Tag Archives: LibertyCon

More Than Three Toes

I’ve been a sloth since I got back from the trip. I’ve written hardly at all, though I’ve puttered through a number of projects for Pennsic. I think it’s a normal neap tide after a 25-day trip, though I know there are other factors.

My birthday was last week. I turned 48. I survived the day. That might sound sarcastic, but a good friend of mine turned 48 on June 22nd and did not survive the day. I also had a guy I’ve looked up to for over 30 years also pass away recently. The last day of LibertyCon held both of their memorials. What a strange day. Exciting in many ways, but hard. It might be that my sadness from their deaths has stripped me of motivation, but if so, that’s a horrible tribute to both of them.

The truth is that while there’s no major news in my world, things have been going generally well. I have some irons in the fire that might or might not pan out, but we’ll see. Just having these ideas is a great start.

I am starting to get excited about Pennsic. I’ll do a pre-Pennsic post next week. I am upgrading my SCA furniture, which has needed some refurbishing. In particular, I’m replacing a couple of 6-board chests that have seen better days.  At Trillium War I was pleased with how smoothly my setup went, and it will be getting better. I also have a couple of cool ceremonial things happening at Pennsic.

Football season is also on the horizon, as training camps start in about a week. I’ll review my predictions from last year and make my predictions for this year. Injuries killed my Cowboys last year, more than most of you know about, and if they return to simply average luck, the Cowboys will be better than many people think.

I’m also excited about some of my ideas for Where Now the Rider, which while I’ve not been writing it, I have been letting it percolate in my mind. By the end of this novel Edward will be settled in Achrida fully, but it won’t be easy.

I’ve got some SCA things happening, too. I’ve a project that I’ve wanted to start for some time that will commence after Pennsic. I’m sure I’ll talk about it more later on.

The other good news is that I see myself flowing back up from the ebb. Writing this blog post is a definite sign of that. When I’m down I tend to become a hermit crab. In fact, it’s time to get working on something else. Have a great day everyone.

 

 

LibertyCon 2016 AAR

I’m sitting in Brewbaker’s, a bar near my house that has WiFi, Diet Dr. Pepper, comfy chairs, good food, and the patience to put with a writer occupying a table for hours on end. They are very good to me, especially Tanya, my beautiful blonde server in whose section I normally sit. Damn, it’s good to be home.

But while I’m happy to see my cat, sleep in my own bed, lounge in my comfy chair, and write in my home bar, I am already looking forward to LibertyCon XXX next year. It is absolutely true that LibertyCon is not a con, it’s a family reunion, .

The weekend did not start auspiciously, however. I got there early on Thursday, as I stayed in Across, GA at Sam Davis’s house and the Choo Choo said my room was ready. I got there to find that they had put me in Building 3, which was a bad thing because I had planned a room party and they all had to be in Building 1. The hotel was sold out, so the hotel could not do anything, and I thought I was going to be screwed. I was tired, frustrated, worried, and very grumpy.

I contacted Rich Groller, who arranged all the programming including the room parties, and he fixed the problem. He basically came up, handed me a towel, said, “Don’t panic,” and it was fixed. I got a great room for a room party, and for the long weekend. That moment of worry is by far the lowlight of the weekend, and because of the LibertyCon staff the lowlight was dealt with smoothly and easily.

The rest of Thursday involved a goodly amount of planning for the party, including walking around the hotel putting up signs. As a side note, the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel occupies a goodly amount of area. My fit app on my phone was very pleased with me this weekend, as I hit every goal every day. I also dropped by Robert Hoyt’s birthday party, Con Suite, and some other places to chat. Not a huge evening, but I didn’t want one because I knew Friday would be a long, hard day.

I started the day making a few more preparations for the party and getting my con badge. I also made arrangements to put my cart in the dealer’s room with Michael Hanson. Opening Ceremonies was at 5pm, and I had a spot on the Author’s Alley at 6pm, and pre-positioning my books was necessary to the logistics.

At 3pm was my only panel, and that was on writing swords and sorcery. I enjoyed the panel quite a bit. S. Andrew Swann did a good job of moderating, especially since he had not gotten the memo that he was the moderator. There were four others of us on the panel, and we all had a different take on fantasy. I think I contributed some, but thought I could have done better. However, I must have done at least moderately well, given that there were several people who saw me on the panel and then bought my books.

I wish I had been on more panels, however, that’s my fault for not getting in on programming early enough. Rich said I’m already on the list for next year, though.

I had an hour break in which I moved my books. Books are heavy. I have a cart, but it’s 100 plus yards from my room to the main con area. I made that trek pushing my cart 4 times, I think. Selling books is likely to make me stronger, at least.

