Personal Appearances

I am writing this ahead of time, because I am packing up and getting ready to go out of town on Jan 27, 2024.

I will be attending the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainsville, FL. For 7 hours (10 am to 5 pm), I and another of MoonPhazes’ authors, John Lars Shoberg, will be talking to potential customers, other authors, and other entrepreneurs about potentially working together in some way. It is free to attend this event. This will be my 2^nd year at this festival, and I have big hopes for it. But it is a little daunting to handle such an appearance on my own, that’s why this time, I’m taking John to help out. We will be at booths 163 and 164.

On February 17^th, 2024, we will have a booth at Syfy Bartow in downtown Bartow, FL. This free-to-attend street festival starts at 11 am and ends at 6 pm. I’m not sure where our booth will be located, but if you go there, keep your eyes open for us. I will be selling books and possibly some cosplay prosthetics. John is planning to go, but he may spend the day with the Klingons. Or possibly he’ll split the time between them and my booth.

We are also planning to be at Necronomicon in Tampa, FL, this fall. It was held in September in 2023, but I can’t find an updated website to get the dates for this’ year’s con. It’s also too early for me to start pestering them for an author’s table yet. I’ll try to keep you informed as the convention gets closer. John is thinking of having some Klingon activities there, and he’s looking for other Klingons to help out.

Right now, that’s all we’ve got scheduled for this year. We did hear that Bartow con was a hit last fall and is planning to do it again in 2024. If they do, I hope I can get a table to sell stuff. They were pretty crowded last year!

We go to conventions and book festivals to meet and talk to people who have read our books, and hopefully sell them more books. If you would like to check out our books, the (trade) paperbacks are available at MoonPhaze.com, and the ebooks are available at MoonPhazeBooks.com

Report on Bartow Con

I knew Bartow Con was coming long before it got here. But for a long time, I didn’t think I would be going to it. They had no more vendor’s tables, and the word was that the Klingon table would be outside. I burn at the drop of a sunbeam and don’t handle heat well, so I saw no reason for me to go.

 

But then I was reminded that I was navigator for my husband’s shuttle. I couldn’t get my own costume done in time, so I borrowed a TOS (the original series) costume and got myself ready to navigate. By then, thank goodness, the ‘club’ tables had been moved to a room inside the building. So we loaded up the shuttle with cargo and a passenger and headed out.

 

The event was held on Saturday, Oct 14, at the Bartow Civic Center in Bartow FL. We had to have our area set up and ready by 9:30 AM on the 14^th, or we could arrive Friday afternoon and set it up. We opted to set up on Friday, so we left our home about noon, picked up our passenger about 1, and headed for Bartow using highways and some local roads. We thought about using I4 to get us about halfway there, but it was several miles north of our position, and would have taken us longer.

 

The trip was uneventful except we accidentally turned a little early before we actually reached Bartow City Limits. Luckily, that road dumped us onto Old Bartow Road, which we followed south and came right to the hotel we had booked. So we checked in, unloaded things not needed at our table, and had a very late lunch before we went to the Civic Center.

 

It took us maybe an hour to unload our shuttle and set up our area. Other Klingons were already there, helping the Federation set up their area, but they were mostly done with that and were very helpful in getting us set up. Having accomplished that, we went back to the hotel, had supper and settled in for the night.

 

In the morning on Saturday, hubby was a bit under the weather, so I drove our passenger to the Civic Center and dropped him off. On the way back, I stopped and got some basic meds to treat my hubby. He was mostly garbed when I got to the hotel room, so I helped him finish up, and we were off, arriving at the Civic Center a few minutes before 10, which was when the even began. I dropped Hubby off at the door, then parked the shuttle in the grass with the other shuttles.

 

Our space was in a room with 4 ‘clubs’ having space, and half the room was set up as a panel room. It took some time for people to find this room, but by the time the first panel took place about noon, visitors were pretty common. Two more Klingons showed up about 10:30, meaning we had 8 Klingons in uniform for this event.

 

I spent most of the day at the table space, handing out brochures, business cards and keychains. That allowed the others to wander about the con, seeing what was where and who was there. About 4 times, hubby came back with a cup of flavored shaved ice, which we shared between us. One time, he sent me to get a shaved ice, so I could get whatever flavor I wanted. On my way, I picked up a bag of popcorn, which turned out to be very salty. And another time, one of the Klingons was enjoying some Birthday Cake-flavored cotton candy. I had never heard of that flavor, so she offered me a taste. I pulled off a tiny fluff, and it very definitely tasted like birthday cake!

