’d know better by now. Way back when I left my last day job to pursue fiction writing fulltime, I wrote a post on how I was struggling with financial dependency—nay, not just being financially dependent on someone else, but choosing it. That was before I could call myself a professional writer or a published author. I now have a nice long list of accomplishments, and I know I spend the same amount of time on my career as most people do in their workplaces. But my primary emotional battle remains the same: accepting, again and again, that my self-worth does not need to be connected to my financial contribution. You’d think I’d have an easier time with that seeing as our income has risen every year since. But I still get hung up on it.

I’m proud, you see. Proud that I put myself through college. Proud that I could fully support myself until the age of 29. Taking pride in my financial acumen, in the independence that it provided, was a key aspect of my identity until I took that jump into writing fulltime. It provided me with validation that I now have to find elsewhere. And inevitably, that elsewhere starts as a side writing project that eventually overpowers my passion project—writing fiction—because fiction brings in nominal income even when I do sell a story or get royalties. So I devalue it and slowly but surely reprioritize the projects that bring in significant funds. My first few years, that was copy editing dissertations and manuscripts until I realized I was no longer working on my fiction. In the last two years, that’s been writing for an entertainment website until I had the wake-up call that maybe, maybe, the reason I couldn’t get the motivation to work on my second novel was because of the 5K of polished words I’d churned out on articles over 2 days.

How do I realize I’ve done it again? A growing sense of dissatisfaction with my work develops, and I eventually have that aha! moment of realizing it’s because I’m not engaging my creative side. Which isn’t to say nonfiction isn’t creative, of course, but it doesn’t feed my soul in the same way. After I make that realization? The downward spiral commences: I must convince myself, yet again, that it’s okay if I don’t contribute funds to our income, and that I, Becca Gomez Farrell, somehow deserve this amazing opportunity to pursue my dreams when so many other people can’t. What right do I have to live this privileged life? And yes, I mean “privileged” with all its social justice connotations. Why is it okay for me to take advantage of this opportunity; what did I do to deserve it other than picking a great husband?  It feels selfish of me to even consider spending my days spinning yarns in light of what other people face.

Food, Drink, & Travel Blogging Has Moved!

The-Gourmez-Square-headerWhat happened to the delicious posts on this site? They’ve gone back home to the Gourmez! In August 2013, when we moved to the Bay Area, I combined all my writing pursuits into the site you’re viewing now. At the time, housing them together made the most sense for my sanity–too many sites to manage was too much in the midst of such a huge life change. But nearly two years later, and a recent transition from Hayward to Oakland where my reviews are suddenly in higher demand, meant it was time to give the Gourmez its proper focus again. And thus, that new-old site has been reborn!

My fiction and entertainment publication news and life updates will continue to be housed right here. But if your stomach starts growling or your wanderlust kicks in, the Gourmez is there for you.  In fact, if you click on the menu items above for food, drink, & travel, you’ll find yourself transported to that website instead. Don’t panic! Tastiness is only a mouse click away.

Meanwhile, I’ll be doing more personal writing on this site–writing related to the writing life, that is. I’ve had a few requests to share my own struggles with searching for validation in a career where that rarely equals an income, so I’ll dig into that topic soon. But mainly, I’m planning to re-focus my writing time and get more fiction under my belt. I’m currently shopping around two longish short stories and one fantasy novel. My second novel, a post-apocalyptic romance, is about two-thirds of the way through its first draft, and I have at least four other short stories in various stages of editing and initial plotting. Here’s hoping they all find a home in time!

PULP Literature Issue #5 Preview *and* Kickstarter Campaign

As I announced a few weeks ago, my next short story will be appearing in Issue #5 of PULP Literature Magazine, which is a print and e-book label fully funded through subscriptions and Kickstarter campaigns. Well…Issue #5 has a cover!

Pulp Literature #5

And yes, that’s my beautiful little byline on it. Seeing my name on a cover is always such a thrill. So is the reminder of PULP Literature’s tagline: “Good books for the price of a beer.”  I love that! You can get the full description of Issue #5 right here.

