IWSG: Missing Mentors

Happy Groundhog Day! Here's hoping you're not seeing lots of snow where you are. I'd hate to deal with that over and over! Today is also blogging day for the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Learn more about them on their website, Facebook, and Twitter.

Our hosts for this month are Joylene Nowell Butler,  Jacqui Murray, Sandra Cox, and Lee Lowery. 

Our question for this month is Is there someone who supported or influenced you that perhaps isn't around anymore? Anyone you miss?

The first person who came to mind when I read this question was Kathleen Massie-Ferch, who taught the first writing class I attended. After the writing class, I maintained contact with her at conventions like WisCon. She mostly wrote short stories and had edited two anthologies. She passed away of breast cancer about twenty years ago before she had a chance to finish the novel she was working on--and before I sold my first short story. 

This question also reminded me of some of the friends I've made through writing workshops, though I still have contact with some of them through Facebook. Hopefully this year we can have more in-person conventions. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to attend either WisCon or ChiCon this year, but it would be great to see some of those writers again.

Do you have any writing mentors who've passed on to the Eternal Convention? Feel free to discuss them in the comments or share a link to your own posts about them. 

Event Appearances for 2016

This year promises to be one of the busiest I've had for a while when it comes to appearances and conventions. My first one will be the Elgin Literary Festival at the end of the month. I'll be part of a science fiction/fantasy panel on Saturday, January 30, and will be selling books afterwards.

My family and I are planning to attend C2E2 in March. Although we will troop as Star Wars characters for part of the time, I plan to seek out as much writing-related programming as possible and leave bookmarks on the freebie table. It would be nice if someday Broad Universe could get a table or rapid-fire reading there.

Finally, in May, we will attend WisCon Memorial Day weekend. It's too soon to know anything about programming yet (panel suggestions are still open, though), but that's always a very busy weekend for us. Alex's birthday falls on Memorial Day this year, so that may affect what we do that day.

I don't have anything else planned for the rest of the year at this point, but something could come up.

Do you have any writing conventions or appearances scheduled for 2016? If so, what are they?

IndieReCon Contests

Have you ever wished there was a convention specifically for indie writers? Apparently, there is one. It's called IndieReCon LIVE!, and it's taking place October 10--October 11 in Sandy, Utah. Even if you can't make it there in person, you can still participate in their contests. Click here for the rules and how to enter for the chance to earn a Howey. (After Hugh Howey, of course. They chose a great person to name their awards after, didn't they?) Most of the contests are free to enter, but some do require a small fee ($15 max) to enter.

I'm personally not sure yet if this is something I want to enter. The rules do allow books published in 2013 to be nominated, so I could enter Twinned Universes. Perhaps if the categories were broken down by genre instead of reader age group, I'd feel that this was a better fit for me. (To me, this con seemed skewed toward YA.) Still, some publicity might come out of it, and you can nominate other authors' works for some of the categories. The deadline for the Total Package contest is June 30th; for all the rest, it's July 31st. I still have time to mull this over.

Does this sound like something that would interest you? Why or why not? Please feel free to comment; it should be much easier to do so now.

A Few Random Notes From ChiCon 7

I've attended lots of panels, but sometimes it's hard to hear what the panelists are saying. More thoughts on panels later.

So far I've attended a panel moderated by Ben Bova. I've also seen Hugh Howey, Connie Willis, and Naomi Kitzmer (not sure of spelling) in passing. Gotta love a WorldCon.

I just bought a long-sleeved shirt since the hotel is over-air-conditioned. I also hear a pair of owl earrings calling me, so I'll have to go back to the dealer's room for them. I've tried looking for the third book in Lynn Viehl's StarDoc series but haven't found it yet. I did see the fourth book but didn't get it. I'll probably regret it later.

I haven't been to any parties (yeah, I'm a party pooper), but I did attend the masquerade last night. Pictures will come later, as will a more thorough writeup. Back to the con....

ChiCon Schedule

 This was supposed to post yesterday, but I was on a business trip and had some problems with the Internet connection at the hotel. Sorry for the delay.

