Hatrack River Writers Workshop Hosted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury • Introduction • Enter the Forum Write to Kathleen Dalton Woodbury Former Boot Campers Success Stories • Chris Todd Miller • Jessi Cole Jackson • Brian McClellan • Ty Franck • 2008 Bootcamp • S.D. Smith • John Brown • Brad Beaulieu • Jamie Ford • Judson Roberts • Danielle Friedman • Scott Andrews • Christine Amsden • Patricia Esden • Rick Novy • Aliette de Bodard • Alethea Kontis • Mary Robinette Kowal • Scott Roberts • Mette Harrison • Eric James Stone • James Maxey • Luc Reid • Douglas Cohen Links of Interest • OSC urges writers to look at this LA Times interview with mystery writer Robert Crais Says OSC: "Crais, one of my favorite writers, has come quite independently to many of the same conclusions I've reached - and which I've taught in my writing workshops for years. It's nice to have an independent source for the ideas! Besides, Crais is an outstanding writer who deserves to be listened to for his own sake." • Parker column: A writer teaches writing • Garrison Keillor's Excellent Advice about MFA Programs • Want a critique of your manuscript from a published author? Mette Ivie Harrison has been praised as one of the finest writers of fantasy and YA literature working today - and she has taught writing workshops with OSC • Bernard Cornwell shares OSC's emphasis on story, letting the author's voice take care of itself. (Thanks to Scott Roberts for pointing this out.) • Comments on Uncle Orson’s Literary Boot Camp • Hatrack Utility Belt • Tor Submissions Guidelines • Using invented language in speculative fiction

A 2006 alumnus, Jamie expanded his Boot Camp short story, originally titled "The Button" into "I Am Chinese" -- a noble romantic tragedy that became a finalist in Glimmer Train's 2006 Short-Story Award For New Writers.

After being told by an editor that "the moral territory was novel length," Jamie wrote Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, a novel based on his short story. It was also heavily influenced by his own experiences growing up near Seattle's Chinatown.

Hotel went on to become a New York Times Bestseller and has been translated into 25 languages. He's still holding out for Klingon (that's when you know you've made it).

When asked about his Boot Camp experience he said, "I arrived as a writer and left as a storyteller -- it was cathartic. Scott deserves all the credit for setting my feet on that path. He also introduced us to funky Brazilian food, but that's another story."

Jamie is currently editing his follow-up, Whispers of a Thunder God, which will be published by Ballantine Books in 2011. He hangs out at www.jamieford.com and has been known to eat jellyfish, sea cucumber and chicken feet on occasion.