 

Three times, we gathered all the Klingons together to get some group photos taken at various photo opportunities. The photos were fun, but the process of getting everybody gathered together in one place was like herding cats!

 

Let me describe the venue. The civic center has 2 ‘main entrances’, both of which open into a large room with a stage. This room was filled with vendors selling books, patches, uniforms, foodstuffs, craft items, retro toys… Lots of stuff! There was a smaller room to the south of the west entrance, and this seemed to be full of artists selling their wares. If you turn north before you come in the west entrance, there is another room with more vendors and a guy with 4 or 5 backdrops for photo ops. Now, back through the main room. On the north side of the stage, there was a short hallway that led to the VIP room, where the media guests were selling photos and autographs. There were also other VIPs, such as best-selling authors and the like. If you go through this room and out the other side, you come to an open-air hallway and you find the room where we were located.

Several food trucks were in the parking lot outside the west entrance. If it sounds confusing, it was; there was at least one room I wasn’t aware of before we went to it to have photos taken.

I think we were all agreed that Bartow Con 2023 was not a bad effort for a first con. I don’t know what kind of meeting rooms the local hotels might offer, but they might deserve a look. If the committee finds the Civic Center is their only choice, they might make maps of the facility available, either on the wall near doorways or in a brochure that also lists the panels and where they are located. And if they can find another room, they might consider offering gaming, which is generally pretty popular at these types of gatherings. I wasn’t able to watch it, but I understand their costume call was popular, and in front of the stage was crowded as people waited to hear who won what prize in which category.

 

After the last panel in our room ended about 5:30, 5 or 6 of us started tearing down our display. I walked to the shuttle and brought it around to the closest entrance so we could load up.

 

Five of us were staying at the same hotel, so we all went to supper together and enjoyed ourselves before returning to our rooms for the night.

 

In the morning, we piled our suitcases in the shuttle and headed out a little after 9. I was a little foggy-headed this morning and found myself confused about what direction we would turn as we tried to follow the instructions backwards. Once I confessed that, our passenger got out his Google Maps and took over navigating, sending us cross country on county roads and local streets until we finally got to his house. We helped him unload his stuff, and then headed home, arriving about 11:30.

 

We feel the journey was a success.

Report on Necronomicon 2023

We got home from Necronomicon about 7 PM on Sunday. We left everything in the car to be unloaded in the morning, because we were tired. (We aren’t spring chickens any more!) But I’m counting the convention a success!

We left about 8:15 AM on Friday to pick up Mark, who was going with us. His house is about an hour from our home, and the convention hotel was a little more than an hour from his house. Being old and intimidated by our smart phones, we tend to print the route we need to take by using mapquest or google maps on our desk computers. It worked well for this trip except at the end, where the instructions said things like, turn right and go 387 feet, make a u-turn and go 219 feet, turn right and go 121 feet. How are we supposed to measure feet when we’re in a car? Anyway, I told my hubby to make a u-turn at the first intersection, only to realize that intersection led to the parking lot of the hotel we wanted! By the time I realized that, he had made the u-turn and was at the lights where we had originally turned right. Eventually, we turned around and got to the hotel.

It was a little after 11 AM, and my table was supposed to be set up by noon, so we decided to get a luggage cart to take my 5 boxes of books to my table. But we actually unloaded everything onto the luggage cart and I went inside to see if we could check in for our hotel room. Yes, we could! So John and Mark took the boxes to my table, where John started unpacking the books; Mark took the luggage to our hotel room; and I got us all registered for the con. Then I went back to the table, handed out badges and program books, and finished setting up the table. Now I could settle in for the rest of the day, talking to the other authors in the Author Alley and trying to be friendly to potential customers that walked by.

John and Mark sometimes sat with me at the table, studying the schedule, reading the program book and talking about whatever was on their mind. At times one or both would wander away to check out a panel or activity, the art show, the dealer’s room. I made a fast walk around the dealer’s room, but never got to the art show. I tried to talk to the other authors, but on Friday, the tables to the left of me and directly across from me were empty. And after a couple of hours, the table across from me and to the left was suddenly empty too. There had been an author there, with his book, but now he was gone, and nobody saw him pack up and go.

