Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

May your day be filled with awesome friends, food and fun! 

ConCarolinas Review

This weekend I was at ConCarolinas for the first time. For years, I’ve had friends telling me how great the con was and this year I finally got the chance to experience it for myself. ConCarolinas took place in Concord North Carolina this year, an easy 4 hour drive for me. (It’s literally get on 85 and just go forever)

Every convention has its own feeling around it, and I would have to show that love is all around ConCarolinas. The people here care immensely about their passions and about each other. I was welcomed with warm, open arms by everyone there.

The panels were incredible! Friday I got to talk about research, and the tools of the trade for writers. I love apps and writing gadgets so that was such a blast. Friday evening I got to listen to one of the most important panels I’ve ever seen: Mental Health and Writers.

The incredible John Hartness coordinated the panel after the loss of Logan Masterson, a writer we both knew who lost the fight to depression and committed suicide in March. His loss left waves across my convention family and talking openly about the beast of mental illness made me feel less alone, made me realize there is support all around me if only I reach out. I’ll be forever grateful for that discussion and the discussions it led to.

Saturday I was able to talk about one of my passions, tabletop gaming. I had a great time talking about all the failures and successes I’ve had at gaming. It was a blast. Then I talked about Imposter Syndrome, a big, hairy monster that constantly claws up and down my back. Talking about it was one of the hardest things I’ve done, but hopefully it helped the people in the audience understand they’re not alone. That night I spoke on the women and gaming.

My thesis focused on games; I love games, but I’ve avoided talking about them much at conventions because of a lot of fear. A lot of that fear stems from imposter syndrome and a lot from some general nastiness of the internet. The panel was well attended, and we had a great discussion. I learned a lot and the people who came up to me afterwards to thank me made everything worthwhile.  Saturday night I got to demo some virtual reality and IT WAS INCREDIBLE! So immersive that I forgot I was in a hotel room.

Sunday I talked writing for anthologies, series, and shared universes. I learned a lot from the panel, even if we did start a little late due to a locked conference room.  I left a little early to avoid some nasty storms rolling in. I hated saying goodbye but I left feeling like I’d found another place to call home.  

All and all, I can’t wait until next year to visit ConCarolinas again! 

ConCarolinas Schedule!

I'm so excited to be heading to ConCarolinas this weekend. This will be my first year visiting the convention and I've heard so many good things about it. I cannot wait!

Here's where I'll be for the weekend:

Friday, June 3

4:00 pm: Research for Dummies (Carolina A/B)

7:00 pm: Tools of the Trade: What Every Writer Should Have on Their Desk (Carolina C)

Saturday, June 4

10:00 am: Game Master 101 (Concord G)

6:00 pm: The Imposter Syndrome (Carolina C)

9:30 pm: Women and Gaming (Concord G)

Sunday, June 5

9:00 am: Writing for an Anthology, Series, or Shared Universe (Carolina A/B)

2:00 pm: The End of It (Carolina C)

I also will have a little table so you can come say hi between panels! 

You can check out all the amazing panels happening here. 

See you this weekend! 

Writing Fears

Writing is full of terrifying prospects. While it seems such a simple and safe practice, there are bits of writing that are frightening. Those fears range from person to person and project to project. Some projects might scare you in other ways than you've been frightened before. Here are just a few of the ways writing has terrorized me.

1. The blank page

Many people are petrified of the very start of a new project, that looming blank page is oftentimes very frightening to conquer. How do you get past it?
Some people change the way the screen looks. Make the background of the document a different color, set a timer and just write, copy and paste something that motivates you and teen extent to work. There are a lot of options, but they all come back to one thing: to get past the blank page, you have to write something on it.

2. Inferiority

I struggle with this one a lot. Everything I write, I worry that it's not good enough, that so-and-so's work is so much better. How can I even consider myself a writer when all I can write is this trash? This fear can freeze you right in your seat. Working through it is not an easy task, but I try to remind myself that there will always be someone better than you at everything...look at it as a goal to improve yourself instead of an obstacle.

3. Rejection

Writers have to be a bit masochistic. You have to be able to handle being constantly rejected, having your work cut to pieces by editors, and being able to pick the pieces back up. For me, working through this is rejection is proof that you are working on your writing, that you are putting your work out there. (You can read more about my thoughts of rejection here).

4. The ending

Most writers I know worry about the beginning of the story, but finding the proper place for an ending is what terrifies me. How do I know where and when to stop a story? This can often lead to a long, drawn-out story that meanders and lacks direction. I have found that trying to create a very basic outline keeps this fear from overtaking me.

5. Writer's Block

When your fingers freeze over the keys and words won't just come. I don't really think writer's block exists, not in the often cited way most people refer to it at least. I find that usually if I 'can't write, there's something else at the cause that needs to be addressed, whether it's laziness, depression, or fear, addressing the real reason behind the block can help to deal with it much more effectively.

These are just some of the fears that I've seen with my own writing. What kinds of fear do you conquer in your writing life?

Give More Of A Damn

So on Monday I talked about the importance of not giving a damn. Today I'm jumping to the opposite side of that argument and telling you to give more of a damn. The truth of the matter is I've gotten lazy in a lot of things lately because I've gotten so caught up in not caring so much. The problem with that is that caring is important in putting out a good product (and I mean generally in life). I've made stupid typos, not reviewed work for errors, and generally not cared about the proper layout of the English language. (I still stand firm in my internet speech of deliberately mess-ups like 'It are me.')

So where does that leave me? Well, it leaves me embarassed when I get called out on careless errors, and regretting not reading over an essay before submitting it. No one will ever care about your work as much as you do. You are the champion of your work and if you don't care enough to read it 300 times until you can nearly recite it from memory, who will? 

One of the biggest wake up calls for me was when I got the finall layout proof for The Bone Queen versus The Pulptress. My first thought was 'Meh, I'm sure it's fine.' and I nearly just sent it back without even looking over it. I know, I know. I want to slap past me too for even thinking that. But, I forced myself to sit down and read over every damn page, and you know what I found? A section where the layout person's cat had walked across the keyboard and left a string of gibberish in the middle of the page. 

If I hadn't cared enough to read over the proofs, would that have been caught before print? The truth is I don't know. My publisher did an amazing job with edits, but a publisher is handling more than just your book. They're having to care about a lot of books. You only have to care about yours, and that means you care more than anyone else. It was a massive wakeup call for me. 

I'm still working on it. I want to write my first draft, do one round of edits and call it done. That doesn't fly for me. (I'm sure there is someone out there that does work for and good on you.) Now, I'm spending a lot of time on outlines then starting a first draft. I'm going to take my time, go at a speed that works for me, and edit, edit, edit before a second set of eyes even sees it. 

It's easy to get lazy. You wrote the words, why on earth do you then have to spend months staring at them more? Because you need to care enough to take that time to sculpt those words into the best shape they can be. You need to care about your project more than anyone else ever will because it's yours. At the end of the day it's your name, your reputation, and your words on the line, no one else's. 

So don't give a damn when you're getting started but you sure better slow down and care a whole lot once that end comes into sight.