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Guest Blogger - Sue Bolich
Dec. 16th, 2009 10:25 amMy guest today is Sue Bolich, author of WHO MOURNS FOR THE HANGMAN? from Damnation Books, as well as the awesomely titled KRAKEN'S HONOUR from Beneath Ceasless Skies. Since krakens feed my sea monster obsession quite nicely, I am delighted to welcome her here today!
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Okay, I admit it. I’m becoming a convention fan. Conventions used to strike me in the same way as reality TV always has: as something to be avoided at all costs. I had this idea that they were all full of weird people in badly-fitting costumes running around speaking made-up languages. That’s pretty rich snobbery, considering I have spent a significant part of my life making up fake people who run around in interesting costumes speaking made-up languages. The idea of doing it for real just somehow never appealed to me.
Then I discovered that fan conventions and science fiction conventions aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Geez, the stuff I was missing out on! We’re not talking warrior princesses in costume here. We’re talking the premier places to meet people who can jump-start your writing career. Had I only known, I’d have been scraping up the money to go long ago.
I started small. SpoCon had its first outing last year in Spokane, Washington, and it was a great time. A writer friend of mine, Ann Wilkes flew up from California and we hung out, the first time we had met face-to-face despite years of being members of Other Worlds Writers’ Workshop together. This year she stayed at my house and we hung out with other new friends, and laughed like maniacs all weekend.
So then I went to World Fantasy Convention in San Jose in October. Oh. My. God. What a blast. Now bear in mind that WFC and SpoCon, along with RadCon and NorWesCon and a good many others, are not like Star Trek conventions. You may see people in costume but that’s not why most people go. The gamers go to game; the rest of us go to hook up with our fellows in the publishing world: agents, editors, fellow writers, illustrators... It’s the network opportunity of all networking opportunities, and if you want to sell something, this is one of the best ways to do it. I made friends who couldn’t wait to introduce me to their editors/publishers, etc. and I hung out at parties with top name agents.
Did I pitch anything? Not this time around. I did not have time to sufficiently research the agents and editors in attendance. I contented myself with meeting, greeting, learning names and faces, and getting my own name out there. I was overjoyed to end up on a panel, and to get to sit in on other panel sessions, listening to the likes of Lee Modesitt and Robert Silverberg share their wisdom. I came away with a notebook full of story ideas and lots of things to think about.
So now I supposed I’m thoroughly hooked. I will be at RadCon in February and NorWesCon in April. I hope to be on some more panels, because those are a blast, but at the very least, SF people know how to party hearty.
Whatever your genre, I would recommend finding the nearest conventions to you and dipping a toe in, because you’ll probably find that the water’s just fine. As with blogging and social networking, it can only help to connect you to your fans and to the rest of the writing community.
Speaking of fans, I was tickled to discover my newest story, "Kraken’s Honor," which is up now at Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been included in The Great Geek Manual Fiction Roundup for December 7. I love it when people like my stuff enough to recommend it to all their friends. You can find links to more of my stories at www.sabolich.info, or catch me at the next convention!
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Remember, to be in with a chance of winning an AFTERLIFE Bag of Swag, including Damnation Book goodies, just leave a comment on this post or any other guest post throughout December. It's good!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Okay, I admit it. I’m becoming a convention fan. Conventions used to strike me in the same way as reality TV always has: as something to be avoided at all costs. I had this idea that they were all full of weird people in badly-fitting costumes running around speaking made-up languages. That’s pretty rich snobbery, considering I have spent a significant part of my life making up fake people who run around in interesting costumes speaking made-up languages. The idea of doing it for real just somehow never appealed to me.
Then I discovered that fan conventions and science fiction conventions aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Geez, the stuff I was missing out on! We’re not talking warrior princesses in costume here. We’re talking the premier places to meet people who can jump-start your writing career. Had I only known, I’d have been scraping up the money to go long ago.
I started small. SpoCon had its first outing last year in Spokane, Washington, and it was a great time. A writer friend of mine, Ann Wilkes flew up from California and we hung out, the first time we had met face-to-face despite years of being members of Other Worlds Writers’ Workshop together. This year she stayed at my house and we hung out with other new friends, and laughed like maniacs all weekend.
So then I went to World Fantasy Convention in San Jose in October. Oh. My. God. What a blast. Now bear in mind that WFC and SpoCon, along with RadCon and NorWesCon and a good many others, are not like Star Trek conventions. You may see people in costume but that’s not why most people go. The gamers go to game; the rest of us go to hook up with our fellows in the publishing world: agents, editors, fellow writers, illustrators... It’s the network opportunity of all networking opportunities, and if you want to sell something, this is one of the best ways to do it. I made friends who couldn’t wait to introduce me to their editors/publishers, etc. and I hung out at parties with top name agents.
Did I pitch anything? Not this time around. I did not have time to sufficiently research the agents and editors in attendance. I contented myself with meeting, greeting, learning names and faces, and getting my own name out there. I was overjoyed to end up on a panel, and to get to sit in on other panel sessions, listening to the likes of Lee Modesitt and Robert Silverberg share their wisdom. I came away with a notebook full of story ideas and lots of things to think about.
So now I supposed I’m thoroughly hooked. I will be at RadCon in February and NorWesCon in April. I hope to be on some more panels, because those are a blast, but at the very least, SF people know how to party hearty.
Whatever your genre, I would recommend finding the nearest conventions to you and dipping a toe in, because you’ll probably find that the water’s just fine. As with blogging and social networking, it can only help to connect you to your fans and to the rest of the writing community.
Speaking of fans, I was tickled to discover my newest story, "Kraken’s Honor," which is up now at Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been included in The Great Geek Manual Fiction Roundup for December 7. I love it when people like my stuff enough to recommend it to all their friends. You can find links to more of my stories at www.sabolich.info, or catch me at the next convention!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember, to be in with a chance of winning an AFTERLIFE Bag of Swag, including Damnation Book goodies, just leave a comment on this post or any other guest post throughout December. It's good!