The con had an activity called ‘Cthulu Crafts’ all 3 days of the con, which John went to see what it involved, looking for something that Klingons might be able to use. He talked to the host and mentioned that Klingons had an activity they did called ‘Paint and Take’. Later on Saturday, the young man in charge of scheduling stopped John in the hall and asked if might be interested in doing a ‘Paint and Take’ at the next con. So John and Mark started talking about finding other Klingons to come with them next year and what they might be able to do besides a Paint & Take. I wonder what customers would say if I manned my table as a Klingon for a day at next year’s con.

John and I had 2 panels to do. The first was on Saturday at 11:15 AM, and it was on ‘What Inspired Me to Write’. I had come up with 7 questions to help keep the conversation going. With 6 panelists, we filled up the hour and didn’t get too repetitive, so I was feeling pretty good. We also had an author there who was one of the con’s Guests of Honor, and he sometimes put in his 2 cents worth, which was also an ego boost for me.

Our 2^nd panel was Sunday at 11 AM, and this one was about “How I Write.” Again, 4 other authors joined us, and only 1 was a repeat from the day before. I had 9 questions to ask, and the answers were diverse, pointing out that there is no one ‘correct’ way to right, er, I mean write.

Two people approached me during the convention. One was an editor who was looking for free-lance work. It is very hard to edit your own books, so I may be looking her up. The other woman was a free lance graphic artist. I may soon have work for her, too.

At 8 PM on Saturday, there was a panel on self-publishing that I wanted to go to, so John and I took down the table about 6:30 so I could get supper, since I hadn’t gotten any lunch. The restaurant was quick at getting our food to us, and I had some time to spare before the panel, so I went up to the con suite, and had some chips, a glass of cola, and some pop corn before I went to the panel.

Now, self-publishing is a big subject to cover in 1 hour. And when the hour was over, Brenda (only 1 panelist showed up) decided to take us to Salon G, which was supposed to be empty for the next hour. But when we got there, another group had been given the room to use, so a few of us die-hards who wanted to know more gathered around an empty table in Author Alley and talked for another 1 ½ hours. By then I was the only one left listening. Brenda gave me her personal email address, in case I had more questions, and promised to introduce me to Kevin on Sunday, who could give me more information on email lists.

Sure enough, as soon as I got my table set up on Sunday, Brenda was there with 2 men to talk to me; Kevin about email lists, and Robert of Westerfield Studios. So I had a talk with Kevin about email lists and bookfunnel. And then I had a nice talk with Robert about multi-media and how he could help me get the word out about our books. He mentioned some things that I knew existed but didn’t have a clue how to do.

And everybody told me to start getting our books made into audible books!

I considered it a very productive convention for me, having made those contacts and had those conversations.

And the cherry on top of the whole convention was that I sold 4 books! That’s the biggest sales I’ve had at any convention. My sales actually covered the cost of the table for once!

Two of the books were John’s ‘The Stone Builders’, which you can download for free at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/565000. In it, Humans and Wassarans have co-colonized a planet, and now they discovered it was colonized once before by a race who built everything out of stone. But the Stone Builders had abandoned their colony in a hurry. Why? And was the threat still here?

The third book was John’s ‘The Waste Gun’, where a scientist has found a way to get rid of radioactive waste permanently. But an eco-terrorist sees it as poisoning the Earth and is determined to stop him. This one isn’t available as an e-book right now, as I flubbed up the formatting of the manuscript before I got it published as an e-book, but I’ll let you know when it is published.

The final book was an anthology of short stories about vampires called ‘These Vampires Don’t Sparkle’. This one wasn’t published by me, but I have a story in it, on page 155. I don’t know if it was ever published as an e-book, but the hard copy was put out 9 years ago by Sky Warrior Book Publishing. There is a 2^nd volume called ‘These Vampires Still Don’t Sparkle’. I just checked with Amazon, which said volume 1 was out of print, and they only have 1 used paperback of volume 2 for sale. So my chances of getting any more of either one of them are pretty slim.

I look forward to going back to Necronomicon in 2024.