Opening Ceremonies were fun for me. Gray Rinehart was the MC, which was a bit of a disappointment for me, though that’s no slight on Gray. Marc Gunn was the original scheduled MC, and he and I have chatted online some and I was hoping to meet him face to face. However, he had to cancel. Gray, though, did a great job, starting with a filk of David Bowie’s Major Tom, “Ground control to LibertyCon.” The highlight was the moment when he said he was a “monster” then pulled out the Monster Hunters International coin saying he was exempt. Brilliant.

For me, the key moment was being in the list with people like David Weber, Larry Correia, Sarah Hoyt, and all the other authors. Yes, I got to stand up and wave to the crowd. That was cool.

Then I set up for my first Author’s Alley hour. This is a really nice thing they offered us, a cheap table in the main walking area where we can sell books and interact with readers. While I struggled with the logistics, mostly because I did not think to ask Jonny Minion for help, and I did not sell a ton, I thought it went well. My three hours were not wasted.

After the Author’s Alley I hustled my books back to my room and made my final preparations for the party. One of the mistakes I made was not thinking to talk to other people about their release party plans. I should have joined forces. However, my party went very well. It’s like I’ve thrown parties and postrevels before, though I did forget bottled water. I did have cider, which turned out to be important, as I’ll mention later.

I credit Jonathan LaForce’s BBQ as a big reason for the party’s success. I gave him some money and said bring what you think is right. He brought a bunch of stuff. I’ve had a lot of brisket in my life. I’ve even made a few that were incredibly tasty. Jonathan’s might be the best I’ve ever had. If it isn’t, I can’t remember a better one. I hope to be able to do another release party next year, and if he can be there I’ll do it again. Plus, I’ll get myself a separate brisket just for me.

One other thing that is continuing to work well is my silly Wandering Signature Chart. I put it on the bottom of my party flyers and I had at least 5 people come in asking about it. Plus, a number of other authors are probably going to steal the idea. Not to mention the normal fun and whimsy it adds at dealer tables and other signing opportunities. One of the biggest highlights of the weekend was Steve Jackson reading it at the party.

The other person who helped was Jasmine DeGroot, who served as my bouncer. LibertyCon requires all room parties to be peanut free and have someone check IDs. Not surprisingly, no one under 21 tried to get booze, but Jasmine ensured I didn’t have to pay attention to that and could pay attention to the people that came to the party.

And man, did people come to the party. I had expected only about 10-15 all night, but I’m thinking over 50 cycled through. They overflowed out to the courtyard behind my room. I talked to a bunch of people, sold a few books, and I think we all had a great time. The last person left at 2:19am. I puttered around cleaning up and got to sleep at 3ish.

Fortunately, my first thing on Saturday started at 3pm. I was signing books in the Dealer’s Room. This ended up being essentially useless, because the Baen Roadshow was at the same time. Shockingly, I can’t compete with that… yet 🙂

Immediately after that was my reading. I had anticipated a 10 minute chunk, so when I found out I had 20-25 I was scrambling a bit. I combined the two chapters in I Am a Wondrous Thing where the husbands encourage Irina to step down and when the husbands all die to free her to live her life. It was a great choice in many ways, and had I really prepared for the crying that I would do as I was reading these parts, it would have been a fantastic reading. I care about my characters, and I cry when I kill them.

I had one more Author’s Alley hour for the day, starting at 8pm. Afterwards, I put my books away and socialized at the Con Suite where Mark Wandrey and Gail Z. Martin were having their book release parties. The best part of this was talking to a couple of people about some possible projects for the future.

Sunday started with the Koffeeklatsch, which was another opportunity for authors and readers to socialize. Another side note, LibertyCon really tries to create connections between authors and their readers. Last year I got the chance to chat with David Weber for a long time. This year was a number of other authors and readers. I did also initiate discussions on yet another project, something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.

At 1pm I got my final Author’s Alley slot. A few more sales and more chatting. Then I got to put my books away. Books are heavy, did I mention that? I was glad to get those back into the car.

Closing Ceremonies, also called the Bitch at Brandy session, started at 3pm. One of the best things about LibertyCon is their willingness and desire to improve and tweak things. It was nice to hear that something like $8500 was raised for the con charity, which will sound larger when you realize that the con is capped at 750 attendees. Over $10 per person was donated to the charity. Not shabby. For me, I donated a set of my books to the charity auction. I wonder how much they went for.

