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Tags: brian hades, critters.org, dark fantasy, dead robots society, dragon moon press, dragonmoon press, Edge Publishing, explorers, Galaxybillies, Get Published, gwen gades, jennifer rahn, longevity thesis, matthew wayne selznic, podcast, podthology, quality of course, the writing school, v for vertigo

Who here has ever gone to a convention of one kind or another? Don’t be shy, raise your hands high if you have. Now, how many of you have been to a convention where another writer or a publisher or an editor or an agent has been a guest, a panel participant or a known quantity?

And what did you do at that convention? Did you meet any of the aforementioned people?

I attended ConVersion (a local SciFi/Fantasy convention) not too long ago. My goal was to meet one of the publishers who I knew to be coming and maybe meet Terry Brooks. Let me begin by saying that I am not the most outgoing person alive.

Still, I went at the beginning of the con and immediately ran across the publisher in question. Over the course of the convention I managed to spend an hour or so of dedicated time speaking with her. It was awesome!

I also managed to chat with Terry Brooks, Tanya Huff and Robert J Sawyer. Yes, I was able to play the fanboy.

But those weren’t the only reasons I went. I wanted to meet people who are interested in writing. I wanted to make some connections that will help me to improve my craft. For this, I was very successful too. I met and chatted with Brian Hades who is the founder/publisher for Hades Publications. I met several published authors who gave me some great tips too. I also managed to arrange several interviews for upcoming episodes of “Get Published”.

As I have said numerous times before, networking is a key activity for a writer. I’m hoping that through my efforts at the convention I will have garnered some additional exposure with people who can help me further my writing career. I also hope to be on the other side of the panels at the next convention; it was obvious being a panelist is SO much better than being a member of the audience.

The only catch is I had to actually initiate conversations (not a strong point as mentioned before). That hurdle proved to be less of a problem than I had feared.

Personal Update

I am now deep into the rewrite of the fantasy novel to capture the changes mentioned by editor-extraordinaire, Gabrielle Harbowy. Oh yes, and I wait with bated breath to hear how I will fare in the Parsec Awards (to be announced on Saturday).

Wish me luck.

Tags: brian hades, conventions, fantasy, gabrielle harbowy, Get Published, hades publications, irreverent muse, parsec award, promotion, publisher, robert j sawyer, science fiction, tanya huff, terry brooks, writing