Good example here of the villain having a recognizable motivation for his evil actions.
The bad guy isn’t just intrinsically a bad guy. He/she/it has a REASON why he’s bad. There’s feelings and emotions and rationales and all kinds of backstory.
We don’t need to see all of it. We need to see enough to see the bad guy as something more than a cardboard cut-out of evil.
Okay, so I said I’d blog about expenses for attending a writer’s conference. And I talked openly with those I was talking to at the conference about the budget I’d set for myself and that I was going to blog about it. In fact, it became kind of a joke between us, with others laughing about how I’d never stick to it, others joking about how I’d cut myself off if I budgeted too much. I think I hit a great medium…and still spent way less than I’d anticipated.
Now, I didn’t go with the plan to save money at every turn. I went, with my normal daily con budget, and planned to write about how it’s still affordable if you plan ahead.
I chose a conference within driving distance of where I live, to show that driving back and forth can be a big money saver, even with gas prices the way they are, as opposed to staying in a hotel.
Context 24 was a three day conference, starting Friday night and ending Sunday afternoon.
I normally budget $10 for breakfast, $15-20 for lunch, and $25 for dinner at a con. This would involve two breakfasts, two lunches, and two dinners, roughly $100.
I also had to budget for gas for driving. My car gets 35 mpg (part of the allure of buying it a few years ago, since I knew I’d be driving to conferences). A full tank runs between $30-40; to be on the safe side I budgeted $50.
The conference itself was $45, which I paid ahead of time.
So, how did I do?
FRIDAY NIGHT
I ran around in circles to get done at work, get home, feed the cat, grab my conference bag, get to the gas station, and get to Columbus. Columbus, Ohio is just under an hour’s drive from my house, which is the absolute maximum drive I would consider for staying at home and driving in every day. I’m lucky; Dayton’s less than an hour in the other direction, so I have options.
I spent $10.00 on gas, because I’d stopped at a station that I didn’t have a loyalty card for; I figured I’d see what $10.00 would get me and check again in the morning.
I got there early, and wasn’t really hungry for dinner, so I got registered, and figured I’d grab dinner later with friends I hadn’t seen for a while.
And then I got to running between panels and forgot to eat dinner. This isn’t unusual. I do this at work all the time. And, yes, I know it’s not ideal, but hey, it happened. I didn’t plan for it.
I went to a party that night at the con; there was a cash bar. There are sometimes parties like this, promoting a new author, or publisher, or a genre-related party. It’s a good place to network, and enjoy meeting other writing friends. Not only was I driving, but I didn’t have much cash on me, so I didn’t get anything to drink.
The long and the short of it is that I ended up grabbing a sandwich at McDonald’s on the drive home.
Total cost for the day was $13.68
SATURDAY
I ate breakfast at home, so I didn’t spend any money.
I stopped on the way for more gas, and put in another $20.00.
When I got there, I headed to more panels, and then had lunch with three other writers. Now, I didn’t purposely try to cut corners. I had a wrap and fries, a typical lunch. With tax, tip, and everything, it came to $10.00.
We were off again to more panels after that (will write more later about content; don’t want to get off track here), and later decided to eat dinner at the hotel that was hosting the conference.
I wasn’t crazy hungry, but I didn’t want a repeat of the fast food the night before, so I kept the order small, but large enough that I wouldn’t have a growling stomach all evening. Total bill was, again, $10.00. Hotel dinners can be expensive; if you’re not hungry, it’s sometimes a better idea to grab a bowl of soup, or to just order an appetizer or salad.
More panels came after that.
That night, there was another party, this one put on by a small publisher. I had a weak drink, and talked to other writers, a few editors, and some friends. This time, the drinks were free, so I didn’t spend anything, and after a couple of hours of mingling and talking, I hit the road for home.
Total for Saturday; $40.00
Total for the weekend so far: $53.68
SUNDAY.
This was my cheapest day yet; and I wasn’t trying to be cheap. Honest!
I again ate breakfast at home, and then stopped for some caffeine on the drive. I spent a total of $1.50.
I didn’t get there until 11; and then sat through a panel before the lunch break. I wasn’t starving, and ran into another friend who was feeling the same way. We decided to go see if there was something in the con suite; which is generally open to all con-goers.