When it comes to a convention like Chicon, I'm a very small fish in a very big pond. But even so, I'll still be on several panels next week. Here's my schedule:

Thursday, 8/30, 6:00-7:30 p.m. --The Future of Food

Friday, 8/31, 3:00--4:30 p.m.--Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading

Monday, 9/3,12:00--1:30 p.m.--Self Publishing- Why or Why Not?


I'll also be helping out at the BroadUniverse table, but I don't know when yet. I'll probably sign up for times at the convention after I've had a chance to agonize over the rest of the program.

ChiCon and Fandom

In little more than a month, it'll be time for ChiCon 7. I was able to attend the last ChiCon in 2000, so I have some idea what to expect. I'm not sure yet if I'll be participating in programming or reading, but I'll probably spend some time at the BroadUniverse table to help promote Lyon's Legacy and other books by members.

ChiCon is different from WisCon (the main convention I attend regularly) in that it attracts a lot of fans in addition to pros such as editors, agents, and writers. While few people wear costumes to WisCon, there will probably be many people doing so at ChiCon. In fact, there's a Masquerade Saturday night. It should be fun to see all the wonderful costumes people create.

One thing that will be a bit odd for me at ChiCon is that since I don't watch TV or movies in my little free time (that's mostly for writing or reading), I'm going to feel out of the loop with some references. Of course, if Busytown Mysteries, my son's favorite show, counts as fantasy, I'm good there. But I haven't watched the latest incarnation of Doctor Who, and I've only read the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire. Maybe I need to read some wikis before Labor Day weekend. Anyone have any suggestions about which fandoms I should learn more about before ChiCon?

Convention Conversation

I'm finally done posting my panel notes from WisCon. I probably won't be going to another convention this year, but I've already signed up for next year's WisCon and ChiCon (The World Convention). I tend mostly to go to local conventions; the farthest I've traveled for a convention was to Minneapolis/St. Paul for a World Fantasy convention. Perhaps when Alex is older, I'd like to go to ReaderCon or CapriCon.

Which conventions or writing conferences have you been to? They needn't be SF/fantasy related. Are there any that you'd like to attend?

WriteOnCon Recap

First, I'd like to thank the organizers and industry professionals who made WriteOnCon such a success. They put a lot of effort into the presentations and the site. I was among those who couldn't access the website on the first day due to server problems, so I appreciated it when Elana and some of the other organizers posted the presentations on their own blogs. That way, I could still follow along.

There were so many presentations with a lot of information, so it's hard to pick my favorite. I would say I found the live agent chats where the agents reviewed query letters and sample pages most helpful. But all of the presentations are still on the website, so you can go back and view them for yourself. The forums will be available for at least a little longer, so there's still time to post material, critique, and network.

Although the con was set up for working people, I was glad to have the time off. I felt free to watch the vlog presentations, which I wouldn't have done at work. Plus I had more time to critique others' sample pages and work on my next project.

If the organizers run something like this next year, I personally would be happy to donate a small amount (say $10) to help defray server and administration costs. But I think it's great that they kept it free to allow everyone access.

Anyway, it's back to work for me today, so I have to make this short. I have some fun personal things planned for this weekend, so perhaps I'll have time to post some pictures. (After finishing up crits on the WriteOnCon forum, of course.) By Monday, I should be ready to return to a normal blogging schedule. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Gearing Up for WriteOnCon

Tomorrow I'm going to a different type of writing convention--an online one. WriteOnCon runs from Tuesday, August 10, through Thursday, August 12. Although it's primarily geared for kidlit authors, the organizers say there will be plenty of information that writers of all kinds will find useful. Since it's free, there's no reason not to sign up.

It's strange preparing for an online convention. I decided to take the next few days off (I have plenty of vacation time) so I could focus on the con, but it looks like most of the chats will be in the evening, when my family will be home. I can always revise my work and critique other people's during the day. Since this convention promises to be a big one, there should be lots of networking opportunities.

