Ready for your first science fiction convention of the year? So am I! May I suggest Capricon 41? This year the convention will be entirely online and the theme is Creating the Future We Want, so look forward to tons of panels and presentations on a brighter future. I will also be presenting a more series topic, Silent Spring Redux, a future without insects. Registration can be FREE! For more information, visit registration at capricon.org. Hope to "see" you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

Welcome to Confusion 2020, How to Train Your Confusion.

So far I've been on a panel, gone to two panels, and seen a bunch of friendly faces. Much writer love around the place! And already a Scalzi sighting! ;)

If you're interested in writing or the business of writing, Friday at Confusion is the place to be. Promoting Your Book - What Works and What Doesn't, The Tools of Self-Publishing, and Independent Publishing - The Next Step were just some of the panel you missed if you weren't here this year.

Not to mention the board games, oh the board games. Confusion is a great place to check out those games you've been thinking about buying and learn how to play them.

Not as many costumes as other cons, but we have spotted one tardis and at least one kilt, so there's that.

Tomorrow there will be readings and book signings and the DJ Scalzi Dance Party, oh my!

If we make it through to Sunday, I'll look forward to The Epistolary Resurgence and Living and Involved Mothers in Speculative Fiction.

Well, I'm off to play a board game myself, so I'm going to sign off. Hope to see you down in the con suite tomorrow!

Whoops, the next, next post will be revisiting marketing...

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer.

May the Fourth Be With You.

Okay, okay, so I know I promised a live Friday night post, but we were at the Geeky Burlesque last night and Penguicon is a marathon, not a sprint. What did you miss yesterday besides the Geeky Burlesque? Well, you missed a panel on tropes (where we discussed the anime harem, the magical, flying black man, the dead mom, the love triangle, and white dude saves the world), a fan discussion of Ray Bradbury, a panel on self-editing, makers panels, coding panels, science panels, costumes, ribbons, and lots of geeky T-shirts. Oh there were also a bunch of room parties, including a Harry Potter themed party with butter beer and caldron cakes!

What can we look forward to today? Well, my husband is already up and running a 5K! I'm sadly forced to skip out on BurleXcersice to write this blog and prepare to hear a reading by Michael Cieslak and Nicole Castle, go to a panel on blocking writer's block, give a talk on beekeeping, host Promptapalooza, attend the writer's reception, listen to advice on writing a great query, do a reading myself from my 5-minutes-in-the-future, detective, techno-thriller "Whispers of a Killer" with my pal Leslie (aka Skeeter Enright), maybe do an escape room, learn about psycho-linguistics from buddy Clif Flynt, watch terrible videos from the internet, and make our pilgrimage to the Demon Lobster podcast. Whew! Now you understand what I mean by marathon. This does not include possible room parties tonight!

Anyways, I've got to let you go. It's May the 4th, and Hoth Leia's hair won't braid itself!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Coming soon (next week), "Live from Penguicon, it's Friday Night!"

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

So here is your yearly friendly reminder that Penguicon is neigh. This year Penguicon is taking place Friday, May 3rd - Sunday, May 5th. What is Penguicon? It's basically a geek convention complete with science, technology, literature, scifi fandom, cosplay, open source, games, pop culture, and penguins. We've been going for the past 7? years, and have had a blast every time. This year I will be hosting a number of activities including a panel on tropes, a prompt writing extravaganza, a perfect pitch contest, a talk on beekeeping, and possibly a reading from my soon to be published detective techno-thriller. Don't miss out on all the great panels for writers!

Hope to see you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Erm...Saturday morning...I think. Well, hello from Snowpocalyse 2019! I'm blogging to you from the Hilton DoubleTree Dearborn-Detroit and Confusion 2019 - Storming the Confusion. Confusion is a science fiction, fantasy, and fandom convention which has boasted a strong literature track in recent years. And it isn't your typical literature track.

Literature track head Annalee says that she's really trying to steer the con away from the broad overview panels other cons have like "Women in SciFi" and toward more specific and focused panels like "Women Over 50 as Heroes in SciFi and Fantasy".

Confusion is also one of the few local cons which has author readings almost every hour on Saturday, and I'm personally looking forward to a few of those.

Well, sorry for the short post, but I'm still recovering from the DJ John Scalzi dance party last night!

Expect more Confusion 2019 highlights in upcoming posts!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

Okay, so I forgot to post last night. Here is a summary of my panel on Outlining Your Novel: A Pantser's POV. As in the essence of pantsing things, I got author Cassandra Morgan from the panel on Creating Compelling Characters before my panel to be my co-panelist. One of her great bits of advice when planning a novel is "Yes, but why." Love it.