The Dead Dog party started at 6pm. This turned out to be wonderful. Basically staff, the pros, and those who can stay for Sunday night all hang out. I actually got to game some, which I had not had a chance to do despite the fact that the gaming room was open 24/7. I played Splendor with Melissa Gay, the artist guest of honor, her husband, and some others.

I mentioned before that providing cider was important. It turned out that Steve Jackson pretty much only drinks Angry Orchard cider, and I happened to be the only one that provided it. That’s why I got the selfie of Steve and I at the Dead Dog gaming.

From a business perspective, LibertyCon was a success, though not directly. Overall on the trip, I sold enough books to pay for the gas and some of the food, but not the hotel and such. Nevertheless, the residual effect will be strong, I think. In part because it’s my 3rd year at LibertyCon and I’m no longer a new face. The connection with the fans there is awesome, and I’ve seen it from both sides of the fence now.

And then there’s the connections made with other authors. Chris Kennedy has been a big help to me, and he really works to make life easier for other indie authors. Follow him on Twitter for constant and consistent articles about the industry. We did not have much chance to chat, as we were always busy opposite each other. His release party was also on Friday night, and I regret the missed opportunity to have shared a release with him.

Mark Wandrey and I met at ChattaCon. We had another chance to hang out and chat. He’s having some great success right now with his new book A Time to Die, which is gratifying for two reasons. One, I’m glad he’s having success because he’s a friend. Two, his success gives me hope that I will eventually succeed if I continue to plug away.

Got a chance for some small conversations with some people I’ve met but don’t get to talk to often. Jason Cordova and I met 2 years ago, and he has been wonderfully patient answering my questions. Also he has good scotch. James Young lives in the KC area and I’m looking forward to getting to know him better. I’ve liked what I’ve read of his so far. Peter and Dorothy Grant are charming people. I got a few words in with Sarah Hoyt, which if you’ve ever seen her at a con you’ll understand how nice that is. She’s always so busy and so many people, including me, admire her. I had a great conversation with Jim Beall that will make the magic of Shijuren stronger. Geoffrey Mandragora and I got to chat a bit while sitting next to each other in Author’s Alley. Nan Monroe and I shared a fun reading session. She wants to do YA Fantasy right. I found out Beth Patterson is a Rush fan. Dave Schroeder and I got to actually chat, and now I know how to talk about his books while people are looking at them at Drix’s booth. I had a couple of nice, albeit short, conversations with Brad and Sue Sinor. Kal Spriggs was on my panel, and he’s a very sharp guy. I also had nice conversations with David Weber, Toni Weisskopf, Tom Trumpinski, and Rich Weyand.  I never actually got to run into Lou Antonelli, who was there but never where I was. Brad Cooksey has a podcast that I need to listen to and might get a chance to join someday.

I met a ton of other professionals. Jeremy Hicks, Chris Sommerkorn, S. Andrew Swann, Nick Braker, Brett Brooks, David Burkhead, David P. Coe / D.B. Jackson, Bobby Nash, Doug Dandridge, Michael H. Hanson, Thomas A. Mays, and Chuck Gannon. Between SCA 50 Year and quick moments at LibertyCon, I also got to know Mike Williamson.

Whew, what a list. And that’s just the professionals. There are a bunch of great fans at LibertyCon. I’m not going to list all that I talked to, but there were a bunch. Many thanks to all of them for coming and chatting.

However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how nice it was to see Paul Clithero and his wife, Sarah. I had seen his name on Facebook, and I knew that I knew him, but it’s been so long that I’d forgotten so much. We worked at Jimmie’s Diner and drank at the same watering holes around 1990. Sarah is extremely nice and I look forward to getting to know them. They also did their share to support indie authors, buying dozens of books. Many thanks to them.

Of course, none of this is possible without the LibertyCon team. Brandy Spraker, Derek Spraker, Uncle Timmy, Matthew Fanny, Rich Groller, Vonn Gants, and all the rest do a fantastic job. I know these sort of accolades get bandied about at the end of an event, but I’ve seen the sausage made at a lot of events, both SCA and SF/F, and that is probably the most efficient team I’ve ever seen.

I know I’m forgetting stuff, and people, and talking about stuff with those people. But this will do for now.

I am pre-registered for LibertyCon XXX and I have a room reservation. The con will sell out for the 3rd year in a row, and the hotel has *already* sold out. It really is an impressive con.

 

 

Strategy

I’m sitting in an Applebee’s* in Kennesaw, GA right now ready to go to LibertyCon. I almost wish I’d paid for my room for tonight, instead of starting tomorrow as I’m very much looking forward to it. I don’t need a room, Sam Davis has graciously let me crash at his house, but man I’m ready to go.