We got lucky; sandwiches were available, and it was enough for us. Total cost? $0.00. Absolutely free.
I sat through the rest of the panels for the afternoon, said good-bye to friends, and then drove home, with gas to spare, and decided to enjoy the rest of the day. Hey, that Sunday was my birthday, after all, so I came home and vegged out on the couch, enjoying the memories of the past weekend, and sorting out all the ideas in my head from the panels and the networking and the discussions and the friends I don’t see very much.
Total cost for the weekend?
$45 for the con (a $35 mileage check from work took care of most of this, leaving my cost at $10.00)
$55.18 for gas and meals. Parking was free. I didn’t spent money in the dealer’s room, although I did come home with information about some of the vendors to check out websites later, and to pass on to friends that I know would like some of the merchandise I saw.
That meant that I did an entire weekend’s conference for under $70; less than many people might spend for a pizza night Friday and dinner and a movie on Saturday.
Could I have afforded to spend more? Sure. I’d budgeted to spend more. My point in doing this is to illustrate that it is possible to go to a conference without breaking the bank, as long as one plans ahead (and sometimes doesn’t-see above for my freebie Sunday!), and has an idea of what they can afford.
Yes, I have a budget for every conference I go to. I’ve got the numbers in my head, and I keep all the receipts, but I do that on vacation, too. The idea isn’t to make oneself crazy with worrying about money; it’s about having fun without worrying how to pay off the credit card bill when one gets home.
I’d much rather come home with plot bunnies eating my skull and screaming to get out (which actually is less painful than it sounds) than worry about where the money is coming from, because concentrating on the writing is why one goes in the first place!
Tor’s got a blog up today about Big Trouble in Little China.
I thought this movie was cheesy when I first saw it, but Brother was hooked, and soon I was, too.
We ended up watching it over and over and over and over again as we grew up, and I grew to love it. It’s campy and silly and fun and magical and high stakes and just an all out laugh out loud romp with non-perfect characters and crazy tropes and just FUN from the beginning to the end.
I liked Gracie, the smart, bossy, know-it-all woman who was a lawyer. (Who’d’a thunk, right? I mean, I’m the oldest, a girl, who grew up to be a lawyer. Hush it on the know-it-all connection. At ten, I’m sure I was exactly that!) But now, as an adult, and as a writer, I know I’d have more fun writing Jack Burton than Gracie, whose reactions were always predictable and stereotypical. Jack was larger than life, and took over every inch of the screen every time his character even breathed in the direction of it.
I guess that’s the lesson to take away from this movie, as a writer. Don’t just write the character that feels familiar. Write the character that feels unfamiliar. Get inside their skin. Because as cheesy and as campy as Jack Burton was, Kurt Russell pulled it off. That’s the challenge to a writer.
Oh…and for the unenlightened…or just the Jack Burton fans…here you go…
In these days of tight budgets and strained wallets, is it even feasible to go to cons?
Of course it is…one just has to be creative and cost-conscious.Here’s what I mean.
So I’m headed to ConText 24 this weekend, in Columbus, Ohio. The conference is Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday morning and afternoon.
Columbus is about an hour from my house, so I won’t be staying overnight at the hotel. I like driving, so I’ll drive back and forth. That also means that if I decide not to go to the first panel, I can sleep in, and if I’m getting tired, I can just go home that night. Technically, I could go early, come home, and then go back at night if I wanted to, but that probably won’t happen. An hour is about the limit to driving back and forth for a conference like this; I’ll wake up excited to get there, and the drive will help me process the information overload on the way home. (It helps that I have a voice recorder on my cell phone to record my impressions if I want).
This is about as cost-effective as I can get. Because I switched jobs, I don’t have a lot of vacation time to use, and I’m trying to save it all up for a while. I’ve also got a few things on the wish list for the house, so I am trying to watch my writing expenses.
Because of that, I started looking closer to home for conferences. And found one for this weekend.
So let’s talk dollars and cents for those people who want to go to a conference but are worried about being able to afford it.