Is anyone else attending this con? Have you attended other online cons before? I'm not sure what to expect. At least this is much cheaper than traveling to a real-life con, and I don't have to worry about sleeping in a hotel room or conflicting panels. I think I will miss a real dealer's room, but that may be easier on my wallet too. ;)

As for preparations, I've posted my current query letter for review, and I'll do the same with parts of Across Two Universes once I'm allowed to. Off to go review them one last time...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

and I'm not talking about Christmas, but WisCon! WisCon is the world's leading feminist science fiction convention (yes, men are still welcome). It's a really great convention for writers, as it attracts plenty of authors, editors, and agents. As if that wasn't good enough, it's held in my beloved Madison in my favorite season. (Though that doesn't guarantee good weather.) I've lost track of how many years I've been going, but I did start last century. I must admit travel has become more complicated now with a toddler, but luckily WisCon does offer good childcare for a nominal fee. Besides attending the con, we'll be meeting up with college friends and celebrating Alex's third birthday.


So, my readers, do you go to writing conventions? If so, which ones? I know they're not too hard to find for SF and romance, but what about other genres, like YA? Do you have conventions dedicated to your genre?

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, and if you can, come back here for updates!

Back on the Blog Chain: Business or Pleasure?

Time again for another Blog Chain Post! We've added several new members to the chain; their blogs are in the sidebar, so please visit them! This round, Michelle asked us:

Do you write for the market or for yourself? Why? Are there times you do both? Or times when you've written something specifically because it was "hot" at the moment? If so, how did it turn out? 

Amanda posted before me, and Eric follows me.


I've mentioned before that I feel the answer to most "either-or" questions lies somewhere in the middle. For this question, though, my answer lies closer to one end (myself) than the other (the market). Writing a novel is like running a marathon; it takes a lot of dedication, and if you're not committed to your project, it's easy to walk away from it. There's also often a long lag time between the sale of a book and its appearance in bookstores, so a trend may lose popularity before the book is published.

One of the things that drives me to write is the desire to read types of stories that weren't getting published. When I first started writing my Season Lord books, much of the fantasy out there was set in the medieval era, so I wanted to use a different time period. I chose the Victorian era--or at least an imitation of it, since my story was set in a fantastic country with significant differences from England. These days, it's more common to see stories use this time period. It makes me wonder sometimes if I should pull Day of All Seasons out and rework it into something more publishable. Across Two Universes was originally written as Beatles fanfiction (something that's very hard to market). I did choose to remove the Beatles references to make the story more marketable, but I think that also gave me more freedom to shape events in the story as I choose.

Amanda mentioned in her post how she came up with a unique take on urban fantasy but had a hard time finding an agent for her book. My NaNoWriMo project was my attempt to twist the tropes of urban fantasy. I like some of the things urban fantasy does (strong female protagonists, mixing magic with the modern world) but dislike others (the heroines all start sounding the same, too much emphasis on fashion, more lust than real love in the romance). These things may appeal to a certain segment of readers, but I'm not part of it. My idea was to focus on a pair of sisters, one older and a working mother, the other younger and interested in fashion. That way, there's a heroine to suit everyone. I still haven't finished the first draft of this story; it's something I plan to return to after I'm done with Across Two Universes, though.

Before I end this post, I'd like to share with you part of an essay called "Why Should You Be a Writer Anyway?" I wrote several years ago for my website. I attended a panel at ChiCon in 2000 where professional authors talked about their careers. Here are my thoughts on writing as a full-time profession:

A couple of years ago at ChiCon, the 58th World Science Fiction Convention, I attended a panel where professional writers discussed the pros and cons of becoming a freelance writer. I came away from that panel with the impression that it wasn’t worth it; you would trade a regular paycheck and benefits for a job with irregular payments and no benefits, particularly no health care coverage. Also, some of the writers on that panel paid the bills by writing media tie-in novels, just as the writer I mentioned earlier did. If you enjoy the shows and like to write about them, that may be fine. Personally, I consider that taking time from my own personal projects. In effect, those writers still can’t work full-time on their own unique projects either, since their first priority has to be putting food on the table.

