[Writer Post] Convention Round Up
I’ve never gotten around to writing up the FenCon report and now World Fantasy is in the rear view. I have one final comic con the week before Thanksgiving in Waxahachie. Then there’s a well-deserved break until ConDFW in February when it starts all over again. But for now…
There’s probably a whole lot I can say about FenCon, but that time was such a mental muddle given the Day Job Stuff happening at the time. I was there doing a significant number of panels – because Robyn (like SoonerCon which I’ll also be attending again in 2018) takes my stock answer to “how many program items…†as a personal challenge. I answer, “please don’t kill meâ€. Now it seems we have a Tootsie Pop Dilemma – how many programming items does it take to kill Rhonda? (Hopefully) The World May Never Know.
The panels were well-attended and participatory – especially the one where drama ensued. It was the strong women in fiction panel and the strong women ON the panel took on the one dude trying to insert his agenda into it in a man-splainy and pretentious kind of way. It was dealt with quickly and concisely on the panel and then reported and dealt with on a grander scale.
Overall, a good time – stuff done, books sold, and then right back to the Day Job. Even though FenCon reignited my desire and motivation to write more fiction, it’s taken a month to regain the mental capacity to focus. I did have two deadlines for short projects during October that I managed to accomplish – a short story revision and an essay – along with some blogs and exercises. It’s something… but…
Then came World Fantasy. Jimmy and I were volunteer/staff – him in the art show and me as guest liaison. I had the best/easiest GoH of all time. We ended up helping load in books and art. I have a much greater understanding of parcel handlers now.
I was eligible for a panel – which was on Thursday night at 9 pm. It was called “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie†and was based on the Ursula LeGuin essay and Diana Wynne Jones material. LOVE the Tough Guide to Fantasy. The panel went on a 5 minute rabbit trail about STEW. Signed and sold some books at the mass autographing/reception. Came home with even MORE books.
Spent most of my time foisting my book-selling skills at the Skelos Press table. Mark Finn and Jeffrey Shanks were kind enough to buy one of my stories for Skelos 3 and include one of my stories in a future issue and have it available in a preview sampler (that story revision deadline). The least I could do was my part to sell them out of copies. So, HEY, two new stories out in print! Woo! And by helping out hopefully this is the beginning of a long and mutually productive relationship.
But now…there’s no resting on anything. I’ve had more than one person at multiple conventions ask not only what I’m working on or what I’ve done, but when the next long-form piece comes out. The answer is, um, when it’s written. It’s mightily motivating. Really it is. And flattering. Really it is. But now I have also have a new phrase – my To Be Written pile is about as tall as my To Be Read pile. Which means it’s time to hop to.
So as I go try to whittle down that pile, it’s also time for the annual “I don’t participate in NaNoWriMo†disclaimer. It doesn’t work for me. If you are and it does work for you – you go! Go get them word counts! Good luck and see you on the other side of the month.