A Personal Appearance

I’m getting excited! For the first time in a lo-o-ng time, MoonPhaze is sending both of its authors to make an appearance together. That’s me and my husband, John Lars Shoberg. Both of us. At the same event. Namely, Necronomicon in Tampa FL.

We were supposed to go together to Gainesville in January, to sell our books at a bookfair that’s held there annually. Unfortunately, John’s health at that time was pretty poor, and I went without him. It wasn’t the same at all. He’s the one who can talk to just about anyone, on a large variety of subjects, so I usually rely on him to help break the ice with potential customers. I tried to engage people in conversation, but I’m just not as good at it as he is. I was completely drained by the end of the day.

This time, his health still isn’t very good, but he’s going with me. It will be up to me to sell the books, while he will wander around, attending panels and making new friends. We are on 2 panels together: “How I Do My Job (Writing)” and “What Inspired Me to Do This Job (Writing)”. They were the suggestions I made when the person doing the panel scheduling told me he had been informed that it was not acceptable to have authors who are not The Guest of Honor do readings. That’s so different from Mid-West cons. So that’s what I came up with off the top of my head. And the scheduler said, “Great! Let’s do them both!”

If you come to Necronomicon this weekend (Sept 22-24, 2023), look for the MoonPhaze table. I will be manning that. And watch for John among the other attendees. We’d both love to talk to you. Feel free to browse through our books, and I won’t be averse to sell you some. Or if you prefer e-books, I have a bunch of coupons I’d like to hand out this weekend. You can get the ebooks for 50% off or for free, and not have to carry books around with you all weekend. And we don’t charge for autographs, if you want one of those!

Yes, I’m getting excited. Which is different than being nervous. Nervous is me at a table, trying to sell books or at least talk to people about books. You’d think I’d get used to it and not get so nervous anymore. Here’s hoping the nervousness isn’t as bad this time.

It's Over

The street festival I was working so hard to get ready for is over, and I can relax. The fact is, we don't have any more appearances scheduled, so it's hard to work up a lot of enthusiasm for 'getting ready'.

On the other hand, I have some watermelon product that doesn't have a long shelf life while in the liquid form, so I've got to get it into molds and let it solidify. So I am doing that. That only takes 5-10 minutes of an evening. (And then let it cure for 24 hours.)

If you've been reading along with these posts, you may be wondering how I did. The answer is, "Better than I've done in the past, but not great." However, I had a lot of interest in looking at my prosthetics, now that they were displayed in a way that people could see what I had. I even had Mandalorians and Star Fleet officers stop by to look them over, and a couple people who said, "I'll be back," who didn't manage to come back before the festival closed.

Next year's SyFy Bartow will be themed for Star Trek. The Klingons had great success this year at their booth, and have suggested that I ask to be located next to them next year. That way, I'm right there, ready to sell a bumpy forehead to those who want to jump into Klingon-dom right away. They also suggested that I 'paint' foreheads on people with make-up, as a cheaper way to 'live the experience'. I'll have to practice my painting skills between now and then. Thankfully, I have a practice dummy head, so I can do that. What I don't have is a broad range of skin-tone make-up, so I'll need to get some more of that.

On the other hand, I rather liked where I was located this year. Fairly centrally located, and yet, only a few feet away from the dog adoption booth. Everybody wants to go see the dogs. And I'm happy to report that they adopted out all their dogs by about 4 pm. Not that I had anything to do with that, but I'm happy to see so many dogs find happy, forever homes.

I also had quite a few requests for 'elf ears' or 'Vulcan ears', but I haven't created any of those yet. Like me, the people asking didn't want the '1-size fits all' ears that are out there, they wanted something that would glue to the tops of their ears. Now that I've got Bjoran noses, I suppose I'd better get started working on ears.

So, yeah, I have stuff I need to do to get ready for the next show, whenever it might be. I'd better put some goals on my To Do list so I don't forget to work on these projects.

We're on a Collision Course!

I'm writing this Wednesday night. Bartow is Saturday, so I've got 2 days to get everything done, packed and loaded in the car. How am I doing? Am I going to make it?

In one sense, yes, I'll make it, because whatever I get done and packed is what I'll have to work with. In another sense, no, I won't, because making 'a few' more copies of small prosthetics that I've never had very many of has turned into... well, a learning experience, I guess.

