Writer’s Blog – You Never Know Who’s Paying Attention
ArmadilloCon was a couple of weeks ago. It’s more a literary convention than many of the fan-run conventions I go to, but I still have fun. I try to be nice to people. I work hard, and I sell some books (sometimes even my own). I’ve been doing conventions in my region (with a couple of ventures out and about) since 2000 – first as an assistant to an actor at some of the more media conventions, and then as a writer. I’ve learned a lot along the way, and I think I’m finally hitting my stride – and I don’t even have a novel out or even a qualifying SFWA sale.
That said, I was humbled and awed by this ArmadilloCon. They’ve always been good to me, especially now that they let me channel my Inner Game Show Host with Fannish Feud (man, you agree to wear high heels ONE TIME…8-), but I digress). ArmadilloCon (and all the conventions I attend) go to great lengths to bring in authors and editors higher up on the food chain than I, and I love getting the chance to work with them on panels. What floored me was when some of those authors told me in various conversations that they wished they could’ve attended a panel I moderated – but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts (yes, at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning).
The panel was on Self Promotion. I’ve talked about it here often. I’ve been on panels on the subject at other conventions. What I haven’t CLEARLY REALIZED is there are people out there reading this blog and listening to those panels. We had GREAT panelists on the panel – so it wasn’t just me folks came to hear from, obviously – but we all knew our stuff. And with the way the publishing world is turning, it’s practical knowledge authors of all levels need to know.
The point here is not YAY RHONDA, GO GIRL (yeah, I know…can’t pull that off), it’s that no matter what your level as a professional you have to be a professional. PEOPLE NOTICE. People you don’t know noticing are noticing what you do, how you act on panels, and how you interact with others. You don’t have to be on Grandma Behavior all the time – everyone knows there’s going to be some glitches (bad hair days, deaths in the family, stress, and just Good Old Fashioned Bonehead Maneuvers – happens to the best of us). The kicker will be if it becomes a pattern. I made our audience at the Self-Publishing Panel learn and recite the motto of the Church or Don’t Be an A**hole, otherwise known as Wheaton’s Law – which in family friendly terms is “DON’T BE A JERK”.
If you can learn to be a professional, play well with others, and not sound like a gibbering idiot in front of people (and that might actually be a tough thing to learn for some people), you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish in your career – even without being a “Big Name Author”. If you can pull it off, you never know who you’ll find yourself on even footing with and how that might come back to you.