Minicon and Rija's Tale
Apr. 15th, 2009 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmerriamIt was a good Minicon. Not great, but good. Though I have been hearing that we had the same number of attendees as last year, it seemed quieter to me, as if the convention was striving to fill up the space and not quite making it. It is a worrisome thing. Programming wise, Humor With An Edge: Mixing The Silly With the Profound went okay, I thought, especially for a 10:00 am panel. We talked about what humor and satire can do that perhaps other styles cannot, talked about some favorite humor and satirical writers and their stories, and took good questions from the audience.
My reading was reasonably well attended (I didn't get a count, but it was somewhere between 7 and 10 people), and I read a little bit from Shimmers & Shadows and then from something new, since I had mostly familiar faces. The Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers Meetup, however, was a complete bust. No one showed up except me and the other presenter, so we called it off. This did allow me to catch some music.
The MinnSpec Rapid-Fire Reading could also have gone better. We only had three members show up to read, instead of the usual six or seven. Oh well, what can you do.
Breaking into Publishing in the 21st Century on Sunday morning was tons of fun and we had a good mix of panelists, including the GoH, Karl Schroeder, who is a solid mid-list novelist, Scott McCoy a horror writer and editor, and Rick Brignall, who works more on the journalistic and freelance end of Spec Fic. The audience was engaged and asked good questions, and I think we covered all the stuff we wanted to from how breaking into publishing is changing rapidly, to where we thing it is going in the future.
Social Contract: What Negative Emotions is it OK to Evoke in Your Readers? with
Phyllis Eisenstein, Scott McCoy, and Pamela Dean also went well and we talked extensively about the contract, and what readers expect, and what writers and readers both bring to the work. We named works we felt broke the contract and discussed why. Solid panel with great panelists.
I spent a lot more time in the consuite, which was fun and good. I'm sad that I missed both Pamela Dean's and Pat Wrede's readings, but I had other commitments at the time. The Steampunk panel was also well done and I enjoyed it, as was the Be Careful What You Wish For panel, which might have been my favorite of the convention because it was full of smart people talking about wishes and fairy tales and other things I love and it ended with a slightly dirty joke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I finished chapter 20 of Rija's Tale yesterday. The whole thing is too talky and will need some serious editing later, but it's good enough for the moment. Last night while lying in bed, I figured out the rest of the novel. I'll be making notes today and doing a rough sketch of an outline, then off to the finish line. I'm guessing between 20K and 30K to go.
Rija's Tale
Now I'm off the run errands, and then back to Rija: She's at the point where she is done with the running and about to make a stand. I suspect she'll do some ass-kicking in her near future.
My reading was reasonably well attended (I didn't get a count, but it was somewhere between 7 and 10 people), and I read a little bit from Shimmers & Shadows and then from something new, since I had mostly familiar faces. The Minnesota Speculative Fiction Writers Meetup, however, was a complete bust. No one showed up except me and the other presenter, so we called it off. This did allow me to catch some music.
The MinnSpec Rapid-Fire Reading could also have gone better. We only had three members show up to read, instead of the usual six or seven. Oh well, what can you do.
Breaking into Publishing in the 21st Century on Sunday morning was tons of fun and we had a good mix of panelists, including the GoH, Karl Schroeder, who is a solid mid-list novelist, Scott McCoy a horror writer and editor, and Rick Brignall, who works more on the journalistic and freelance end of Spec Fic. The audience was engaged and asked good questions, and I think we covered all the stuff we wanted to from how breaking into publishing is changing rapidly, to where we thing it is going in the future.
Social Contract: What Negative Emotions is it OK to Evoke in Your Readers? with
Phyllis Eisenstein, Scott McCoy, and Pamela Dean also went well and we talked extensively about the contract, and what readers expect, and what writers and readers both bring to the work. We named works we felt broke the contract and discussed why. Solid panel with great panelists.
I spent a lot more time in the consuite, which was fun and good. I'm sad that I missed both Pamela Dean's and Pat Wrede's readings, but I had other commitments at the time. The Steampunk panel was also well done and I enjoyed it, as was the Be Careful What You Wish For panel, which might have been my favorite of the convention because it was full of smart people talking about wishes and fairy tales and other things I love and it ended with a slightly dirty joke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I finished chapter 20 of Rija's Tale yesterday. The whole thing is too talky and will need some serious editing later, but it's good enough for the moment. Last night while lying in bed, I figured out the rest of the novel. I'll be making notes today and doing a rough sketch of an outline, then off to the finish line. I'm guessing between 20K and 30K to go.
Rija's Tale
Now I'm off the run errands, and then back to Rija: She's at the point where she is done with the running and about to make a stand. I suspect she'll do some ass-kicking in her near future.
