If you are bringing a car to UCSD, you will need a parking permit. Allot an hour on Monday morning before the first class to go to the parking office located in the Gilman Parking Structure in the center of campus (9500 Gilman Dr) and get one. It opens at 7am, and you'll need to buy a 1-month pass ($61) and a 10-day pass ($41) to cover the six weeks. You won't be able to buy these passes online and the office is not open on weekends (but don't worry, weekend parking is free). Find your fellow car-having folks on Sunday and go over together on Monday morning since parking spaces are limited by the parking office.

• If you are going early or staying on afterwards, BOOK YOUR HOTEL ROOM EARLY!! San Diego can sell out of hotel rooms a week in advance, and you don't want to be stuck paying $500 for a room at the Howard Johnson 
• Clear your calendar! You won't have time to deal with X, so if you can at all help it, shift X somewhere else on your calendar. 
• Make a dedicated effort to let everybody in your life (work, family, friends) know that you will be a) very *very* busy, b) very stressed, and c) variously lonely/moody/needy/desperate/manic. 
• Get lots of exercise and lots of sleep before you arrive. 
• If you are travelling overseas, try and arrive a day or two early. It will be very hard to get over your jet lag once the long hours of reading/critiquing/writing/repeating kicks in. 
• Long distance can also mean timezone difficulties. Work out a calling schedule before you leave. 
• Start jotting story ideas down. Now! Lots of them! No, even more ideas! 

• The cafeteria food can at times be, erm, 'challenging'. Plan this into both your budget (occasinally eating out, shopping trips) and your lifestyle (vegetarians, you have been warned!) 
• Bring fitted sheets for a twin bed, unless you enjoy crazy carpeting off a high bunk at all hours of the night 
• Bring a fan too, or pick up a cheap little one. It's hot in SoCal 
• Other nice things to have: a collapsing hamper, a big water bottle, a thermal coffee cup, your favorite tea/coffee (and perhaps a kettle/coffee press), a stuffed animal to clutch desperately in times of woe, aspirin, ear plugs, a white noise machine/app, a backpack, headphones, a durable notebook 

• There aren't many amenities within walking distance, apart from convenience stores. There is a mall about 30min walk away with a CVS and Whole Foods, and a Trader Joe's a bit further on. An occasional group exodus to these locations will make your time much more enjoyable 
• Rock Bottom Brewery has decent food and big tables 
• Mysterious Galaxy (bookshop where the readings are) takes an easy hour to get to during rush hour. Leave early! 

• Your loved ones will get lonely. Find a moment or two every week to remind them how much you miss them too. 
• Be kind to the people with vehicles. San Diego is sprawling, and they will be your heroes. Chip in for gas. 
• Be kind to everybody else too! Even if you are having an easy time of it, others may not be (beware the brave face). A single kind word can be a lifeline. 
• Step out of your comfort zone. Be as sociable as you can possibly be. But also, give people space when they want it. 
• Everybody is just as afraid as you are. Honest. Impostor and/or failure syndrome are common. Every single instructor will remind you that you belong there, that you earned your place. Trust in that. Trust yourself, but if it gets to be too much, tell somebody. 
• If conflict arises, deal with it ASAP. Don't go to bed angry! If you can't resolve it, discuss it with the instructors. There's just not enough hours in the day for any sort of drama. 
• Go to the readings. All of them. You will find yourself in awe and inspired, and they are great bonding moments. Also, there is a CVS within walking distance where you can load up on caffeine and sundry 
• Be thoughtful/mindful of your instructors, as they are away from home too! 
• Go into your personal interviews prepared. That one-on-one time will be like gold in your hand. 
• Don't be shy about trying to solicit industry experts (agents/editors/authors) to do conference calls with your group, but also don't pack your schedule so badly that you can't get any work done. 
• Take care of yourself. Listen to your body, be mindful of your mood, your energy level. Go for a run, a walk, a trip to the beach. 
• In that light, keep healthy snacks on hand at all times, otherwise you'll find yourself munching on processed crap sticks and your energy level will tank 
• [BRACKETS] are your friend! Don't be afraid to put [IT'S HERE THAT SARAH FINALLY CAPTURES THE TALKING MARMOT AND LEARNS THE REAL STORY OF HER FATHER'S DEATH etc. etc..] blocks as placeholders in your week's submission, rather than abandon the story or not submit for lack of time. But not the Sarah/Marmot thing. That's mine. 
• If a furry black dog barges into your apartment demanding attention, say "Hello Wendell" and give him lots of love. 