I need a day job to support my family, so I'm in no position to write full time. But if you do reach that point in your career, you may find yourself having to write for the market after all, whether it be media tie-in books or short stories for an anthology. (Often editors will invite published authors to submit stories for a themed anthology.) So what you write may change depending on if you're doing it for business or for pleasure. But as long as there are still a diverse range of publishers, there will be places for books that don't follow trends. Go forth and start your own trend!

The WisCon That Almost Wasn't , Part Two

Saturday morning, Alex's fever was broken. That was good, as we could stay in Madison.

We spent the morning at the Farmer's Market. We didn't buy much, just a few jars of jam and a lily of the valley plant. Then we met a couple of people from the OWW for lunch. (Hi again to Jodi, Holly, and everyone else I met at WisCon!) Alex fell asleep shortly lunch and slept through most of it. Afterwards, I had my first two panels, the ones on Keeping Up with Science and Resolving Time Travel Paradoxes. They went well, though I think I contributed more to the first panel than the second. I also listened to a panel on bisexual characters in fiction. Meanwhile, Eugene took care of Alex, since we weren't sure if he was ready for daycare. That meant I had to leave my laptop in the hotel room so Alex could listen to "Yellow Submarine," so I don't have any notes from Saturday's panels.

After the last panel, we met some college friends for dinner. We walked around the Capitol building for a while; Alex proved he was back to himself by climbing all the stairs. When we stopped at a coffeehouse for dessert, he took my brownie. I guess it was more appealing than his cookie.

I went to some of the parties while Eugene put Alex to bed, but I didn't drink anything and was back in the room around 11:00. I'm fun like that. ;)

Sunday--We had breakfast at the hotel, then brought Alex to the daycare center at the con. One of the babysitters remembered him from last year. I sat with him for a while until he was content playing with some of their toys, then went to my final panel on Keeping Science in Science Fiction. Our moderator never showed up, but another panelist took over, and it went pretty well. I'm glad to say that people were engaged in all of the panels I was on.

Alex napped early again, sleeping through part of the lunch break. We decided to let him sleep and had lunch by ourselves at a Himalayan restaurant on State Street. Then Eugene bummed around for a while on his own. I wound up missing the first panel of the afternoon, since our lunch was late, so I stopped at the Soap Opera and shopped. I also brought Alex some leftovers from lunch, but after two bites of flatbread he refused the rest. I did take notes at the final two panels I attended (Wish Fulfillment in Fiction and Dear Writer, I Don't Want Kids!); soon I'll upload them to my website.

We met some friends for dinner at Ella's Deli. Alex really loved Eugene's meal, or at least the lunch meat. He's quite the carnivore! Then we gave him a few rides on the carousel; he didn't want to leave. I missed the guest of honor speeches, but I did get to go to some of the parties. They had a fancy dress party and a belly dancing party, among others. Those two were the most fun. I met a few more writers and tried belly dancing briefly. Since I missed part of the lesson, I was as graceful as an elephant with a broken leg. It would be fun to take lessons if I had the time. Of course, that'll never happen.

Monday: We checked out and had breakfast at a pancake house. Alex threw a tantrum because he was hungry, but chocolate chip pancakes and an apple waffle cured that. We planned to visit the zoo, but again he napped early. So we let him sleep in the carseat and visited Borders separately. (One of us stayed with Alex while the other browsed.) We drove around campus for a bit; it's changed so much since we were there. We did stop briefly at Memorial Union, where we got to see a mother duck with lots of baby ducklings--at least fifteen.

Then it was time to bid Madison a fond farewell and head home. We stopped in Janesville to eat and let Alex run around. He had a great time but fell asleep again on the way home. We got in late, but still managed to get most of the unpacking done before bed.

So, that was my WisCon. Sorry I don't have pictures. I did pick up several books in the dealer's room; I plan to give two of them in later contests. While I'm glad to say Alex is better, I seem to have the flu. Taking nighttime medicine at work was a big mistake; I was very groggy and sleepy today. I couldn't even write during lunch! If I'm not feeling better tomorrow, I might just bring Alex to daycare and head back home for some rest.