I’ll do a pre-LibertyCon post tomorrow, but I wanted to finally write about my strategy and goal of Shijuren. I’ve said for while I want to build a world, not simply write a few novels. This, then, is how I aim to do that.

First, I’ll be writing no less than two novels a year in Shijuren as long as I can afford it. One will be an Edward book set in Achrida that I will aim to finish over Thanksgiving each year. I will also write sequels to I Am a Wondrous Thing until I finish the series. Then I’ll write some different series. I might also write an online serial, based on different characters with different stories.

All of these threads will be essentially separate. There will some commonalities, of course, like the magic and occasional crossover characters, but there will be no need to read all of the threads to enjoy any one of them. You’ll get some benefit to reading them all, for if you learn the system of magic in one, you’ll understand it in all. Plus all of the other benefits of reading in the same world.

However, if you prefer the mystery style of the Edward novels over the fantasy style of the Kreisens series, then you can just read those without having any concern that you’re missing crucial aspects of the story by skipping the parts that are not as appealing to you. My ultimate goal is to tie all of the characters together in a later series, but I will endeavor to do so without requiring that you have to read the earlier novels to understand the final series.

When I described this at Planet Comicon, one of the people I talked to said it was something like the Marvel universe. That you could enjoy the Avengers without necessarily having read all the Ironman series, or the Captain America series, or whatever. I like that analogy. I’ve also heard that Robin Hobb has done something like that, but I’ve not read her books… yet. My original thought was to invert the Dragonlance series, which started with a party of D&D characters that as they got higher in level branched out to have separate stories.

The question remains whether I can execute my strategy to the level that these previous examples have done. I quite like what I’ve done so far in the Kreisens series, with Edward having a small role and with the geopolitics brushing along with both.

Now, it’s entirely possible that I won’t do this well, or even if I do, that the stories get so enmeshed that readers will want some information from the books. That’s where the wiki will come into play. One person’s spoiler might be another person’s TL:DR, allowing them to have the information without necessarily reading the books.

You might wonder why I’m structuring this so that people can avoid buying some of my books. I do so for a variety of reasons. One, I’m writing in multiple genres. My mother, for example, likes mysteries, but does not like epic fantasies. I have a number of friends who prefer the other way around. I want to write big scope stories eventually, without alienating people who prefer the different styles.

Two, I believe, as an entertainer it is my job to make you want to read my books. If I write good books and good stories, thereby making you want to read my books, then you’ll buy them and read them. If I don’t, or if I write some in a genre you don’t like, then that’s my fault, not yours, and I shouldn’t expect you to buy them.

Again, I can’t promise I’ll execute this vision well. I can promise I will do my best to write good stories and tie them together. I can also promise that I won’t stop writing in this world. Life might prevent me from writing in this world, but I won’t stop by choice.

I have a lot of stories to tell in Shijuren. I hope you join me as I find out what they all are.

* As a side note, I’ve grown to love Applebee’s. The food’s not great, but it’s not wretched. However, they all have internet and most have outlets available at some tables. And they’re everywhere, meaning I can always find an office to work in.

Pushing Through

One of the things I’ve been trying to do is post more often. I doubt I’ll ever get to the point where I blog every day, or even every weekday, but I understand a blog that does not post regularly becomes irrelevant.

So, even though I don’t really have a topic to focus on, I’m going push through and blog anyway. I guess my best idea is to give you a preview of what you can see on the blog in July.

I’ll have a full, detailed preview of LibertyCon coming around Wednesday the 6th. I’ll have at least one post during the con, probably on Saturday the 9th as I talk about the book release party. Then, on the 12th or so, when I get home, I’ll write a full LibertyCon AAR.

One of my goals between LibertyCon and Pennsic is to lay out a general strategy and road map for my plans for Shijuren. These plans require enough time and enough readers to pay for me to live while I write, so if you’re interested in Shijuren and want to see all the secrets revealed, let people know about my stuff. This post will happen between the 12th and the 16th.

For now, you should know I’m not thinking small.

I also plan, between LibertyCon and Pennsic, to lay out my planned schedule for as far out in the future as makes sense. I’ll have a tentative list of appearances, and reached out to them. One spoiler, since I accidentally paid twice for LibertyCon this year, I’m already paid for LibertyCon 30 in 2017. You can expect a full post about this in the week between the 23rd and 30th.

I’ll also be looking at Patreon and Kickstarter stuff. Money is, not surprisingly, an issue for me, and I’ll be figuring out ways to use these two sources. One Kickstarter that will likely happen is one to pay for the creation of A Lake Most Deep on audiobook.

