ConTemporal, day 3

When I attend a convention, I almost always stay at the con hotel, so I'm finding it a bit odd to commute to this con.  That said, getting to work in my own office and sleep in my own bed is nice.  The distance, though, meant that after too few hours of sleep I had to get up in the nines--never a good thing on a Saturday--work, shower, and then drive to the con.

Well, not so much to the con as by the con and on to the Owens 501 Diner for late breakfast/early lunch.  I normally prefer to eat much later, but I was booked for five straight hours starting at noon, so it was either an early lunch or no lunch at all. 

After lunch, Laura Haywood-Cory, Jennie Faries, David Drake, and I presented the Baen Traveling Roadshow, a slide show and presentation in which we discuss upcoming and recent books, show their original cover art and ultimate covers, and give away lots of swag.  The session was smaller than it is at most conventions, but the audience was great, and we all had a good time.

I went straight from it to a panel on subplots.  Sam Montgomery-Blinn, editor of Bull Spec, moderated the discussion among Tonia Brown, JM Lee, and me.  I've mentioned Sam before and had already done a panel with Tonia, but I met JM for the first time here.  She's a fifteen-year-old writer who's working on her third novel; she and her dad, who acts as her manager, self-published her first two.  Sam kept us moving along as we covered everything from how to weave in subplots to how to know you have too many.  I'm not sure how helpful our answers were, but we certainly all gave it our best.

Next up for me was a panel on finances for writers.  JoSelle Vanerhooft moderated this one. She, JM Lee, JM's dad, and I dispensed advice for writers and answered questions.  My experience is that relatively few writers handle their finances well, but I'm hopeful that more and more will learn how to do so.

I then did a book signing, after which it was work time.

Dave was on an 8:00 panel on pirates, a topic about which he knows a great deal.  I enjoyed that session, and then I bid goodbye to the con, because I won't be back Sunday due to other plans.

I must commend the ConTemporal team; they did a great job for a first-time convention. 

Dinner tonight was a delicious birthday celebration with tasty Italian food from Chapel Hill's Il Palio. I'd write more, but I'm exhausted and still have work to do, so I must turn to it.

ConTemporal, day 2

Going to a local SF convention on a work day is an odd thing indeed.  I got up early after very little sleep so I could work, exercise, and have lunch.  I did a long work phone meeting in the car on the way to con. 

My first event at the con itself was a reading.  One person I didn't know showed up, as did three friends.  I read the first two chapters of No Going Back and answered questions from the person I didn't know. 

On the way out of the panel, I ran into Sam Montgomery-Blinn, editor of the SF magazine Bull Spec and general advocate of and for the local SF scene.  I foolishly posed wearing his odd metal Bull Spec glasses. 

I have never looked more like a fat, demented, freakishly short-armed dwarf than in this photo.  Wow. 

I spent the next couple of hours working in a friend's room, time that helped me catch up a bit, and then I was on back-to-back panels.  The first addressed the author/editor relationship, while the second covered revising to make a sale.  Both audiences were very small--only four people I did not know--but my fellow panelists and I did our best to be entertaining and answer all questions. 

The rest of the evening went to dinner and work, as one might expect.

Tomorrow, I hope to get to see a bit more of the con, though I also have four straight hours of panels. 

ConTemporal, day 1

The con kicked off today with a Guest of Honor banquet, which a group of us attended.  Most of the food was exactly what you'd expect--hotel banquet chicken--but the rice was reasonably fluffy and tasty, and the cheesecake wasn't bad. 

The conversation and fun at our table, however, more than made up for the food.  We got to chat for a few hours with local author John Claude Bemis, who proved to be a fine fellow and whom I look forward to getting to know better.  We also enjoyed a brief visit from the con's Toastmistress, Lee Martindale. I thought some sort of presentation would follow the meal, but after half an hour of sitting about, we gave up and headed home, where work into the wee hours awaited me.

Tomorrow, I will take part in three events in which I will give a reading (if anyone shows up), talk about the author/editor relationship, and discuss how to revise to make a sale.  If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!