The WisCon That Almost Wasn't

I was so busy over WisCon that I didn't have time to blog or Twitter about it. So here's my recap:

Friday--After dropping Alex off at daycare in the morning, I ran a bunch of errands before coming home to pack. As if figuring out what clothes I wanted to bring wasn't hard enough, I also had to pack Alex's gear. I overdid it a bit with toys and books, but keeping a toddler entertained is important. Around 3:00, I got a call from daycare telling me Alex had vomited and I needed to pick him up. He was acting fine when I got there, so I thought perhaps it was a fluke. Eugene was home when we arrived, so after we dealt with Alex's tantrum (he wanted to go to the park) and packed the car, we were off to Madison. We ran into a few slow spots on the highway, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Since I couldn't remember where I'd put my Revolver CD, I had to play "Yellow Submarine" repeatedly on my laptop to keep Alex happy. At least I got some writing done along the way.

We checked in and went out for dinner. I missed the opening ceremonies, but I was able to pick up my badge. Alex didn't want to eat his pizza; he mainly had apple juice. We put him to bed in a Pack'n'Play from the hotel and went to sleep ourselves.

All was well until 2:00 or so in the morning, when we heard Alex coughing a whole lot. Then he threw up, getting it all over him. As if that wasn't bad enough, he was burning with fever. Eugene ran out to a 24-hour Walgreens for a thermometer and Tylenol. After we dosed him, we put him in our bed between us. He threw up again, this time partly on Eugene. We tried to sleep, but I was thinking we might have to drive back home in the morning.

It's getting late, so I'll post more of the story tomorrow....

Work In Progress Wednesday

Here's a quick update:

Currently On: Chapter Nine, Page 89
Total Pages: 284
Total Words: 91,000

It's not much progress, but I had to delete a scene and start over, plus I didn't get any writing done over the weekend, as Alex napped very poorly. At least I finished the scene that was giving me so much trouble. Still, I'll be glad when I get Paul and his friends into Chicago so they can meet Sean.

I probably won't get much writing done this week, as WisCon starts this Friday! I'm on three panels (keeping up with science, paradoxes of time travel, and engaging the public in science), and I still have to prep for them. Remember the blog chain on wish fulfillment in fiction? That's going to be a panel, but I'm not on that one. (I did suggest the topic, however.) Hopefully I'll be able to attend parties and meet people this year; I didn't do too much last year since I had to stay at the overflow hotel. I also plan to pick up some prizes for contests, so keep on reading!

Work in Progress Wednesday

I forgot to check my wordcount after lunch today, but I did note where I am in the story:

Currently On: Across Two Universes, Chapter Seven, Page 75
Total Pages: 290
Total Word Count: 94,000

I think I'm close to finishing Chapter Seven, possibly by the end of the week. I do have to figure out the logistics of Chapter Eight (I'm writing new scenes), but at some point, I think I may actually stop tossing everything I've previously written and just edit text. Wouldn't that be something? It would be nice, because May is going to be busy for me. I'm on three panels at WisCon Memorial Day weekend, then the following weekend is Alex's birthday party. The weekend after that, I'm off on a business trip. (At least I should get to read/write while I travel.)

As long as I'm blogging, I'd like to remind people that there's less than a week left to follow my blog and become eligible to win a $10 gift card from Barnes and Noble. You can see my original post here. And if you refer someone who then follows me, you have a chance to win a second gift card. The drawing is next Tuesday, the 28th. Don't forget!

A Momentary Taste of WisCon

That's the name of WisCon's official newsletter (though this year they're doing it as a blog), and it sums up my con experience this year.

Although I took Friday off, Eugene had an important errand to run in the afternoon, so we didn't leave for Madison until close to 5:00. We stopped along the way, so we didn't arrive at our hotel until nearly 8:00. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a room in the con hotel this year, so we were in an overflow hotel. The silver lining was that we had a suite, which is nice because we could put Alex to sleep in one room and stay up in the bedroom. But this meant we had to tote everything we needed for Alex and Eugene's photography equipment with us for a few blocks. It's also the main reason I skipped all of the nighttime activities at the con, even the dessert function I'd prepaid for; I didn’t want to be walking around by myself late at night.