The cost of the conference itself is $45.00. (I recently got a mileage check at work for $35.00, making my cost $10.00). There are conferences out there that cost more. I haven’t seen many that cost less. I did not make a choice to attend this conference merely based on cost; I’m looking forward to going, because of the friends and writers on panels, the chance to meet more people and to experience a convention I have never been to. The fact that it’s very affordable was just the icing on top.
Generally, the shorter the conference, the less expensive it is to register. That’s also something to remember when it comes to the number of nights one might need to spend in a hotel room, and the distance, in travel, also adds to the budget.
I’m not doing any of the workshops; at this point, I’ve never been to the conference, so I’m waiting to see what’s available when I get there, and what sounds good. I might slip into something, I might not. Those could cost extra, but none of them are outrageously expensive.
I’m saving two nights in the hotel…which is nearly $200.00.
My cost will be gas, meals, and drinks.
My car gets 35 mpg on the highway. That means that I’ll use one tank of gas for the weekend. That’s about $35.00-40.00 in my car. Yeah, this was a big selling point when I bought the car.
Meals would be dinner Friday night, breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. That’s six meals. I normally budget myself at $10 for breakfast, $15 for lunch, and $20-25 for dinner when I’m traveling. Adding all of that up, I come up to an approximate budget of $100.00 for all six meals.
Because I’m staying at my own house, I can have my normal oatmeal or cereal in the morning, and take my own coffee on the drive. That saves me at least two meals over the course of the weekend, leaving the total meals at four, two lunches and two dinners. I can lower my budget by $20.00.
Sometimes there’s a con suite at a conference. This means that you might end up just having some snacks available during the day; sometimes you’ll find enough for lunch, sometimes dinner as well. If that’s the case here, I’ll save even more. I went to World Fantasy last year in Columbus, Ohio, and ate more than half my meals in the con suite…with other conference attendees. Since I’ve never been to this conference, I’m not counting on it, but I certainly wouldn’t turn it down!
I’ve seen people at cons pack a cooler full of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to save money. I’ve seen people buying their own soda outside of the hotel hosting the conference. I’ve done both; I’m not planning to do that with my lunches this weekend, but I very well might grab a soda on the way instead of paying hotel prices in the vending machine.
There’s always a place where writers gather to commiserate and network and generally relax. Sometimes it’s the con suite. Sometimes it’s the bar. Either way, it’s realistic to budget in a couple of bucks to have a drink at the bar. Hotel bars are expensive, but keeping alcohol intake fairly low saves money. And since I’m driving, there won’t be many of those. (Another way to force oneself to save money…having a single drink to be social a couple of hours before heading home is a whole lot cheaper than drinking more than one should and then crashing in a hotel room, and cheaper still than drinking too much and getting a DUI. That costs serious money…even aside from the embarrassment and potential jail time that could come with it. No, thank you.)
I’m headed out this weekend with a budget of somewhere between $100.00 and $150.00, not including the $10.00 I spend for the conference itself.
This, of course, assumes that I won’t go crazy in the dealer’s room (I generally don’t) or any con bookstores (more likely, but still not expected).
For those out there saying that going to a conference is too expensive, I will counter by saying, how many weekends can you hang with friends and make new ones, learn about writing, network, and generally have a good time for $150 for the whole weekend? The answer to that is, very few.
Heck, going to dinner and a movie with your spouse or significant other can cost $50-60 for dinner, plus 10 bucks each for the movie. And that doesn’t include any sodas, popcorn, or Goobers. And that’s a single evening’s entertainment.
So, I’m going to try to be very transparent on this blog about expenses for this weekend, just to show you that I’m not under-exaggerating or overly restricting myself. I’ll be back after the weekend to blog about whether I stayed within budget or not, and to give my impressions of the conference.
The day to check your balances on your retirement accounts is NOT the day that the Dow drops 600 points. Or even the day after. If you see the stock market drop that much that fast, wait a week before you check. Make sure it’s not a fluke.
Just sayin’,
Gulp.
Trust me. I say this from experience.
“In The Process Of…”
I hate this phrase with a passion generally saved for whatever team opposed mine in the NCAA March Madness Tournament. Especially if that team beat mine (am torn about announcing the rabidity of my fandom for a specific college team since many people love ‘em and many people hate ‘em, and that’s not really my point here).