Showing you the issue cover would be reason enough for this post, but I’m also writing to encourage you to go ahead and claim your copies of the issue now. Why? Because PULP Literature just launched their second -year Kickstarter campaign last week. Issue #5 is slated for publication at the end of 2014, so why not pay for it now and support both me and this great new addition to the genre literary scene? Need the video to sell you? Keep your eyes peeled for my name scrolling by!

Want the ebook of my issue? $5. How about the print one? $15. Maybe you want to go ahead and take a plunge, subscribing to the full year of stories? $25 for ebook and $40 for print. That’s a deal for curated literature delivered right to your fingertips!

Plus, for my fellow writers, the editorial team at PULP Literature also has rewards offering short story and novel critiques and writing workshops–valuable, valuable tools that any writer should take advantage of.

Go ahead. Pledge. I’ll still be here when you get back. I can’t make the same promise for “Thlush-A-Lum’s” protagonist, however…

Have you read “Blow ‘Em Down” yet?

Just a reminder, dear readers, that my most recently published short story is available for free online at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It’s comes up in conversation several times lately, so I thought a reminder was due. “Blow ‘Em Down” is a steampunk retelling of the battle of Jericho from the perspective of a brass band pressed to take part in the effort to break the city’s glass dome. For me, it’s about how past wounds can blind us to the ways we dehumanize others and how faith doesn’t count until you make it your own.   Here are the first three paragraphs:

From our brass band’s vantage point at the Gilgal plains, the glass dome was impenetrable. An immense central copper tube supported it, using a full city block for its foundation and generating energy for the whole town by absorbing the sun rays trapped within the glass. One skygate operated through the top of the dome, opening only to let merchant airships and their escorts in and out. The ships floated by so high, we could barely make out what was seared into their taut material: giant brands bearing profiles of the cityscape. The same image, embossed in a black pattern, circumnavigated the dome’s bottom edge. A single word in bold typeset appeared above each repetition:  Jericho.

They never sent so much as a volley our way. Who could blame them? We looked a sorry mess after forty years spent crossing the desert, but we were many. Forty days our parents had been told, but as it turned out, solar-powered chariots don’t work so well in the desert. The salt from the Red Sea air had rusted most of their steel frames within days of the crossing, leaving us with only a handful, and those were barely powerful enough to raise one person off the sand at a time. Then there was the pillar of smoke blocking out half the sky. Little sun meant less energy for our solar cells to regenerate. When the pillar lit up like a fireball that forgot to fly at night, we tried to mine the heat, but we never could get the calibrations right.

“The pillar will lead us into the Promised Land. It is Yahweh’s own guide.” That’s how Moses had explained it when it first appeared, before I was ever born. The old geezer had keeled over about a month ago. Paps laughed out loud when he heard, but his heart burst mid-guffaw, and he keeled over, too. Three days later, we crossed the Jordan.

Read the rest of the story here

If any of you happen to be Hugo voters (last day to sign up to become one is this Friday), I would love you to read “Blow ‘Em Down” to consider it for a nomination. It is eligible for this year’s award season, and nominations are open until March 31. I will refer you to this great post at Beneath Ceaseless Skies that details everything involved if you would like to become a voter or you need to know how to go about making nominations.

My Aha Moment and a dramatic reading of “Sardines”

A few weeks back, I recorded my aha moment. How does one record an aha moment? Funny you should ask, because I didn’t know either until the aha moment team asked me to come in and do a little video session with them for their national campaign. The “they” in all this is Mutual of Omaha, and “my aha moment” is an ad campaign they’ve been running for the past couple of years. It’s a clever way to do promotions–a team of videographers tours the country and invites locals to come into their Airstream and share the aha moments that have set them down whatever path they are pursuing, whether charity work or a career.

Borrowed from the “my aha moment” Facebook page.

You can peruse all the videos and commericals they’ve produced at their website. I participated at their Raleigh, NC, stop and shared about my writing and the moment when I realized I was a writer for real…at the tender age of 9 (maybe 10). Watch my aha moment below!

I think it turned out pretty well! But what didn’t make it onto the reel was my dramatic reading of the poem I composed that day in Monterey. I can still picture the light blue paper I was finally able to jot it down on once we returned to the hotel in the evening, but alas, I no longer have the sheet of paper. I do still have the poem, however. And here I am, reading it in all it’s fourth-grade glory.

