The GenCon Report
I am home now and somewhat recovered from being away at GenCon. It was a long and interesting convention with more good points than bad ones.
Sick and Traveling...
The morning of the day I was to leave for GenCon, I woke up with a horrific sinus head cold. It made traveling and the convention just extra special. I was drugged out of my mind for most of the convention on cold medicine while I fought off the other ConCrud running around. There were points where, after I was out of the line of sight of the editors and potential contracts and those people I needed to make a good impression on, that I literally could not focus enough to figure out where I was and how to get back to the hotel room. Those afternoon naps I took every day of the convention saved me.
Far Away Friends...
It was very cool meeting up with long distance friends like Ivan and Ryan in particular. We hung out with Ivan and his crew a lot of the time and got to game with Ryan once. It was also really good talking with co-authors and editors that I work with all year round and only get to see once a year. Plus, I get a particular thrill when people like Ed Greenwood and Margaret Weis greet me by name. What can I say? Years later, I'm still thrilled to pieces to writing regularly in the RPG industry.
Potential Contracts...
This year's GenCon was particularly good for me for getting contacts and people interested in me writing for them. It looks like there is a potential for me to write for the Victoriana, SLA Industries, Epic Role Playing, Battletech, Paizo Publishing and WotC to go along with the companies I already have ties to: Margaret Weis Productions, Catalyst Game Labs and Otherworld Creations. Obviously, some of these have more potential than others but I'm happy with all of the contacts that I have the ability to follow up on.
Writing...
For the first time, people/strangers to me are recognizing my name. It happened over at Paizo Publishing where Tim Hutchinson recognized my name from the Castlemourn Corebook, at MWP were Bob Krammer recognized me from "all the Dragonvarld stuff" which he "really liked" and another author who recognized me because I rejected him from TEoP - twice. Heh. Though, I remember both of his stories and the only problem with them was that they didn't quite fit the theme that I was looking for. So, I told him the theme for TEoP 2008 and asked him to write my January story. He's going to try. It's very cool to be recognized. Maybe, someday, I'll be used to it or even resent it but right now, I'm still thrilled to pieces.
I got my hard copy of Finis that has five of my stories in it. It's a good looking book with some great pictures by Rory. There are stories in it from a lot of people I know and that makes me happy. Also, I sat down with one of my editors for about 2 hours to go over copy edits and suggestions for Regresser's Evolution. He had some really good comments and he got me excited about the novel again. I think, when I finally go looking for an agent, RE will be my flagship novel. I will, obviously, mention Novel #1 and Novel #2 as well but I think RE will be polished enough to land me an agent.
Finally, for excellent writing news, I have a very good nibble for my Grants Pass anthology from a person from the Hollywood Media Corporation. I am very, very excited about this. His favorite genre is post apocalyptic. He was interested in Grants Pass. He has asked me for an author list from Grants Pass as well as my own CV. The conversation with him was very interesting. At first, he was just polite when I talked to him about TEoP. Then, more interest when he discovered that it was a paying market. Even more interest when I mentioned Grants Pass and a couple of the authors in it. It was neat to see him shift from polite business face to genuine interest and for him to give me his card and have him ask me to email him.
Gaming...
I don't really go to GenCon to game but I usually end up in a game or two. This year it was a pick up game of Dogs in the Vineyard run by Ivan, the 7th Sea LARP run by a group whose name I can't remember and Don't Rest Your Head run by Ryan.
I have a real fondest for Dogs based on the mechanics and the situations the game puts you in. If you win a conflict, you get to dictate the outcome of the situation and change the game more towards your own point of view.
7th Sea was fun because I started out as a character in trouble - real trouble - and got to spend the entire time playing defensively. I am at my best when playing defensively in a LARP. In the end, I proved myself innocent and was exonerated.
Don't Rest Your Head was very interesting in the fact that an outrageous thought of mine was very easily shifted into the game mechanics. There are many games that will let you "become" any character from any movie with all of their skills and powers. The only warning I had about the game was I could see it getting very depressing, very quickly. The GM would have to be very careful to allow for hope in the game.
My Dear, My Darling, My Love...
This was my first multi-day trip with Jeff. This is where couples often start to see problems in the relationship because of the stress that travel puts on people. It was worse for me because I was sick and, because of various circumstances, had an extreme lack of sleep. Both of which make me grumpy and much less apt to be considerate.
I must say that my guy is the most awesome guy on the planet and I totally owe him a trip where I get to be the person saying, "Honey, everything is going to be all right. I promise. It's all going to work out and be OK." Jeff was that guy all convention. It was even better because he was there to support me when I would walk "off stage" away from the editors, authors and publishers and he'd take over and make sure we'd get to where we needed to go next - even if it was just back to the hotel room.
He is my hero and my rock. I fall more in love every day.
Tarot Card for the Day: Two of Wands, Inverted