As a side note, my plan is to release everything in audiobook format eventually, but I need to figure out the process, which I will do as I’m doing the first one. In any case, I hope to have a full plan for that written and published in July.

For not having anything to really say, I sure said a lot. I have to say that this post may be a model for future posts, where I write a blog entry about what’s on tap for the next month. It will serve me as a checklist and provide a preview for you.

Thanks for letting me babble. I’m going to relax for a few days with friends and recharge at Trillium War. I’m sure I will see some of you there. For the rest, I’ll chat with you next week.

More Catching Up

I was going to post a bunch of stuff about SCA 50 Year, and I realized I myself wanted to find a TL:DR version, so clearly it wasn’t worth a whole blog post. Here it is:

I got the book done. I sold some. Met some new people. As land agent, everyone had a spot. We did have a few noise complaints. We warned them. Quite a bit of cool stuff, but there could have been more. Equestrians were definitely the star of the show.

Ok, enough of 50 Year, on to Trillium War. I’m looking forward to a bit of a break, as I probably won’t have a chance to write and won’t have much opportunity to sell, but I need a little down time because next week is very exciting for me.

I’ll be at LibertyCon with a book release party of I Am a Wondrous Thing. I’ll also be on a panel, a reading, and several shots at Author’s Alley. A big weekend for me.

As I say, I’m really excited. This is my third LibertyCon, along with a ChattaCon, and I’m starting to know and be known. Now I go there with 3 books instead of 1, and next year intend to have 5. Making progress.

I hope to maybe have some opportunities to take some of the small stories in my head and find some anthologies that match, and there’s one person in particular I want to chat with. I’ll be stalking him.

This has already been a long, tiring trip, but I have a week of friends and smiling and singing.

In terms of what’s next for me as a writer after LibertyCon. I will spend much of the time between then and Pennsic planning my fall and spring. I will also be doing Pennsic prep, of course. I will throw a few words at Where Now the Rider, and I plan on writing a lot of that at Pennsic. I’ll be sitting in Drix’s booth, writing, waiting for people to come by. By the end of Pennsic, I suspect I’ll be in the 30k range, with a goal to complete a draft by the end of September.

After Pennsic comes WorldCon. I’ll talk about that more later. For now, it’s time to order some bookmarks.

So Many Things…

I have so many things to write about since the last blog post that I’ll be breaking it down into several different posts today.

The first thing is to announce the release of I Am a Wondrous Thing, my third novel set in Shijuren.   This novel is the first in the series I am calling the Kreisens, a planned trilogy set shockingly enough in the Kreisens. BookCover6x9_IAAWT-previewYou can find the book on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HHKZJVA

This was a much harder book for me to write than either of my first two because it’s so much more complex. It had a number of POV characters, it covers a much larger geographical area, and it involves more of the top-level intrigue and diplomacy.

I have had so much fun writing this, and it has expanded my view of Shijuren and where I’m going with the world. I have always had big plans for the world, plans I will soon expand upon in their own blog post, but IAAWT expanded my hopes and goals here. This is going to be a fun place for readers and I, if not for my characters.

I had my usual team of rock stars: Kellie Hultgren, Patrick McEvoy, and Adam Hale all worked hard for me to meet the timing so I could have a book release party at LibertyCon. Thanks guys. I had a bunch of others contribute as well.

The big note of sadness is the sudden passing of Jeff Fox, who helped me orchestrate the body mechanics. We talked briefly two weeks from yesterday about whether he wanted to continue and he was definitely willing and ready. Of course, he was always happen to help. I’m still shocked that a man of his age (mine), in great shape, and who did not drink or anything like that could pass from a heart attack so suddenly.

Shijuren will miss him, as will I. I will someday write more about Jeff, but that’s all I can do at this moment. His death seems so much more imaginary than my fiction right now.

 

A Good Day

Greetings all

It’s been a good day. The big news is that I have a finished draft of I Am a Wondrous Thing, with all the rearrangements and additions that were needed to make it good.

It was a frustrating edit for a while. I would write chapter 34, then realize a different chapter had to be in front it, so I moved it down and rewrote the new chapter 34, then realized another chapter had to be in front of that one and…

Yeah, I wrote chapter 34 about 6 times in this book. With 4 different point of view characters. There was a ton more re-arranging, but now I’ve finally got 58 chapters plus a prologue and an epilogue I really like.

I’m going to do one more quick pass, then send it off to Kellie. While she’s editing, I will do the pre-production stuff like getting the appendices done, the wiki updated, and I’m going to add links to the wiki for the ebook version.

In other words, it’s on track to be available on Amazon by the end of the month.

Now to see if I can arrange a release party at LibertyCon.

