WisCon Loot

WisCon was great. I learned a lot and had a great time. It was also exhausting. I actually skipped a couple of panels for the sole reason that my butt was getting sore. Instead, I found a comfy chair or couch to rest my laurels on for a while, and then it was back at it!

My wife gave me an allowance of $200 for the convention, but I went way over. I took that much in cash with me, and ended up getting another $100 on Sunday, but that didn’t last either. I also used plastic for some of my spending, so yeah, way over my limit.

Here’s a list of most of the things I bought this weekend (I won’t count food, although that was a big part of it):

• Pocket watch – this is for the steampunk outfit I am trying to put together. It’s a really nice, wind-up timepiece. And of course, when I got home I discovered there’s no pocket on my vest. Doh!
• Several small, brass-colored charms. I’m thinking of polishing them and making army-type medals out of them.
  • Tree
  • Key
  • Bat
  • Anchor
  • Octopus
• I picked up twenty ARCs (Advance Reader Copy) for a dollar each at the Gathering. My friend Zombie Joe “helped” me by handing me five that he recommended. In no particular order, they are:
  • Changeling, by Kelly Meding
  • More Than Midnight, by Brian James Freeman
  • Deadly Sting, by Jennifer Estep
  • Born in Flames, by Howard Hampton
  • Ruins, by Orson Scott Card
  • The Disaster Survival Bible, by Junius Podrug
  • Touch of the Demon, by Diana Rowland
  • Tarnished, by Karina Cooper
  • Desperate Days: Selected Mysteries Volume Two, by Jack Vance
  • Bad Medicine, Vol. 1, by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir (graphic novel)
  • Libriomancer, by Jim C. Hines
  • Dearly, Beloved, by Lia Habel
  • The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2012 Edition, edited by Paula Guran
  • Alien Diplomacy, by Gini Koch
  • Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
  • False Memory, by Dan Krokos
  • Shivers VII, edited by Richard Chizmar
  • Full Blooded, by Amanda Carlson
  • Flying in the Heart of the Lafayette Escadrille, by James Van Pelt
  • Kindred and Wings, by Philippa Ballantine
• I also bought several published books from the Dealer’s Room. Some were sequels from authors I have read before, while others were new things I saw this year and had to have. These are books that I will definitely be reading before next WisCon, while the ARCs may end up just gathering dust, like the ones I picked up last year.
  • The Mad Scientists Guide to World Domination, edited by John Joseph Adams
  • Dark Faith: Invocations, edited by Maurice Broaddus & Jerry Gordon
  • Treemaker, by Kater Cheek
  • Dayrunner, by Kater Cheek
  • Faerie Killer, by Kater Cheek
  • Lunatic Fringe, by Allison Moon
  • Hungry Ghost, by Allison Moon
  • Interfictions, edited by Delia Sherman & Theodora Goss
  • Interfictions 2, edited by Delia Sherman & Christopher Barzak
  • Couch, by Benjamin Parzybok
  • Ex Heroes, by Peter Clines
  • Midnight Blue-Light Special, by Seanan McGuire
  • The Lives of Tao, by Wesley Chu
• And finally, I ordered the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, from Amazon during the con. It was delivered on Tuesday.

That’s about it. If any of you are interested in hearing my thoughts about any particular book, leave a comment below and I’ll try to move that particular volume up in my To-Read list. Otherwise, the only thing left for today is that I just put my name on the Magic Spreadsheet. If you don’t know what that is, you can either Google it, or wait for me to write a post about it sometime in the next couple of weeks.

That’s it for today. See  you on Sunday!

Is It Wednesday Already?

Sorry for the late post. I just realized that it is Wednesday and I hadn’t posted anything yet.

I don’t have a whole lot to say. The weather turned sour again, and although I rode my bike in the rain yesterday, I didn’t ride today and I’m not planning on riding tomorrow. I’m going to rationalize my decision to drive by saying that I didn’t want to take the chance of getting sick for Odyssey Con this weekend.

Speaking of which, only two more days to go! I’m a little jealous of my friend Zombie Joe, who gets to go to pick up Kevin Hearne at the airport tomorrow. He will get the chance to spend some time alone with an author whose work has been compared with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. I’m hoping that Joe will have the time to introduce me to Kevin during the convention, but he’s going to be pretty busy, so I won’t push it. At the very least, I will have a chance to get a book signed.

