Pros and Cons
I received invitations recently to serve as a panelist on two conventions, MALCon in August and Orycon in November. I suppose I will accept and attend. However, I have been considering whether or not I should.
Work in Progress Status Update
It ought to be clear by this point that I will not have a book out in January. We can all agree on that, right? So, how do matters stand on the writing front? Let me tell you.
Orycon 2018 Schedule
Orycon approaches. Time to mingle, share from my meager store of knowledge, and roam from room party to room party.
I received my schedule the other day. If you are in Portland during the convention, pick up a membership and come say hello.
| Fri Nov 9 4:00:pm | Fri Nov 9 5:00:pm | Story Pacing: Hurry Up, and Wait |
| Pettygrove | Speed the story up, raise the stakes, increase the tension — But not too much. Readers, like runners, want to keep moving fast but can’t go at a breakneck pace all the time. What are the techniques, large and small, to make you story roller-coaster a fun, exciting ride? | |
| David D. Levine Diana Pharaoh Francis Ken Lizzi Richard A. Lovett Wendy N. Wagner | ||
| Fri Nov 9 5:00:pm | Fri Nov 9 6:00:pm | Autograph Session: Friday 5pm |
| Dealers: Autographs | Authors and artists sign things | |
| Alma Alexander Ken Lizzi | ||
| Sat Nov 10 5:00:pm | Sat Nov 10 6:00:pm | Building an Extended Series |
| Pettygrove | Some readers want to immerse themselves into a series, rather than just a single book. They want to binge. And once your trilogy is done, then what? How to expand your literary universe instead of walking away from your book or short series forever. | |
| Joseph Brassey Ken Lizzi Mike Shepherd Moscoe Seanan McGuire Steve Perry | ||
| Sun Nov 11 10:00:am | Sun Nov 11 10:30:am | Ken Lizzi Reading |
| 152 Readings | Ken Lizzi reads from his works. | |
| Ken Lizzi | ||
| Sun Nov 11 2:00:pm | Sun Nov 11 3:00:pm | Consequences of Violence |
| Overton | Random groups wandering the countryside and slaying evil-doers are less likely to be seen as heroes than as murder hoboes. Our panel will discuss the mechanisms that real societies (and realistic fiction) use to limit violent actors. | |
| Crystal Connor Ken Lizzi Rory Miller S. B. Sebrick | ||
Writing Update, August 2018
How is the writing coming along? Well, notional interlocutor, I’ll tell you.
Denver and Westercon 71
Denver, I hardly knew thee. That’s because I spent most of the last four plus days in the Hyatt Regency. The hotel hosted Westercon 71, yet another convention foolish enough to invite me to sit on panels and pontificate. That required I stay inside most of the time, preventing my touring the city.
Father’s Day 2018 News
Allow me to wish all you dads out there a Happy Father’s Day. And — what’s that? You wish to offer reciprocal celebratory felicitations for my having fulfilled my biological function? Well, thank you kindly. From MBW and the HA I received a card and charmingly framed photos of me with the HA. Both ladies are feeling a bit under the weather, but despite that temporary deficiency, I consider them peerless.
So, now that that’s dispensed with: News. Read on at your peril.
Doings and Updates
Here follows a miscellany of personal doings and writing updates. Please control your excitement.
My goal for the year was, I believe, to have two books out this year. That — spoiler warning — will not happen. See, there is a novel — “Boss” — complete, ready to go, and under contract. But the publisher wants a series, and wants to release the books on a tighter schedule than “whenever Ken gets around to writing them.” So I’m busily working on two sequels with the goal of releasing them all next year. That may prevent me from diving into the second draft of the “Chale Thorson” novel for the foreseeable future. Thus, 2018 may not see much published from yours truly, but 2019 will be chock-a-block.
The Little Convention That Could
So that’s NanoCon Mk. V done. What is NanoCon? It is a science fiction convention hosted by the science fiction club of Longview Community College in Longview Washington, a port town on the Columbia River about an hour from the Pacific. It isn’t big. I doubt two hundred people attended. Hence, I presume, “Nano.”
Still, as Gandalf probably reassured himself, size isn’t everything.
Vacation, Ho!
I’m on the cusp of vacation and it couldn’t come soon enough.
Things are proceeding well enough, I suppose, they’re simply — incomplete. Case in point: I’ve got half the White Tree of Gondor on my bedroom wall. The right side, as you’re facing it, to be exact. See, many moons ago MBW expressed the desire to enhance the bedroom wall with some artwork. Fine with me. Though I admit some trepidation: What sort of artwork? As a purely precautionary measure, I found an image of the aforementioned tree online and showed it to MBW. She’s not particularly a genre fan, though she enjoyed LOTR (books and films.) To my relief she expressed immediate enthusiasm. (Take a look, it is a handsome bit of design.) Anyway, an attempt at a homemade projector, pencil tracing, and painting ended unsatisfactorily a few months back. We decided to try again with a large decal.
Emerald City Comic Con 2018
And that’s ECCC 2018 in life’s rear view mirror.
I have been in the funny book business for over twenty years now. This year’s Emerald City Comic Con was my first comic book convention. Yeah, I don’t believe in dipping a toe in; I plunge head-first into the deep end.