 

Random Stuff

I’m in a weird position in terms of writing right now. Kellie, my editor, has her hands on both A Lake Most Deep and the first Irina novel and I can’t work on either.

For A Lake Most Deep she is re-editing it to match the editing style from The Eyes of a Doll. I am getting low on physical copies of ALMD and I am going to order more before Gulf Wars. I’ve been planning to issue a second edition to reflect the things I’ve learned in publishing both ALMD and TEOAD. Mostly, this means revising the cover, changing the font, and the formatting. However, I’m also going to take the time to get it re-edited so it and TEOAD are the product of the same hands.

The first Irina novel, as I may have mentioned, is a much more complex novel, with a large number of threads and perspectives. This is my first foray into such a complicated structure and I’m not sure if what I’m doing is working. Kellie’s looking at it to see what I’m doing right and wrong. I’ve been waffling on titles but for now I’ve decided to call it A Mind-Song of Motherhood. I like that title quite a bit, and it might end up as the title of the trilogy.

What this means is that the top two things on my to-do list are out of my hands. So, I’m focused on other projects.

I’ve started laying out the third Edward novel in my head. I know the hook, the basic background of the story, heck, I even know the title, Where Now the Rider. However, as usual, I don’t know the main villain until I write it. I’m a pantser, what can I say. I’ll start writing the opening chapters tonight or tomorrow and will have a few thousand words ready to go when I turn back to finishing Irina 1.

More importantly to me is my other project, which I’ll keep mostly mum on for now. Suffice it to say that for all of you who will read the Shijuren series of novels, this will be a wonderful and ongoing thing.

It’s this last project that I’ve pounded my head on for the last couple of weeks. I’m getting there, and if I weren’t so paranoid I would have been able to announce it by now, but there you go.

I’m getting more and more excited about the upcoming con schedule. One big reason is that I’ll be more involved. It looks like I’ll be on panels at both Ad-Astra and LibertyCon. Also, I’ve a table at both Planet Comicon and Mid-Americon II here in KC. I’ve also got a line on some smaller regional cons. By the end of the year, hopefully I’ll be more well-known.

The more I read, the more confident I am that I can write. I’m awful at self-promotion, though. Working on it, though.

I think that’s it for now. Have a great day, everyone.

ChattaCon AAR

I had debated about attending ChattaCon for a couple of reasons.

One, I sent in a couple of emails and they fell through the cracks, in part because they had some technical issues. Stuff happens. Still, I wasn’t sure how much exposure and value I would get from the con.

Two, I was pounding on the next novel in all  of January and I was tired. The next one is much more complex and was going slower. Frankly, I was just tired.

Nevertheless, I decided to go to the con if only to get out on the road and re-energize, as driving often does for me. In the end, though, I’m really glad I did go as the con was very productive.

I want to start by thanking Larry Correia for being so gracious and patient with questions not just from me but from anyone who asked him. He knows a ton about the process and is willing to share it with anyone who is interested. I had met him briefly in the Writer’s Seminar at GenCon 2014, but since ChattaCon is much smaller I was able to pick his brain more thoroughly. I look forward to chatting with him again at LibertyCon and other events.

I also got very lucky and ran into William Dietz as he was going to the same room party as I and we had a long chat and stroll on the way. Very nice man with, again, lots of knowledge to learn from.

My biggest problem right now is that no one knows who I am and I made a few nice new contacts that I think will really be helpful in the long run. I had met Uncle Timmy at LibertyCon last year, but only briefly. He has a large following that he might help me penetrate.

He also helped me get with the programming director of LibertyCon and I think I’ll be very active on panels and such there. Probably a reading. That’s a little terrifying, but another step on the path.

Also, at the end of the con, Mark Wandrey and I chatted. I had met Mark before, I think at GenCon 2014, and he is only slightly ahead of me in the independent author career path. I think he and I can help each other quite a bit, and we’re planning on sharing a dealer’s booth at WorldCon.

The last point is a bit embarrassing. I talked with Toni Weisskopf some, and she now knows who I am, at least vagely. She knows I’m an independent author, but really not much more. I offered to give her copies of my books, but chickened out when she asked if it was a submission.

Weird. I had no fear to give her my books as just something to read. But giving them as a submission to Baen? Terrifying. Bah. Sometimes I’m an idiot. Do I think I’m a good enough writer for Baen? Yes. Do I think I’m there now? I don’t know. I guess not knowing, at least right now, is better but I need to get over that fear.

One fear I lost was my worthiness to be on panels. I realized in several that I had something important and relevant to add based on my experiences so far. I don’t know everything, but I do know some things.