Another bit of convention news is that I signed up for the “spontaneous” writing contest on Saturday. The idea is to work some lines of dialogue into a short story. It’s only open to the first eight people who have registered and are present in the lobby at 8:30 Saturday morning. I was number four to register, so as long as I get there on time I’ll be able to participate. Which means that I will actually have two short stories this week. I’m not sure exactly how I’ll count that. Maybe I’ll skip writing next week, or maybe I’ll save it for later in the year in case I run out of ideas. Or maybe I’ll just count it as a bonus. I may not decide until after I find out how it ranks among the other seven contestants (one of which is Zombie Joe).

So that’s it for tonight. I’ll check in again after the convention is over on Sunday afternoon. And don’t forget to look for me if you’re at the convention!

August 8 – It’s Here! It’s Here!

Today I came home to find a terrific surprise. I received my check and author copy of the Big Book of Bizarro, for the short story I sold (“Losing Control”, on page 392). It’s official. I’m a published author!

OMG. I’m still a bit freaked.

Okay. Deep breaths. Relax. It’s just a book, right? Ommmm….

All right, that didn’t work. I guess I’m just going to have to gush. I guess we’ll start with the acknowledgements. That’s what writers do, right. They thank all the little people who helped make it all happen. And by little people, I mean all the people who are so much cooler than I am that inspired me to be more like them. So where do I start?

I think I’ll start with Zombie Joe. He got me started. Last year he inspired me to finally start writing again. He got me into NaNoWriMo and hooked me up with a lot of local author types. And he kept me writing by providing a sounding board for me to talk about my stories and ideas, and by telling me cool stories about other authors he knows personally, like Jim Butcher, Mark Henry, and Alex Bledsoe. Thanks Joe!

I also want to thank one of my co-contributors to the anthology that my short story is appearing in, Mercy Loomis. She is also a member of my critique group, and gave me vital feedback that helped me make the story good enough to submit. Not only that, but she was the one that told me about the submission call in the first place. And then, if it wasn’t for her I might have backed out of submitting the story. Just before the deadline I started second-guessing myself and my story, thinking that it probably didn’t fit what they wanted. But she told me to submit it anyway, and she was right! And to top it all off, she gave me crucial advice when it came to signing my first contract. Thanks Mercy! (Her story is called “Succor the Child” on page 355, and it’s awesome!)

I also want to thank the rest of the critique group, Jesilea Ryan and Jenny Lowe. They also gave me a lot of help working out the issues with the story. It got stronger and better with each pass.

Next on my list are my family and friends that have been reading my stuff and giving me feedback. Their comments usually aren’t as focused or as helpful as my critique group, but it is nice to know I have their support.

I also want to thank my local librarians. They have also been really helpful and supportive as I have been working on my writing career. And they even promised to order a copy of the book so that everybody in Madison will be able to read our stories!

And last but not least, I want to thank the editors Rich Bottles Jr and Gary Lee Vincent for accepting my story and marking my debut into the world of publishing.

Now, who’s next?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Book of Bizarro

PS:

I just killed off my co-worker in my current short story/novella project, “The Hunt”. I’m still working on the ending, and I have already burned through three drafts of the beginning. Hopefully this will all coalesce into something worthwhile soon. I’ll see you all back here on Thursday for another update.

ROW80 Status – Day 62 (March 5)

Goals:

1. 500 words of new fiction every day
2. Finish first draft of Finding Valhalla (DONE!)
3. Start editing Dragons At Dawn
4. Post to my blog on Monday and Thursday
5. Post ROW80 updates on Sunday and Wednesday

Word counts:

• 3/2 – 584
• 3/3 – 515
• 3/4 – 618
• 3/5– 711

Six Days To Sabbath is at 18,976 words. Finding Valhalla is finished. Editing progresses slowly on Dragons At Dawn. Blog posts are all on schedule.

I spent the weekend editing Finding Valhalla. My friend Zombie Joe told me about a contest at The Knight Agency where they are accepting submissions for new talent. The winner will get an offer for representation. Read more about it here. I decided that Dragons At Dawn needs a lot more work on editing than Finding Valhalla, so that’s the one I will be submitting. I’m not expecting to win (although that would be awesome!), I’m just curious to see how far I might be able to get along the way. Can I make it past the first round? Dare I dream to make it to the third round? We shall see.

I wish you all the best on your ROW80 goals!