Prosthetics Display Project - Done. Hubby even inscribed 'Myers Prosthetics' in the 2 base boards today. The rods to hold up the foam heads are packed, the foam heads are packed.

Final Prosthetics on Display - Still not done. I have 2 - 4 small prosthetics that need to be painted and glued to the final foam head. With a little luck, I'll get that done tomorrow. Assuming the latex versions I'm trying to make come out okay in the morning.

Signage - Done and Packed. Unless I think up some humorous signs to post. Might happen.

Making some small prosthetics - Ugh! I realized I had very few cyborg relays (from 7 of 9's cheek) and cyborg eyepieces (also from 7 of 9), and I thought I could pop out a few of each in watermelon, which is a new product, which takes less time than latex to dry in the mold. But when I looked around for a mold for them, the only one I could find was for dragonskin. (Didn't really want to drag out the dragonskin chemicals every day to make a tiny little batch.) I also had recently sculpted a Bjoran nose ridges piece that hadn't been made into ANY kind of mold yet.

We have some clay that you can melt and pour into a mold and let it harden to make what I call a 'plug'. It's got all the details that were in the original mold, and then you make another mold using those plugs. Small prosthetics like this are usually done several at a time, in a sheet mold.

So, I had to affix my plugs to a smooth tile, which required getting out the heat gun to soften up the plug backs so the clay would adhere to tile. Kind of overheated my Bjoran nose plug, which was made from sculpting clay, so I spent a couple hours fixing what I had sculpted and finally got it attached to the tile. Then I spent most of a day building a box around the plugs before I could pour in the plaster. Then I got really busy doing other stuff for a day. So the plaster was good and cold by the time I got back to it.

First, I had to take apart the box. The Bjoran nose plug came out with no problem. Horray! However, I used the wrong mold release for the melting clay, so I couldn't get those plugs out. I finally resorted to using the heat gun again, and got most of the clay out, although my details weren't very clear inside. I called people, told them what I had done, and asked if there was anything I could do to clear out the rest of the stuff. I was told to soak the cavities in alcohol and use a wooden pick to pry out the remaining bits of clay. I might have to do that several times. Well, eventually, I felt like I had cleaned it out as best I could, so yesterday afternoon, I put a layer of latex into those molds. Latex is the cheapest prosthetic material, so I felt if it pulled out little bits and pieces of clay, I wouldn't be wasting a lot of money. Today I started casting in earnest. If all goes well, I'll have new prosthetics to pull tomorrow. Do another set tomorrow to pull Friday, then package and pack them. I still won't have a lot of them, so I'll be casting new ones even after Bartow.

Wish me luck.

It's Getting Closer

Only 10 days to SF Bartow.

How am I doing on getting ready?

Foam Head Display - We got the supplies we needed, but they've just been sitting in the garage, so far. Need to get out there and start cutting and drilling. Which means measuring the foam heads so we don't get them placed too close to each other. I don't have many power tools I use, so part of this will take the help of my husband. Maybe we can get out there and work on that tomorrow.

Foam Head Display - I took one of my small prosthetics off its display head and cleaned the make-up off it because the prosthetic is supposed to be metal, and white make-up just didn't look right. This is one of 2 cyborg prosthetics I offer, and I only have 1 or 2 copies of each one at this time, so I was going to make some new molds of these and a new design I've recently sculpted and make some out of watermelon plastic, that being the fastest way to make them. Today, I got a tile cleaned and ready to be used, and I melted some clay and poured it into the existing molds, which I placed in the freezer to get good and hard so I can just pop those suckers out in the morning. Then I need to 'glue' them onto the tile, build a wall around all of them and make the new molds. Then in a few days, after I've made some, I'll need to paint the cyborg prosthetics and get them packaged... except for the ones I put on the display heads, of course. Those need to be painted and glued.

Sale Signs - I spent about an hour this afternoon starting to make the SALE! signs for the table. Still got quite a long way to go with those.

Signs - I know where my 2 signs are. I know where the base is for the main one. I think I know where the pole is for it. I'd better rummage through the closet and make sure I find it. I also know where tape is, but it isn't yet packed for being taken. I know where the bungee cords are, but don't know if the Klingons will need them. Maybe I should go buy my own supply.

Okay, there's still time to do this, so no need to panic just yet. Just need to get off my duff and get to doing. Good thing I'm between editing projects right now.