To sum up, ChattaCon was a great time. I now know the system and anticipate participating on panels next year. I got to meet some new people, expand some previous relationships, and make some contacts. Totally worth the drive.

Anyway, time to get back to work. Have a great day, people.

 

A Full LibertyCon AAR

Last year, I went to my first LibertyCon because of the list of attendees from Baen Books. This year, I attended because of the fun I had last year. I’m going next year and from now one because of the fun this year.

It’s a decently long drive for me, over 11 hours. I did most of that drive on Wednesday, reaching  Sam and Talina’s house in Marietta 8ish. I suspect I’ll make this the standard plan in the future if they don’t mind. This allowed me to hang out some while recovering from the drive.

Thursday, I made the drive back up to Chattanooga heading initially for the Kinko’s. I had new business cards made up to replace the ones I left at home. I left them in a place where I could not possibly miss them when I walked out of the door. Sigh. I’m good at that.

Anyway, I checked into the hotel on Thursday and was almost immediately invited to the Thursday night party by Gary. This was laid back, but there was some good conversation and I met a number of interesting people. Laid back was all I really wanted, and I went to bed at midnight, very pleased with the start of the Con.

Friday was productive. I spent the morning hanging around outside the art and dealer’s room, meeting some new people and reconnecting with some I’d met before. I sat with Jason Cordova and let him recruit me onto the HMS Wolverine, slated for imminent recommissioning. He introduced me to Jasmine deGroot, another crewmember, who has a twisted sense of humor like his and mine.  I suspect I’m going to really enjoy being a part of Commodore Cordova’s squadron.

Jody Lynn Nye led a world-building workshop that might have been scheduled for two hours, and for next year should be scheduled for two hours. She listed some interesting points about the influences of geography and culture in world-building that made me think.

Then we started making up a world on the fly. Some of the ideas were frankly a bit silly, but for a workshop, making some of the silliest ideas work is probably a good thing. Unfortunately, we had to stop just when we got going well.

My next big event was the Keeping Track of Your Money panel of indie authors. My eyes were opened, but I don’t think I can truly implement all of their advice. Doug Dandridge can apparently publish a book for less than $100. I just don’t think I can publish effectively without editing help, major editing help. Maybe someday, but right now I am too much of an academic and I write too much in Rob-ese.

However, I may have to reconsider my cover art. I really like what Patrick McEvoy did for A Lake Most Deep, but he may just be too expensive. I will have to play around with numbers for The Eyes Of A Doll, my next book.

Then I sat in the Short Story or Novel panel. I’m definitely a novel writer, but I do see how I can expand my sales and my publicity with short stories. What’s embarrassing is that I wrote several this past year, including a couple of 1632-verse ones, that I just need to finish. September I think on finishing and submitting those.

I followed that up with the Indie Marketing Panel. I got a bunch of ideas that I need to follow up on. First and foremost is to be more active here and to expand my internet presence. I’ll probably add a Google Plus page and start tweeting. I am a private person and I tend not to like to put myself and my thoughts out there. However, it’s part of the job.

There were a number of interesting panels after that, but my brain was full and I needed food and recharge time before the recommissioning of the Wolverine. The SCA ceremony geek in me wants to increase the ceremony involved in these sorts of things, but it’s probably more accurate to have a small ceremony followed by socializing.

In any case, I received one of the highlights of the Con, a picture of all involved in the TRMN at the ceremony. Jason insisted that as I was enlisting I joined them. I’m really glad he did because I now have a picture with both me and David Weber in the same group. Naw, I’m not a complete fanboy. I’ll just be in the corner squeeing quietly.

I then spent much of the rest of the evening floating from conversation to conversation and eventually closed down the Con Suite. They really have an amazing Con Suite at LibertyCon. Next year, I may make some pies or something to contribute.

In any case, I went to bed at a time not terribly late, but definitely not early. I got to sleep somewhere around 2:30am, meaning that most of the panels in the morning were not as interesting as they might have been. I essentially got up on Saturday morning solely in time to eat at the Luncheon Banquet.

This was a hoot. Howard Tayler is hilarious, which of course you already knew from reading Schlock Mercenary. They had old science fiction and fantasy books at each table and I went directly to the table with Heinlein’s Space Cadet. While I will always make the same choice, given the other options, that table was in the absolute front and four of the chairs were empty as they were just too “in front” to be prime spots. Though I enjoyed chatting with the people at my table, I would have enjoyed having a full table more.

Nevertheless, I’m definitely adding the banquet to my yearly purchase list.