Now I hadn’t read that poem in years, and I surprisingly realized that (1) I was writing curveball horror twists in the 4th grade! Genre fiction is definitely for me; (2)  I was already concerned about sustainable food! I honed right in on how overfishing had destroyed Cannery Row’s sardine trade, no doubt having heard it from a tour guide or read it in the tourbook on the way to Monterey; and (3) I managed to capture a sense of place for Cannery Row, which is something I always try to do in my travel posts. It’s hilarious to me that my writing interests have not shifted much since that time.

I hope you enjoyed my aha moment and “Sardines.” I may make a series out of reading my elementary-school short stories and poems. Any guess as to what’s going on with this picture?

becca whale storyIf you answered the cover page for a short story that involves a haunted house under water, then you’d be right! And yes, that’s a giant blue whale with rainbows and clouds on its skin. Oh yes, it’s a winner, my friends. Think Lightspeed would be interested?

State of the Blog

I’m moving to California.

Me in 2011 with Los Angeles at my back.

There is no set “when” yet, but if all goes well after listing our house next week, it will be sometime in August.  There is no set “where” yet, but if all goes well with Ben’s employment options, it will be in the Bay Area, with LA as a second choice.

This means a few things. One is that the restaurant and cocktail reviews on this blog have largely been focused on the Research Triangle area of North Carolina where I’ve lived for the past seven years. It’s where I’ve come of foodie age in terms of learning about cuisine, about how great chefs truly make it a craft, and about how sourcing local and sustainable products from farmers you trust is yes, a good idea for the welfare of animals and the treatment of soil but also an amazing treat for your taste buds.

There is no way to ever express my gratitude for these lessons North Carolina has taught me about appreciating what I eat. The people in the food industry here are passionate, committed, and really easy to spend an evening with. Many of my fellow food bloggers have become cherished friends, and that is not to mention all the other cherished friends we have here:  friends from Ben’s alma mater of RPI, friends from working at UNC Cardiology, friends from helping organize Traction the last couple of years, and dear god, the friends I’ve made in the writing community here, both in food and in speculative fiction. I will miss you all with an ache I already know too well from having left those I love behind before. It’s the price I pay to satiate my wanderlust and indulge my writerly curiosity about the everyday lives of people in different regions. In choosing not to put down roots, I’ve acquired several regrets, but I know my regrets would be greater if I’d stayed in one place. That North Carolina kept me for seven years is one of the best compliments I can pay it.

So why California? I’ve lived on the East Coast for a decade now, and it’s time to return home for a while. I’ve been aching for those first friends I left in 2003. My soul needs a refresher. It needs the smell of redwoods, the sound of sea lions barking, and the sight of fog in the valley.

Morro Rock shrouded in fog.

Morro Rock shrouded in fog.

But it won’t be a complete return to what I know, because I’ve never lived in the Bay area, and if it’s Los Angeles, I haven’t lived there since I was 8. I’m excited to see what it’s like in California as a true adult. I’m excited to see what changes have come to the food culture of the region, to learn what else I never realized about it before becoming food aware—I was honestly clueless I lived in a winemaking region on the Central Coast, folks. There were grapevines, but I never quite realized what they were for.

One of many wines from the Central Coast that I’ve reviewed since leaving that same Central Coast.

So what does that mean for the blog? Well, it’s not going away anytime soon because that house does need to sell, and I do have a lot of restaurants to cross off my must-dine list before we leave (Want to join me? Comment!). There are a couple local businesses I’ve wanted to profile but haven’t had the chance to, and I’d like to fix that. But I do expect my posting to lessen once the great move approaches, and when we make it to California, I will plan my next blog strategy after settling in and scoping out the food blogging and writing community there. I may aim for joining larger websites that already have an established following or perhaps keeping on as I have been with a focus on my new hometown.

In the meantime, more personal blogs like this one will crop up because I have a lot to work out, you see. It’ll be hard to say goodbye to an area and people who’ve treated us so well, and I will have a few things to say about that as the move progresses.

