[Writer Post] Full Steampunk Ahead
“A Storm Trooper, a Ghostbuster, and a Federation Officer walk into a bar…” Go…
And, no, I’m not diving into Steampunk anytime soon. It’s not something that’s stirred my soul – yet. I admire those who do it. I have the tiniest nugget of an idea, but it’s not something I really want to pursue…yet. I spent most of the weekend with O.M. Grey. I went for the pun.
I’m in full on Convention Recovery Mode. ConJour was great. My official “review/summary” is “Small but Receptive.” Attendance was light – owing to Spring Break on a college campus, but those who were there appreciated the panelists, in my opinion – they definitely appreciated HUMOR.
Julia Mandala and I shared a table in the dealer’s room, which was nice to have a “home base” between my panels. On Saturday, I had a panel on every even numbered hour until 6 p.m. But we were all kept hopping – which I rather prefer. I ended up on three panels with Jody Lynn Nye – the GOH, along her husband , Bill Fawcett (who does EVERYTHING). They were as entertaining for those of us on the panels as those in the audience.
The “Collaborations” panel is just an example – and the fact there’s a podcast up of it on Dead Robots’ Society. The panel consisted of Steampunk romance writer, O.M. Grey; Bev Hale; Jody Lynn Nye; Julia Mandala; and myself. It turned into a collaborative effort ON THE PANEL. O.M. Grey does a Steampunk persona, complete with outfits. For Julia and I it was the only good opportunity to “Go Redhead”. Bev is promoting her Steampunk accessories. For a moment, it appeared as if Jody Lynn Nye would be left out – except that she had a magician’s robe in her bag…because it was ConJour, you know. And the collaboration and plot bunnies when on from there – ZOMBIE PARROTS!
That was the beginning of a lovely weekend with very lovely people. Bill Fawcett is an amazing storyteller – as well as businessman. But, as entertaining and informative as he is, Jody Lynn Nye is even more so. She’s one of those seemingly quiet people that you have to watch out for – Julia called her a “Humor Stealth Bomb”.
I know this sounds like a love fest for this one panel, and it kinda is – but the guest list was small enough that I ended up on panels with all these people again, so it was rather an extension of that first panel for me. Like a running joke…SAVE THE BIRD! It’s also good to know that you can get 4 women on a panel and we all had a fangirl thing for David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin. Yeah, it was THAT kind of convention.
Now…I need to work on finishing ROTA and dealing with the plot bunnies that have ingrained themselves into my brain – and on my notebook. That’s the BEST part of any convention, the creative energy that comes out of it. The fact that I was around such brilliant and funny colleagues just energizes me MORE creatively. I need to channel it before it flees. THIS is why we go to conventions. That and to meet those people who’ll buy the books we write. And ConJour was good for meeting some new people and making new connections.
To take it back to the Collaborations panel – that’s what this industry is all about. Collaborative effort. We each help the other to push through walls, get past blocks in order to move forward with our writing – whether we’re professionals or talking with aspiring writers. Listening to the snippets of conversations in the Dealer’s room were also fodder for the mill. And just getting away and laughing – A LOT – which does even more for recharging the batteries. SO, if you’re a writer, or want to be a writer, why aren’t you at your local convention? Go.