Writing

The Grimm Legacy

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It’s official!

As of last night, I have signed a contract with Musa Publishing to publish my contemporary fantasy novel, THE GRIMM LEGACY.

I do not have an official publication date yet; the discussion involves mid-2012. I will post when I have an official date.

You can find the website for Musa Publishing here.

I am all kinds of thrilled, not just for this opportunity, but also about the amazing conversations I’ve had with the editor for Urania, the speculative fiction imprint, as well as the promotions department and the main office. I’m excited to work with this company!

National Novel Writing Month

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I’ve been involved with NaNoWriMo since  2005 in the Dayton, Ohio region.

This year, I’m the Municipal Liaison for the “Elsewhere in Ohio” region, and am running a few events in and around Urbana, Ohio.

Since this region is so spread out, I’ve scheduled a kick off event in my own town, and I’m planning a few other events in my area. I’m hoping to try to do some online networking as well…more to come soon. Really.

For those in the Logan/Champaign/Clark county areas of Ohio…(and, well, Union, Madison, Miami, or Greene counties as well…)

There is a kick off event scheduled for

OCTOBER 29, 2011 FROM 2 PM UNTIL 5 PM IN THE CHAMPAIGN COUNTY LIBRARY MEETING ROOM.

I’ll be there…and I’m hoping to push/pull/drag a few people into helping out.

I’ll provide some snacks (and maybe cookies!) and will be there to answer questions about the event, talk about writing, and otherwise see what I can do to encourage others to take on the manic insanity of writing a novel in 30 days!

Come join us!

Happy Happy Joy Joy

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WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

This morning, I overslept and was rushing like a maniac to get to work on time.

I got to work and checked my email, logged in, checked my files, and then started my day. I was on the phone, and on hold, so I got into Google Reader to check publishing blogs on my Blackberry while I waited.

And that’s when I saw it.

I had no idea that the trade paperback version of MYSTERY TIMES TEN had hit the Amazon bestseller list at #13 the week it was released.

The Kindle version was released last week. It hit #12.

Here’s the link to the publisher’s blog, announcing this.

Ten minutes after I found this out, I was scheduled to go to a legal seminar about the changes to Ohio sentencing law; not exactly the most entertaining of topics, although it’s always information that lawyers need to have. I’m sorry, Nick. The presentation was well done. I really tried to pay attention, and for the most part, I succeeded, but I kept thinking… “I just need to get home and do some more writing…” and then I’d have to fight to pay attention again. It had nothing to do with anything going on in the room and everything to do with the fact that I needed to be scraped off the ceiling. And I hadn’t even had caffeine yet for the day.

Taming the Jungle

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I’ve been unable to mow the yard the last couple of weeks due to all the rain, and for some reason…I haven’t been home most evenings. I feel like I’m not getting anything done at home.

Thankfully, a lot of the crazy seems to be settling down, and the weather dried out enough for me to tackle the small forest of grass that had sprouted in the yard.

I’ve been working on new ideas for the new novel…and have been working on a few other short stories as well.

Tomorrow will be writing, more yard work if the rain holds out, laundry, and housework. The hope is that sooner or later I stop feeling like I’m behind on everything.

A quick heads up…Mystery Times Ten is now available on Kindle! I meant to post that news earlier, chalk that one up to mental cobwebs getting the way of the list of things-I-meant-to-do!

Brand New Day

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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.

Cons on a Budget

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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!

It’s All In The Reflexes

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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…

 

Cons In Your Backyard

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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.