North Carolina, treating us well.

North Carolina, treating us well.

I have plenty of fears that my friends in California and the state itself have changed enough that fitting back in may be a struggle—you see, I have this tendency to create fantasies for more than just my fiction and that includes a keen nostalgia for times and places past. I am intensely curious as to how Ben will react to life in California and how he’ll think it compares with those fantasies I’ve constructed. Have I imagined the glory of dry heat and mosquitos only when you’re camping? Will Ben understand the perfection that is San Francisco sourdough? Moving three cats across the country will also be an adventure worth documenting.

cats200

They may not agree.

So you may get more Becca than the Gourmez in the coming months, but you should still get plenty of good eats and drinks, too. Regardless, thank you, dear readers, for joining me on this “quest toward becoming the elusive ‘gourmet’ without bothering about things like tannins and foie gras” as I wrote in my original About the Gourmez page in 2007. There has been some tannins and foie gras talk since then, but I hope learning about them together has been fun, and I have no doubt I have plenty more to learn. California’s restaurants will be my next classroom.

 And what a view it has.

Fiction Bragging Reminder: Last Week to get “Bother” for Free!

In February, I let you all know about the opportunity to get your hands on one of my short stories for free for a limited time. And now that time is almost at an end! “Bother,” along with many other fantastic stories collected by M. David Blake for the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology, will only be available until 4/30. So what are you waiting for? Click your browsers on over to Stupefying Stories and get your copy! And be sure to give Durham author Mur Lafferty your congratulations on being nominated for the Campbell Award for the second straight year. Some of her work is also available in the anthology. You can find her at the Murverse.

Campbellian Anthology 2013 cover

Here’s what I posted to explain the anthology in February:

Published by Stupefying Stories, the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology is now available for free — that’s right, free! — for anyone interested in perusing the works of authors eligible for Campbell award nominations this year. What’s that? As M. David Blake, editor of Stupefying Stories explained,

Named for John W. Campbell, Jr., whose 34 years at the helm of Astounding Science Fiction (later renamed Analog) defined the “Golden Age” of the genre and launched the careers of dozens of famous writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is presented annually at WorldCon to an outstanding author whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the previous two years.

What does this have to do with me? Well, with my sale of “Bother” to Bull Spec nearing on two years ago now, I became eligible for the Campbell Award. I have absolutely no expectations of being nominated, especially because I haven’t had other speculative fiction published since then — I’ve been working on my first fantasy novel instead of sending out my short stories. But “Bother” has been reprinted in the anthology, and now’s your chance to read it for free along with other worthy works by a large list of fantastic speculative fiction authors. All for free until the Hugo nominees, including for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are announced at the end of April.

To take advantage of this amazing access to these stories, just click here and chose the e-format you prefer at the end of the publication announcement post. And if you do read “Bother,” please let me know what you thought! Us writers do thrive on feedback.

Fiction Bragging: The 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology

Campbellian Anthology 2013 cover

Published by Stupefying Stories, the 2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology is now available for free — that’s right, free! — for anyone interested in perusing the works of authors eligible for Campbell award nominations this year. What’s that? As M. David Blake, editor of Stupefying Stories explained,

Named for John W. Campbell, Jr., whose 34 years at the helm of Astounding Science Fiction (later renamed Analog) defined the “Golden Age” of the genre and launched the careers of dozens of famous writers, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer is presented annually at WorldCon to an outstanding author whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the previous two years.

What does this have to do with me? Well, with my sale of “Bother” to Bull Spec nearing on two years ago now, I became eligible for the Campbell Award. I have absolutely no expectations of being nominated, especially because I haven’t had other speculative fiction published since then — I’ve been working on my first fantasy novel instead of sending out my short stories. But “Bother” has been reprinted in the anthology, and now’s your chance to read it for free along with other worthy works by a large list of fantastic speculative fiction authors. All for free until the Hugo nominees, including for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, are announced at the end of April.

To take advantage of this amazing access to these stories, just click here and chose the e-format you prefer at the end of the publication announcement post. And if you do read “Bother,” please let me know what you thought! Us writers do thrive on feedback.