Legendary ConFusion 2014

Good morning, interwebs. Just a couple bits of news today. First, I’m excited to report that my short story, “Dead Download” snagged an Honorable Mention from the judges of the Writers of the Future Contest for the third quarter. This is the second story of mine to snag the honor, although I’m still hoping to break into the finals while I still qualify as an amateur by their metrics, (although if either of the editors reviewing my first two novels are reading this, please don’t let that weigh on your conscious.)

The After the Draft series is taking a short break this month on account of the holidays, but I have a very special and exciting guest post lined up for next month. He is a rising star in the Urban Fantasy genre, and has written what I can only call a manifesto about his experience bringing his first novel to market. It’s filled with shouting and a lot of swearing. I love it and I’m sure you will too.

Finally, next month I’ll be hidden in plain sight amongst the other panelists at Legendary Confusion 2014. Last year was my first time attending this con, and while on the small side, it was heavy with writing talent from across the country and the world. I hope to see you there. You can peruse the full programing track at the link, but here is my schedule of activities:

 

The worst thing I ever tried to write

Cindy Spencer Pape, Cherie Priest, Seleste deLaney, Tobias Buckell, Patrick Tomlinson

6pm Friday – Erie

The trunk novel is basically something an author wrote as practice. These are generally things that are so bad that they should never see the light of day. Our honest and humble panel will discuss some of their versions on this theme to amuse and delight. Did someone try to write a zombie-dinosaur-golem love triangle? Come by and find out.

What you might want to be reading RIGHT NOW

Saladin Ahmed (M), Amy Sundberg, Merrie Haskell, Patrick Tomlinson, Peter Orullian, Gretchen Ash

11am Saturday – Erie

Writers are almost always avid readers, and being in the business sometimes allows more insight into new and exciting authors, series, or just ideas that different people are playing with. If you’ve looked around and wondered what’s good that’s out now and in the near future, this panel may give you a new slew of books to track down.

Everything I needed to know about writing I learned by reading slush

Ferrett Steinmetz, Sarah Gibbons, Elizabeth Shack, Nancy Fulda, Patrick Tomlinson, C. C. Finlay

1pm Saturday – Erie

One of the most instructive thing that an aspiring writer can do is read as wide a variety of other writing as possible. Generally this is done by voraciously consuming all the words one comes across, but there is another way. Slush readers weed out submissions for publication, and generally have a highly tuned grasp of what in writing patently DOES NOT WORK. Here are some of the lessons learned. Remember, they read them so you don’t have to.

Reading with Patrick Tomlinson and Laura Resnick

7pm Saturday – Rotunda

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