Anyway, back to my original point. Saying that one is “in the process of” something makes me crazy.
When I hear this come out of someone’s mouth, it’s like hearing nails on a chalkboard with the clanging of a cracked bell, the screeching of brakes being applied unexpectedly, and the howling and yowling of an angry cat fighting with a loud dog all at the same time and my brain cringes.
You’re not “in the process of” applying for benefits. You’ve either turned in an application or you haven’t.
You’re not “in the process of” getting your GED. You’re either getting your GED or you’re not.
You’re not “in the process of” signing up for counseling. You’ve either signed up or you haven’t.
Even more amazing these days…. “I’m in the process of applying for a job.” No. You’re not. You’ve applied or you haven’t. You’ve checked the want ads or you haven’t. You’ve had an interview or you haven’t (or you’ve scheduled one or you haven’t.) If you want to be more inclusive of all of your efforts, then the correct phrase would be “I’m looking for a job.” This sentence is also a question, asking the listener to suggest any leads that they have, which qualifies as a current activity…you’re having a conversation with someone that tells them you’re looking and that you’re open to leads. It’s networking (part of the job search efforts), which happens even when the conversation is about something else. “I’m in the process of looking for a job,” however, makes it sound like you’re searching invisible want ads while you’re talking. This doesn’t exactly help one look for a job; it makes them sound like they are hallucinating.
Let’s not even talk about the people who will tell you that they are “in the process of” getting pregnant. I keep wanting to tell them that unless they are engaging in sex right in front of me, they’re not really “in the process” of getting pregnant at the time that they tell me that they are “in the process of” doing so. There’s a part of me, however, that doesn’t want to make this comment for fear that they would take it as a suggestion…there are just some people that you don’t want to watch do this…and some places where it would be REALLY inappropriate. And no offense, but would you seriously tell someone that you were “in the process” of this in the midst of, well, the process? I’d think it would be fairly self-explanatory to anyone as to what you were, ahem, doing, without telling someone what you were “in the process of” doing.
And that’s true of anything they’re “in the process of”. Unless I’ve interrupted the GED class, or you’re actually filling out the application as we speak, you’re not “in the process of” doing anything.
Why does this phrase drive me nuts? Well, it’s probably a result of the number of hearings I’ve sat through where people want to put a good light on anything positive that they can. That’s not cynical on my part…it’s true that people in court want to make themselves look as good as possible, and it doesn’t matter what kind of a hearing it is, (I’ve heard this phrase in juvenile court, in custody hearings, in foreclosure hearings, in criminal cases, in civil matters, and even in traffic cases), people want their efforts to sound as good as possible. And those efforts might be genuine. They might really be trying all of the things they claim to be “in the process of” doing. They’re just not doing them at the time that they’re claiming to be “in the process of” doing them; they’re in court at the time.
Also, it doesn’t sound genuine. It sounds like someone puffing up a resume to get a job they’re not qualified for. And it’s grammatically incorrect.
Big pet peeve here.
In other words, let’s just strike it from our vocabulary. Unless you’re actually in the midst of the “process” at the time you’re using the phrase, it’s wrong.
Now, I’m not trying to start a fight. I’m not trying to be the grammar Nazi here. I am, however, going to post a few phrases, sentence structures, and other things that make me crazy as a listener and as a reader.
Do you have any phrases, words, sentence structures, or other communication quirks that make you crazy? Share them here.
So I was cranky when I got home from work last night.
It wasn’t that I’d had a bad day. Far from it. It had been a strange day, with oddball cases in court, but for the most part, the day had run on schedule.
But it was hot. And I don’t just mean shorts and a t-shirt hot. I mean humid and hot, as if I was breathing soup instead of air. I grumbled into the house about having to go out later and water all my flowerbeds and gardens, checked on the goldfish in the pond, and went inside to deal with Velcro-kitty.
The cat was GLUED to me. For some reason, beyond my understanding at the time, she was absolutely wigging out. And she wanted to sit rightthere, attached like Velcro to my hip, as I tried to check my email.
We’ve been in need of rain for quite some time. It’s so hot that plants are getting scorched in the sun.
