Friends of Genre Convention, the First!

This last weekend was spent up in San Francisco at FOGCon (although we didn't have a bit of fog!) I was very much looking forward to this con for several reasons. I totally love that I, a newbie at this whole writing/congoing thing, could attend the very first year of a convention. Tickled me pink.

What's more, it's a con centered in my city. Loves it.

I actually took the train to SF, which I haven't done in years. It was... humid. But I passed the time chipping away at Pat Rothfuss' "The Wise Man's Fear." Good start to a good con. Met up with my sister, who was generous enough to host me, and then off I went to registration and a workshop with Vylar Kaftan. We had a good time during that hour. We responded to a variety of prompts, some of which left me giggling.

I spent the afternoon ducking in and out of panels and saying hello to the few congoers I recognized (namely, miss Amy and her husband). The highlight of the whole con had to be Friday evening's tapas party. It was delicious, revitalizing and FUN! We sat at a tiny table with some great folks.

I came back on Saturday morning and met up with my father before my reading. As part of Broad Universe's RFR, I read a very short children's story. It was fun and the other readers were great! My dad stuck around for part of the afternoon, and I frittered away the evening at panels and suite parties.

All in all, I very much enjoyed FOGCon, more so than Potlatch. It's so different from NASFIC that I can't really compare the two. Next up? Westercon64 in July. The door just keeps revolving...

#Potlatch20 Rundown

This has been a rather crazed March for my family and I. Not only did I attend Potlatch for the first time ever, but my Aunt attended the Big Sur Writer's Workshop! I'm so happy and proud of her! I really hope great things come of it.

As I'm sure great things will of Potlatch!

Friday began very well. I met Micah and a few other folks as I wandered in and out of the consuite. I ended up in a very heated discussion among fans about mystery writers. Fascinating!! Having been a fan for so long myself (I even attend ConJose as a fan), it was truly something to be on the other side. Illuminating.

I met up with Miss Amy and her friend Diana, who I had met once before. We spent the evening chatting with Jeremy, of Night Shade Books, mostly about family but a little about business. Really a great start to the con!

On Saturday I had my workshop group! We met under the guidance of David D. Levine, who gave us sound advice about what to take, and what to leave, and insightful critiques. We read work by Emily Jiang, K.G. Anderson and Chris Reynaga. All of it I loved! It was very exciting!

I also attended a few panels. What makes Potlatch unique is that it is focused on a book of honor, instead of a guest. This year the pick was George R. Stewart's Earth Abides. Love love love this book, as I've mentioned, so the panels piqued my interest.

Got to spend more time talking with Amy, and then hear about FOGCon from Vylar Kaftan, a recent Nebula Nominee. If you haven't met Vylar, do! She is professional, friendly, diplomatic and very, very knowledgeable. Incidentally, she's also the chair of FOGCon! Woohoo!

Sunday turned out to be very lowkey. We attended Potlatch's birthday party, and then Amy and I caught a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad movie. It was a lovely weekend.

Sin City Scribblers Post-Mortem

I always have trouble writing reflections on major events. First, because my memory is utter shit, but mostly because I feel so much in the moment, that afterwards everything is just a little blander. I can never do a memory justice.

That said, I'll try! This past weekend I spent time with some of my favorite friends - fellow writers from all across the States. We converged in Las Vegas (major hearts from me!) for three days of intensive critiquing, plot breaking, eating, and adventuring.

We managed to squeeze in seven critiques and one plot break, and we started every work day at 10 a.m. or earlier. By Sunday at 12:30 we had even managed to rearrange Eric Kelley's novel, which only further confirmed to be that plot breaking = total win. My critique went very well! I received mixed feedback on how much the ending was liked, but this generated a fantastic conversation about where I could take the story. I've since revised it and sent it off (under the gun) to the Potlatch workshop for March.

In the evenings we explored Vegas. We saw the Lions at MGM, the shops at Caesar's, LOVE (a Cirque du Soleil production), and even ate at Sage, one of Aria's new restaurants. It was to-die-for, and the our waiter was snarky perfection.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend was reconnecting with my Taos alums, and also meeting two VP alums, Cath and Miranda. Big shout-outs to you, ladies! I do hope this workshop continues in future years, wherever and whenever. I will always try my darnedest to be there!

Zoom!

Today I am in Las Vegas, NV for a casual workshop of Taos Toolbox and Viable Paradise alums. My work isn't up for crit until Sunday, so think good thoughts for me then! Otherwise we have a full schedule of critiquing, plot breaking, and we've even made time for one special dinner and a performance of LOVE, a Cirque du Soleil show.

I'll definitely be writing a post mortem next week! Until then, here's hoping I don't roll a 7...

NASFIC 2010

My first con is officially over, and I'm still processing all that occurred! NASFiC 2010 was held in Raleigh, NC and attended by about 700 people, including five of us from Taos.

I arrived very early Thursday, August 5th and managed to catch the tail-end of a mini-Taos reunion. After a solid nap, we went and heard Tom Doyle, Mary Robinette Kowal and Matt Rotundo read from their various works. All were very good, and all taught me something about storytelling.

Thursday evening began the "meet-and-greets" (since the Mariott would not let us have suite parties). These were not at all like I was expecting. The atmosphere was decidedly casual; you could pretty much drop into any conversation. Alcohol flowed freely, and the pros mixed with the fans. I loved it.

Friday was spent hopping from panel to panel, all of which I enjoyed immensely. "Worst Panel Ever" is definitely my pick for the con, because they made it funny, gave great advice, and actually energized the audience. Love it!

Saturday felt much the same as the day before - panels, schmoozing, meet-and-greets. I was tired, but not exhausted. It was invigorating to meet the panelists, as well as authors and editors I had heard so much about.

I've definitely learned quite a few things (bring fun stuff for the evenings, but costumes aren't really that useful), and I'm very much looking forward to the next con!!

ReConStruction Writing Workshop Notice

Please pass the word along...ReConStruction is only a few weeks away now.

There will be a writing workshop at the NASFiC in Raleigh, known as ReConStruction. There will be two, actually. Allen Wold will run a workshop where participants will do some on-the-spot writing. Friends of mine (who aren't writers) have enjoyed that workshop at CapClave.

Meanwhile, I have organized a workshop like the one held in Montreal at Worldcon last summer. The sections are scheduled to critique three manuscripts submitted in advance. There will be two professional writers in each section. Each participant will also critique the other two manuscripts and receive feedback from four people on their own work in the space of two hours. It's an intimate setting, a private session that's not open to the public, five writers in a room talking about writing.

Submissions must be 8,000 words or less. They should have some sort of speculative element to the story, in science fiction, fantasy, or horror. They can be YA, middle grade, adult. Submissions can be a short story or an excerpt from something longer, such as a novel. Excerpts should be accompanied by outlines or a synopsis and the total should be 8k or less.

If you're interested, the email address link is here: http://www.reconstructionsf.org/?page_id=421. You can also send a message via livejournal to birdhousefrog. The slots are first come, first served, so don't delay. You can only reserve your spot when you actually send in your submission. We won't be charging an administrative fee for this workshop and the manuscripts will be distributed electronically for critiquing.

The following professional writers have agreed to be critiquers:
Jack McDevitt
Mark Van Name
Steve Miller
Mary Robinette Kowal
Lawrence Schoen
Matthew Rotundo
Tom Doyle

Reblogged from Oz.