On Writing Workshops and Spontaneous Writing

So recently I found out that Neil Gaiman is going to be at the Clarion Workshop this year! I’m a wee bit of a fangirl, so I am really excited to hear about this! (Oh and if you’ve never read Neil’s journal, for shame on you! For shame!) I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to go to the workshop, though. The application deadline is March 1. That poses a bit of a chronology issue for me.

Part of the application requirements are two short stories. I have several shorts laying around, but all are still in their first draft form. It’s going to require me to revise. And we all know how well I revise! :p Anyway, what it really comes down to is whether or not I’ll be able to get two shorts revised in time for the deadline or not, since I have to have my novel completely revised by April 10. How much money do I have to pay to get about 5 more useable hours out of each day?

Moreover, I think I’m a little bit intimidated. My understanding is that there’s a lot of spontaneous writing expected. I can’t recall if it’s Clarion  or Odyssey which requires a new story every day (I think it’s Odyssey). But either way, I don’t do that sort of writing very well. Given ten minutes in a writing class to write a few paragraphs about whatever–my brain freezes up and I just look at the page. I’ve never been good at that sort of writing.

I’m still going to see if I can get a couple stories polished, even though that aspect does scare the writerly doodoo out of me. I’m already in debt up to my eyeballs from grad school. What’s another $4k, right?

I’m a little snarky about the cost, I know, but Clarion is one of the best short story workshops out there for genre writers. A few of my fellow students at SHU are former Clarion students and they can’t say enough about it. So I’m intrigued about going. I really do believe in the usefulness of programs like these. I know the writers in my master’s program who’ve gone through Clarion are already phenomenal writers, even before SHU gets to them!

Any other graduates of Clarion or Odyssey out there? What was your experience?