[Writer Blog] SoonerCon 23
Welcome to the second installment of “SoonerCon In Review Week”. This is where I talk to you about in the writer realm… and why you should not only go to this convention, but if you’re a writer/artist/creative professional you should get to know this con com and GO. If you’re a fan, get your behind up to OKC. These Oklahomans know how to do it up right. This is going to be kinda long… feel free to take a bathroom/coffee break in the middle. 😎
I’ll get the one “negative” out of the way up front – and it was totally ME and not THEM. Now that I’ve slept, I feel the need to apologize for anyone I was “OVERLY ENTHUSIASTIC” on (and get your mind out of that gutter). I was just so happy to be among “my kind” after dealing with Soul-Sucking Day Job that if I talked OVER you, or was too chatty or too loud… I sincerely apologize. I’m in that look back that does the insecure second-guessing thing…And to Lotus Comics Press, I do apologize for being a bit nuts when I thought I lost my badge right before the interview…I’d had a wallet stolen earlier this Spring and…flashback panic. And now, on with the show.
Linda Donahue, Me, Chad Elijah (as the Joker), and Julia Mandala
The one thing I absolutely LOVE about this convention is that they are always (ALWAYS) trying to improve the convention – for both the panelists and the fans. They struggled with figuring out how to throw an affordable con while providing a good experience… and after a bit of struggle with dates and facilities…they found the Reed Convention Center. It’s weird but cool. They made some layout changes from last year that worked really well – except for the one time it didn’t – but hey it’s a fact of life that when you fix one problem, four more leap up to take its place. It was a traffic flow issue on Saturday night that had a workaround, so no major issue there.
I’m now glad I had Friday “free” to talk to people because I was booked solid on Saturday and Sunday (which I like, I like feeling useful). The panels were nicely designed and well-attended. There were tons of options for fans – and they made good use of them. I know how hard it is to come up with programming that fits everyone and to get people to be on them without having a Gordian Knot, but they did well. There are some conventions that when they start to include “media” guests, it becomes all about Hollywood – and the core writers/artists/etc are shunted. Not so here – and hopefully some of the fresh new faces who may have come for the media folk will return for years to come.
Selina doing her reading – and saving audience for me. 😎
I had fun on my panels on Sorcery, Fairy Tales, and Networking – which were all fantastic and very professionally done. I think we managed to entertain as well as inform… Thanks to Selina, I had people at my reading – because they didn’t leave after HERS. The Road Show could’ve had more people, but it was SO MUCH FUN. If you were watching “Fairest of Them All”, okay, but you missed improve at it’s goofiest. I did kind of embarrass J. Kathleen Cheney in the Sorcery panel by pimping her books while she was in the audience – but they’re GOOD BOOKS, you should read them.
The intricacy of this costume floors me.
And seriously, if you have a chance to be interviewed by Chad Elijah and the Lotus Comics Press Crew – DO IT. His Joker is creepy fun, but they’re pros. They know how to do a good interview and put the interviewees at ease. They ask good questions and genuinely care about the genre. Please check them out and support them. They rock.
Being on the “What Star Trek Means to Me” panel was amazingly insane. Thanks to the SoonerCon crew, Larry Nemecek, and Vic Mignogna for letting me be part of that. One of our panelists had to bow out – so I was the only “non-professional” Star Trek fan (meaning I’ve not made money off the franchise or created a fan film) on the panel. And I still hope to see photos and videos of it, because I THINK I was coherent and held my own but would like to see for myself. I might actually make that the Spotlight post for Friday.
The one, blurry pic sent to me….Me, Larry Nemeck, and Vic Mignogna.
Part of me is glad (now) I had paneling until 4pm, because it was really, really hard to leave. I haven’t done a fan run convention since February, and as cool as doing the comic book shows is – I do love meeting fans and potential fans wherever I go – there’s a special (and rejuvenating) energy to the conventions like SoonerCon. Writing is a very solitary gig – getting to hang out with like minds (and over-the-top personalities) is awesome. The spectacle of the costumes and fans is inspiring. So, go to SoonerCon next year… join us for LobbyCon: The Gateway Party… that’s the random group of folks sitting in the comfy chairs by the hotel elevator. We’re fun and only bite when asked nicely.