I decided that I was going to sit down, pay the fuzzy minion some attention, have an adult beverage, and relax, to shake off the cranky-pants mood I was in.
And then it began to pour down rain outside, sheeting against the front windows, thunder booming and echoing outside. No wonder the cat was freaking out. She’s terrified of loud storms, and had known it was coming. It rained and poured and there was lightening and thunder.
And then I realized I’d forgotten to get the mail. Luckily, the mailbox is on my front porch, which has a roof over it, so I could step outside and get the mail and take a minute or so to watch the storm without getting wet.
And then I saw it. It was a package I’d been waiting for. It was my author copies of the anthology coming out this Friday. It was the first time I’d seen my own fiction in print, the first time I’d seen my name as a byline under a title of one of my own stories, the very first paid publication credit I’ve gotten.
I started grinning. It hasn’t stopped yet, twenty hours later.
(Yup, that’s my hand. I couldn’t figure out another way of taking the picture without terrible glare from the overhead ceiling fan.)
There is nothing on this earth that jollies one out of a bad mood faster than seeing your own name in print for the first time.
And I’m still smiling.
(FYI, it is available for pre-order on Amazon now, and the release date is THIS FRIDAY!!)
Publication date is still July 22, but it’s up on the website for preorder now.
I have not seen it anywhere else yet. And I’m only seeing it in paperback…not on Kindle or Nook or anything else yet. Will keep you posted!
I’ve loved books for years.
When I was a kid, though, there was a bit of a disconnect. For some reason, I thought of writers as famous people and not people with normal lives. I thought they’d all live like rock stars and in glamorous towns and houses with all the books anyone could ever want, and that they would all live in New York or Hollywood and wait for movies to be made of their books. (hey, I was eight; give me some leeway here-I don’t think I was too much past believing in the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.)
Then I learned that there was a renowned book author living not ten miles from where I grew up. He’d been nominated for seven separate Pulitzers. And he wrote A LOT. Big door-stopper sized books, and a bunch of them, mainly dealing with nature, Ohio and Midwest history, and Native American history. As I grew up, I learned that more people knew his name than I realized.
But he lived in Bellefontaine, Ohio. In my neck of the woods. Nothing wrong with Bellefontaine. Like a lot of small Ohio towns, though, it’s cute, not glamorous. It’s small, not glitzy. And it was home, not some exotic locale with palm fronds and beach fronts.
That didn’t really burst the bubble of venerating authors in my heart of hearts. Instead, it lit a fire under me. If this guy from Bellefontaine could be a well-known author, why couldn’t a girl who grew up in West Liberty, just ten miles away? It made the dream of writing more accessible, more realistic. Hey, I realized, it is possible for me, this small town girl from the Midwest, to write and be successful at it.
Still working on the success part. But the writing, oh, I’m doing that.
He’s not the only writer in the area. Far from it. But he was the first one I’d heard of that was successful enough to count in my eight-year-old brain as a “Writer” and one who was known for being a writer. Probably that was influenced because my dad and my uncles read his books voraciously and I saw them lying around all the time. I read one of his books, years ago, as a teenager. (The Frontiersmen, and I remember being fascinated by the history in it, and how it all related to real life places that I’d seen and been to and heard of).
Now don’t be thinking that I’m talking down about Ohio, about the Midwest, or about my hometown or the surrounding area. I’m not. I am saying that when I was a kid, for some reason, I had a belief that writers just didn’t live here, weren’t from around here, and didn’t come from here. Mr. Eckert’s success blew that belief right out of the water.
So, when the word came today that Allan Eckert died in his sleep last night at the age of 80, I couldn’t help but remember the unknowing, silent encouragement that he’d given to me as a writer. I’ve never met the man. But I wish his family well, and I will be thinking of them as they work through the condolences and good-byes and services. And it’s hard not to say a small prayer of thank-you for this man, for providing an example to me that being a writer wasn’t wishing on a star that could never come in…much like any other goal in life, it’s something anyone can aspire to as long as they work for it, they sacrifice for it, and they are willing to put the time in to learn. It’s a goal that doesn’t matter where you live or who you are, because it’s not about any of that. It’s about the writing. I can live with that. And I can do that.
For more information, please click on the following links.
Weathering the Storm 