After visiting the Farmer's Market Saturday morning, I picked up my registration packet and brought Alex to the on-site daycare. (He clung to me every time I brought him there because it was strange to him; he's much better at his normal daycare. But this afternoon, he was playing like a whirling dervish.) I also brought some copies of the anthology to the BroadUniverse table for sale. Then I went to my first panel while Eugene bummed up and down State Street. We met for lunch (picking up Alex so the daycare providers could have their own break). After lunch, I participated in a rapid-fire reading with a dozen other members of BroadUniverse; people told me afterwards my reading went well. I went to another panel, then volunteered at the BroadUniverse table for an hour. We had dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant. Alex did OK for a while but got fussy toward the end.

On Sunday, I went to three panels. I skipped a panel in the middle of the afternoon to bum around State Street myself. I could have splurged in Wintersilks--there was a teal silk blazer I came within a hair's-breath of buying--but limited myself to one silk tee. (The near-purchase gave me an idea for a short story, though.) We had dinner at a tapas restaurant before returning to our hotel; I had to leave early with Alex because the noise got to be too much for him.

I never do much at the con on Monday. We checked out of our hotel and immediately went to the con hotel to make reservations for next year. Then we left Madison. We stopped along the way to visit my parents. Now we’re trying to unwind before going back to work tomorrow.

It was great to be back in Madison in the spring again; when the weather is good for Memorial Day weekend, it doesn't get much better than it did this weekend. It was also good to be back at WisCon again, though I did feel a little isolated by not going to the parties and other nighttime events. I didn't get much time with my friend Margie either. Apologies to our Madison friends that we weren’t able to get together this time. We definitely will in the fall for our yearly reunion.

Top Ten Reasons I Haven't Blogged Lately

10. I look at the floor, and I see it needs sweeping.

9. I have to sleep sometime.

8. Still waiting to get copies of the anthology...

7. so I can pick a section to read at WisCon.

6. There's still a lot to do before WisCon but precious little time to do it.

5. Getting ready for Alex's first birthday party.

4. I'm working on a short story, but I'm stalled, as usual.

3. I'm still trying to develop a query package for Thine Own Self.

2. Eugene needs quality time too.

1. All Alex, all the time.

Introduction

It's all Heather's fault that I'm blogging. :)

Heather is a friend of mine who recently started a blog of her own. I wanted to post a reply, but I couldn't unless I registered. So here I am. I suppose it's inevitable, given that college friends and some of my writing friends are blogging as well. Whether or not I'll find time to keep this up is another story.

A little about myself: I'm 35 and recently married to a wonderful husband named Eugene. My day job is as an assistant scientist in R&D for an enzyme company. In my copious seconds of free time, I'm a science fiction/fantasy writer. I've sold one short story to an anthology which hasn't been published yet. I'm currently working on two separate trilogies, one science fiction (involving time/space travel, alternate universes, quantum mechanics, space colonies, an AI, Shakespeare, and John Lennon's clone--but otherwise nothing much) and one quasi-Victorian fantasy centered around a group of four magical women. Plus I'm also a member of OWW, an online writing workshop for science fiction/fantasy writers. This means I spend lots of time reviewing other people's work and getting reviewed in return. It's helpful, though; I couldn't have sold that short story without the reviews I got from other people. Add in taking care of the apartment and monitoring my favorite forums, and some days I'm lucky if I get five minutes to read. Sigh.

Believe it or not, I do get away from the computer once in a while. I was up in Madison this weekend for the World Fantasy Convention. I attended a bunch of panels on writing and got to meet some people from OWW in person. Eugene and I also had an annual get-together/dinner with some of our friends from college. I haven't downloaded the pictures I took yet, but I'll do that in the next day or so.

I should probably explain the title of my blog. As an SF/F writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about my stories. While I do care about what's going on in the real world, I don't devote much attention to the latest TV, music, movies, and so on; I focus instead on my writing. So how much do I have in common with other people who aren't writers? It's as if my real country is Writing, not Mundania. While I'll discuss other things going on with my life, I intend to talk about writing and my current projects here as well.

Speaking of writing, I think this is enough for one post. I didn't get much writing done at the convention, so it's time to return to fiction for a while....