--(Passed down from Carmen Machado) You aren't meant to bring trunk stories into Clarion, but it can be helpful to come in with a list of ideas of stories you want to write lest you end up staring at the ceiling in week 4, drowning under the dual anxiety of having NO IDEAS SOMEHOW OH MY GOD and also YOUR STORY IS DUE TOMORROW OH MY GOD.
--Seconding Grant: reach out to authors, editors and agents you admire and ask them to do a video call with your class, even if you don't know them personally. I was in awe of how many good-hearted folks in the SFF community agreed to talk to us because they love Clarion; we "met" amazing people and got amazing advice (and submission opportunities to magazines like Lightspeed and Clarkesworld).
--Be friends with Clarion West! They are your cousins, and of all of the people in the world, they understand what you're going through the best. Become pen pals and send each other goodies and promote each other's work.
--Be aware of (but not freaked out by) the fabled Week 3 or 4 Slump -- the week when the honeymoon period wears off, the sleep deprivation starts to weigh heavy, and homesickness is at its peak. If big fights break out, it's usually during the Slump. The Slump happens. It's normal. Prepare for it with extra kindness for yourself (naps! long solitary beach walks!) and for each other (little presents, games, parties). You'll get through it. By Week 5, the preemptive nostalgia will kick in, and you'll be back to being a huge cuddle puddle.
--Self care, self care, self care.
-- If you have a problem with a classmate (i.e., someone who consistently isn't showing up to class or providing critiques), talk to them about it. If you can't work it out with that person for whatever reason, talk to your instructors and your faculty advisor about it. Instructors do communicate with each other, but a lot gets dropped from one week to the next, and if Person A is consistently flaking on critiques, it's not safe to assume that Instructor B will know about and address it.
--Go into your one-on-ones with questions prepared! It's such a valuable time. Don't be afraid to be honest and unflinching -- your instructors here for you, and want to help you grow.
--This is more about group dynamics generally than about Clarion specifically, but: know what group dynamics are healthy for you. Having a buddy/buddies to vent with a bit when you're frustrated with a classmate can be cathartic. Venting about your classmates all of the time can become toxic. Know what's healthy for you. WITH CAVEAT: If someone is making you feel icky or uncomfortable, SPEAK TO OTHER PEOPLE IN THE GROUP. Even if you think it makes you sound paranoid. Even if it's just "Hey, I get kind of a weird vibe from X and I don't know how to handle it." If you feel this way, you're likely not alone. And if someone approaches you with such a conversation, listen. (Also, please feel free to reach out to me/anyone else if you have a question about uncomfortable group dynamics. The Clarion alum network is your friend.)
--If you can afford to, get off-campus to eat occasionally. Cafe Ventanas starts to wear on the stomach after a while.
--Comic-con: GO! Also, visit the Falling Star house. And have reading parties. And run around the woods trail in the middle of the night and howl like wolves. Or don't. Ignore all of this. Make your own magic, you lucky things, you.
--Overall, love each other. Work hard, sleep as much as you can, but don't miss opportunities to get to know each other. You're here to write, yes, but you can write anywhere, can't you? These people are here now. Learn from them, love them, get into the emotional trenches. These are scars you'll be grateful for.

• Get drunk together as soon as possible (if that's your thing). Otherwise, by the time you get close, you'll say, "Why didn't we do this earlier!?" and then you'll only have a week left, and it's hello darkness my old friend. 
• Reading? I managed to get about a half-hour of non-critique reading in before breakfast, while the healthy people were out jogging, but even that broke down by the end of it, because I always had critiques to catch up on. 
• LOOK OUT FOR LIZARDS. People kept saying they saw lizards, and I was jealous, because I wanted to see lizards, but I realized I rarely went outside where lizards were to be seen. But I spotted one through a window. It was glorious. So, uh, go outside. And look out for lizards. 
• People will say, "the beach is such a short walk away," and they will not be lying. But it is about as far vertically as it is horizontally, so you have to become a mountain climber just to get down to the thing and back up. Still worth it--a couple of times. More than that? Some of the healthy people went every day, somehow. They must have legs of steel. I would not want to have to climb back up in the dark. 
• The traffic will make you doubt the wisdom of humans living together at any density. Or maybe not, maybe you're from some place with similar insanity. I am not. The traffic made me feel like I was in a bizarre, crowded world where logic had left our species and nothing made sense. Just expect it to take longer than you think to get to the readings. I think once it took us roughly an hour? I was driving, but I blacked out as a survival mechanism, so I'm not sure how long it actually took. 
• Find your favorite way to connect digitally, because it will be how you continue to hang out after it's over. One of our group created a Slack channel, which I didn't even know was a thing at the time, but which I now use daily. It's how we coordinate our monthly critique group, share news, gossip, etc. It was great while we were there, too, for planning and bullshitting. 
• WITCH HUT. There may still be a witch hut. We found one in the woods one day, and returned in the dead of night. It was some kind of survival shelter made of woven limbs, and inside was an upside-down painting of a hanging rabbit. If it is there, consider convening a group to enter at night. SOMETHING MAY HAPPEN. Fear not. They mean you no harm. 
• THE PRINTERS. They will hate you. And you will hate them. And you will become your hate. There is no escape. 