Then I went to the Baen Traveling Slideshow and Prize Patrol. While I essentially know the entirety of the Baen catalog by heart, I really enjoy seeing and hearing the authors and Toni Weisskopf adding stories and extra tidbits. They give away a goodly amount of swag too. Even though there’s very little that they give away that matches my personal preferences, I really appreciate the amount of stuff they give away. Now if I can only steal…, I mean, acquire legally some of the big posterboards of their book covers that they display at these slideshows. If they all magically disappear one day, I guarantee I didn’t do it… that anyone can prove.

I then did my turn around the dealer’s room and the art show. In general, I don’t buy much, but I had to buy the Grumpy Cat DMing TShirt.

Most of the rest of the afternoon and evening involved lounging and chatting. Quite pleasant.

Later on I went in and watched them demoing Munchkin: Steampunk. I’m totally getting this version, it’s all the whimsy of the Munchkin with twice the gears. I basically sat there and heckled, which all of the players accepted good-naturedly. A really fun relaxed time.

This was capped off with Steve Jackson joining us at the end. They were packing up, but he passed out a bunch of swag. I got my prize of the Con. One of the swag pieces was a blank Munchkin card that simply said “Go Up A Level.” I immediately said to Steve, this has to have a reason. So he signed it. I can’t wait to play that card and shout “Because Steve Jackson Said So, Bitches!”

I went to bed around 1ish, anticipating a long day on Sunday. I think next year, though, I am going to stay for Sunday night and close the Con down right. I’d like to get to know the staff and locals better, they seem like hoopy froods.

Sunday started with the Kaffeeklatsch. I lucked out and happened to sit at David Weber’s table. We chatted on a variety of things, and I was able to ask about the Starfire universe.

I’m not the biggest fan of the game Starfire out there, but I’ve got to be nationally ranked. It was wonderful to hear him chat about his plans and where that’s going now. I guess Chuck Gannon is running that universe now with Steve White. I should reach out to him and see if he’s interested in auditioning another author in that universe. That game is the reason I became a David Weber fan in the first place in something like 1984, and it would be a huge honor to write some stuff set from the perspective of the Tabbies.

Then I watched Family Feud between the Hoyts and the Williamsons. It was even sillier than the TV show, but a lot of fun. I will forever treasure the memory of Sarah Hoyt demanding “Who Did You Poll!?!”

I then sat in the tail end of Sam Flegal’s presentation. He was the artist guest of honor, and he specializes in intricate interpretations of Norse themes. I managed to score a signed copy of the LibertyCon artwork, and I doubt that’s the last thing of his I’ll get.

Celebrity Jeopardy, where the questions are made up and the points don’t matter! They had three of the Con celebrities play Jeopardy using answers relevant to Con and panelist interests. Unfortunately, the Jeopardy game they had was difficult to use, and points weren’t always credited correctly. By this I mean, points were credited correctly at least twice. Still, I’m going to watch it again this year.

Then came Closing Ceremonies. One thing they do really well at LibertyCon is encourage comments, and they subtitle this “Let’s Bitch at Brandy.” I had a couple of small suggestions to the really excellent Android app for LibertyCon. There were lots of other suggestions. Lots and lots. Some of them deserving of attention. Brandy kept smiling. They really do have a good staff.

Of course, nothing can be perfect. One of the things that was striking to me is the difference between SCA people and Con people as a whole. Obviously this is a major generalization of two related bell curves, but I was distressed by how much trash was left on tables in the Con Suite. I get forgetting things, but it was clear that many groups of people simply assumed a member of the Con Suite would pick up their trash.

Yes, they were right, members of Con Suite did pick up their trash, but in my mind they should not have had to.  I’ve never seen the food court at Lilies, Gulf, Pennsic, or Estrella have as much trash simply left for others to deal with. I felt both proud of my SCA side and ashamed of my Con side.

I didn’t feel comfortable mentioning my reaction then as I’m still a relative newcomer, though I probably should have. Maybe next year at the “Bitch at Brandy Session” I’ll challenge everyone to pick up after themselves. The Con Suite people worked their tails off to provide free food and drinks to 700 plus people. We should pick up after ourselves and not add to their already huge workload.

Despite this, LibertyCon is now on my permanent schedule. I’ll pre-register before I leave every year, because it’s capped at 700 attendees. They do this to keep the family atmosphere, and it really is a good atmosphere.

You leave the Pennsylvania station ’bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine and then you’re in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner, nothing could be finer
(Then to have your ham and eggs in Carolina)

When you hear the whistle blowin’ eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee is not very far
Shovel all the coal in, gotta keep it rollin’
(Whoo whoo, Chattanooga, there you are)

See you next July, Chattanooga.