Outlining Your Novel: A Pantser’s POV

1. Why outline your novel?
   1. Publishers may ask for an outline!!!
   2. Keeps you on track of plot development
   3. Keeps you on track with character development
   4. Helps with continuity/timeline
2. When to outline your novel?
   1. Before: critical for plotters; essential for non-fiction
   2. After: post first-draft editing tool
3. How to outline your novel?
   1. Many online tools
   2. By chapter or scene
      1. One or two lines
   3. By beginning, middle, end
   4. The Five-Stage Story Structure
      1. Exposition: Setting the scene.
      2. Rising action: Building the tension.
      3. Climax: The exciting bit.
      4. Falling action: Tidying up loose ends.
      5. Resolution: Ending the story.
   5. 12 stages of the heroes journey (ex. Star Wars)
      1. Ordinary World
      2. Call To Adventure
      3. Refusal Of The Call
      4. Meeting The Mentor
      5. Crossing The Threshold
      6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
      7. Approach To The Inmost Cave
      8. Ordeal
      9. Reward (Seizing The Sword)
      10. The Road Back
      11. Resurrection
      12. Return With The Elixir
4. What might an outline do for you?
   1. Show you where you are repetitive
   2. Show slow spots in plot
   3. Show where you can add more tension, suspense, and higher stakes
5. Where might an outline steer you wrong?
   1. Constrain your story and not allow it to grow organically
   2. Take time when you could actually be writing instead
   3. Try to force a plot that isn’t working
6. Who can you ask about outlining your novel?
   1. Not me
   2. James Patterson, no really, Masterclass
   3. Again, lots of online help
   4. NaNoWriMo.org
      

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

I can't believe that it's September already!!! Or that it's been 5 months since our last convention! But it's fast approaching that time again. Continuum2018 Darkness Descending will take place October 5-7th at the Delta Hotels Metro Detroit in Romulus, MI.

If you've never heard of Continuum, you might know this convention better by its former name, ConClave. Anyways, this con celebrates fantasy and science fiction in all forms and boasts gaming, science, music, literature, and more! The author guest of honor this year is Elizabeth Bear.

I'm taking it a bit easy this con and am only giving one talk on The Science of Beekeeping and hosting a panel on Outlining Your Novel: A Pantser's POV, but am still excited to be attending. Cons are a great place to network with agents, publishers, other authors, and most importantly with future readers.

Hope to see you there!

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.
If You Aren't Writing, You Aren't a Writer

 So I'm not going to give you all of the wonderful tidbits I gleaned from Penguicon because you should have been there, but here are just a few gems I picked up.

Creating Three Dimensional Characters: Avoiding Cardboard Characters (Christian Klaver, Clarence Young, JD DeLuzio, Sarah Hans, Steven Lake)
- write a resume for your character
- what does your character suck at?
- pair character's strengths and weaknesses
- choices
- the "fish out of water" approach
- read books with other points of view

Subtext: What is the Story Really About? (Janea Schimmel, Clarence Young, Steven Lake, Ericka Kahler, David Erik Nelson)
- you are never telling the story you think you're telling
- readers build in their own personal beliefs and experiences
- sometimes subtext is easier than trying to show a thing
- subtext is how to say the unsayable
- working with the negative space

Sometimes Writer's Block is Really Depression (Mary Robinette Kowal)
- Five types of writer's block: 1) Drowsy, 2) Staring, 3) Restless, 4) Dithering, 5) Depression
- what is the smartest thing your character could do and how can it go spectacularly wrong?
- most of the time writer's block is your brain sending you useful signals
- when a scene is not working you either have to adjust the character or the plot
- "Just because you put words on the page doesn't mean that you have to keep them." MRK
- Creative Injury
- Ink Slinger's Guild - gamifies writing
- The Fabulous app
- Written Kitten

Sensitivity Readers: Who Are We and Why Do You Need Us? (Mark Oshiro, Mari Brighe)
- specific perspective edit = sensitivity reading
- there are very few LGBTQ people who have no LGBTQ friends, remember that when writing
- DON'T use female as a noun. It is an adjective.
- "First drafts should suck or you're not doing creativity right." MB
- avoid white savior stories and stories with all white characters in South Chicago for example
- don't have marginalized characters that have no agency or effect on the plot
- make sure that a reader can tell from context that the attitude of a character is wrong - it has to be on the page
- don't tell the story of a marginalized community without having that community represented in the story (i.e. blacks in Harry Potter)

How to Update and Fix Problematic Archetypes and Tropes in Speculative Fiction (Karen Burnham, Cassandra Morgan, Michael Cieslak, Meghann Pardee, Mari Brighe)
- everyone in Detroit is not white
- when someone calls you out, ask them to educate you on what you did wrong
- do not replace a minority with orcs or some other race we should be afraid of
- Lovecraftian is awesome...Lovecraft was a dick
- diversity on another planet will always be an allegory, that's just how humans think

The Top 10 Grammar Mistakes that You Don't Know Your (sic) Making (Carol Flynt, David Erik Nelson)
- you will be judged on your grammar and dictation
- He was a short man with a mustache weighing 200 lbs. (that's a lot of facial hair!) vs. He was a short, 200-pound man sporting a mustache.
- there are 3 types of pronouns: subjective (replace subject), objective (replace object), and possessive (show ownership)
- Avoid passive voice (ex. Mistakes were made.) except when the agent is unknown (ex. This sword was forged in the 1300s), when the agent is too obvious to mention (ex. Shoplifters will be prosecuted.), or when the agent is too contentious to mention (The last bill was not paid on time.)
- forming plural nouns never uses an apostrophe...never

Keep Writing and Edit On.
I Write, I Edit, I Write Again. Witness!
We're Making Better Words, All of Them, Better Words.
I Write to Burn Off the Crazy.
A Good Day Writing is a Day Writing.
It Puts the Words on the Page or it Gets the Hose Again.
Just keep writing...just keep writing...writing, writing, writing!
Writing is Magic.
The First Rule of Write Club is You Talk About Write Club.