Archives: Business of Writing

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.

Full Weekend: OryCon AND a Birthday Party

My weekend was eventful. How was yours?

OryCon returned to (almost) its former site for the 39th installment of the convention. The Red Lion on the Columbia River was home to the first several OryCons I attended, beginning back in the late ‘80s. The Red Lion owned two hotels, bracketing I-5 with views of the bridge. The west side hotel hosted those early events. This year the convention returned from many years deep in the heart of Portland to this border hotel, facing across the river into enemy territory: Washington State.

Chugging Along Aboard the Publicity Train

I enjoyed a busy weekend selling books. Luck and scheduling set up back-to-back book signings, one Friday night, one Saturday afternoon.

I owe thanks to the Portland Things From Another World store and to Jan’s Paperbacks. Thanks for the table space and the event promotion. And thanks to those who came by and purchased a book.