• steal popsicles and keep them in your fridge for for after Cafe Ventanas closes. the hazelnut popsicles are weirdly gummy. 
• if you sweat a lot and are not from a californian climate you will be astonished at the speed at which your sandals become rank. research ways of dealing with this 
• as writing locations go, the top floor of the seuss library has a much nicer view than your bedroom 
• don't be afraid to push your draft til next week if you come up with different idea that flows more easily at present. walking at night is great for coming up with said ideas 
• try not to repeat comments that people have made six times already, even if that was going to be your main critique. find interesting ways to build on it instead. 
• humorous comments can be fun but usually aren't worth the class time and the potential of being misinterpreted or seeming condescending. 
• if you have terrible handwriting and are taking notes by hand during critiques (and/or writing comments late at night), aim for legibility even if it slows you down 
• if you are a poor sleeper, trying to nap immediately after class can seem helpful but also has the potential to turn into a terrible feedback loop 
• you can ask people at comic-con to consider skyping clarion while they sign your books (william gibson ended up being busy, but he was open to the idea) 
• make sure to loot the free book pile for stuff, because a lot of people with great taste have passed through (e.g. I'm currently reading the Grace Paley collection I picked up there and it's brilliant) 
• BE ABSOLUTELY SURE to read Ted Chiang's story from the Clarion archives 

Take control of your cafeteria destiny! Using the ingredients in the Cafe Ventanas salad bar, you can make yourself: Egg salad sandwiches on toast! Gourmet chicken salad with craisins/apple chunks! The chili (both veg and meaty) is also particularly flexible—have it with rice! Have it with pasta! Have it with lots of salad bar cheese on top!

Set realistic expectations for yourself in terms of written critiques. There's a healthy balance between handing people back completely blank stories and spending hours upon hours writing lengthy notes. If you can find that balance early on and give consistently helpful, succinct notes, you and your workshop peers will be much happier. Positive comments are great too—noting the parts of the story that are working best is just as helpful as noting what's not yet working.

Let people help you! Most of us are usually solo writers, but this is a rare opportunity to brainstorm with other folks and talk through story ideas as you are writing. If the thought doesn't horrify you, try it—I wish I had done this more.

Soak up all the time you can with your instructors! One of the things that surprised me most about Clarion was how much time we got to spend just hanging out and eating meals with amazing SFF luminaries. Volunteer to be the one to show them where the dining hall/classroom/laundry facilities are! Sit next to them at breakfast! If you have a car, offer to give them a ride to X or Y! Invite them when a group walks down to the beach! They might say no—their weeks are as busy/intense as yours are, if not more so, but most instructors are eager to get to know the class. Important caveat: don't be creepy. (Repeat: do not be creepy.)

Line up some pen pals! Getting mail is a fun treat to remind you that the world outside Clarion still exists—even if you only have time to scrawl a few lines on a postcard in response.

Even without a car, you can have small adventures: walk the path around the UCSD "challenge course" or get bubble tea in the Price Center—great alternatives to sitting in your room stewing over your less-than-half-finished story.

SLEEP. Just do it! Preferably at night, in your bed, for more than 5 hours at a time. Not only will this help you give better critiques and write better sentences, but it may also help you be a happier and kinder person too. Encourage your pals to sleep too!

Get out of UCSD AT LEAST once a week with non-Clarion related activities or you’ll go bunkers in no time!