Wish me luck.

PS. We are deep into constructing the foam head display. We are done cutting wood and just need to drill holes in the board we are using as a base. All the measuring for that has been done. As for the cyborg prosthetics, I have pulled the castings, and they look great, so I am making progress.

Looking Ahead

Okay, there's only 2.5 weeks before SF in Bartow. The products I plan to take are packed, but what about other stuff?

What other stuff, do you ask? Well, for one thing, signs. I took 2 signs to Villicon, and couldn't put up either one of them. Our main sign, MoonPhaze, needs a base and pole to hang from. Somehow, the base was taken, but the pole wasn't to be found. So I couldn't put it up. The secondary sign, for Myers Prosthetics, also got taken, but I forgot to take any tape or bungee cords to hang that sign from the front of the table. So, let's see, I need to find the pole for my main sign, and pack either bungee cords or tape (or both) for my secondary sign.

Also, it's one thing to have foam heads displaying prosthetics on a table at an indoor event. It's completely different to use them for an outdoor event, where any tiny little breeze is likely to pick up a foam head and send it tumbling down the street. We've been thinking about how to anchor the foam heads so they can't go roaming on their own. Now it's time to get our act together and make the anchors so they can be packed and ready to go. So, find a couple dowels to stick in the foam heads (they each have a hole some 4 and 1/2 inches deep in the bottom), buy a couple boards to make the bases, and spend a couple hours cutting the wood accordingly. It shouldn't take us long, if we just do it.

And finally, some signs to tape down on the table showing the prices of what we have. Most—if not everything I take to Bartow—will be on sale, and I need to let people know that. So that will probably take an afternoon or two on the computer and printer.

There shouldn't be any problem getting this all done, everything packed and ready to go... as long as we don't procrastinate too long. I've got errands to run tomorrow, so maybe I'll start by getting those dowels and the boards. And a drill bit. He said we needed a drill bit, too.

So, I'll just pat myself on the back for thinking ahead and making plans. Now to just follow through on them. Wish me luck!

PS. We did get the supplies for making the head display. Step 1 of that project done. Today I plan to search for the sign pole and the box that holds my 'miscellaneous' stuff - tape, scissors, markers and so on. 

Panic Time

This has been a hectic week. I finished editing a book on Saturday, and decided I'd better concentrate on getting stuff together for the convention we'll be at this weekend. This was in addition to the work I'd done last fall, taking inventory of everything I ever took to a convention to sell and organizing them in boxes so I could pick and choose what I wanted to take. My husband encouraged me to make more product (cosplay prosthetics) before the raw materials went bad, so we set aside a couple days to do that. Otherwise, I've been working on them every afternoon since last Saturday, and I've got quite a bit done.

And it's only Wednesday.

Wait, did I say it's ONLY Wednesday? Oh, no! It's already Wednesday! I've got product to package up, and then pack into the proper boxes, and displays to prepare, and table props to paint! AAAARRRGGH! (Run around the house like a chicken with its head cut off, and get absolutely nothing constructive done!)

Okay. That's enough panicking for now. Tomorrow, when I'm trying to finish everything up, plus pack a suitcase and load up the car, I may have a few more panic attacks. I try to keep them short, so I can use most of my time plugging away at what I need to do.

I suppose that since I have some control over how long they are, they might not be true panic attacks. Basically, they are moments when I feel overwhelmed by how much I still have to do, no matter how much I've managed to get done. And when I feel like that, I don't seem able to communicate to anybody else how to properly do one of my chores so that I can hand it off. Been there, done that, wasn't pretty.

I suppose I should train somebody—such as my husband, who's been prepping his own stuff to take for the Klingon table—how to do some of these chores for me before I'm overwhelmed. Then we can both be overwhelmed together!

No, I'm not sure that's a good idea. Better that one of us manage to remain calm even when one of us is being a headless chicken.

I am grateful that I did, once upon a time, sort through and organize all the boxes, and labeled them, so I know what boxes I want to take. You know, books are in boxes 4, 5 & 14. Prosthetics are in boxes 8, 10, & 12. Made it so much easier to sort out the ones I wanted to take with us.

Anyway, we're both going to be at Villicon this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the DoubleTree at the Entrance to Universal, 5780 Major Blvd in Orlando. If you're going to be there, stop by our tables and say hello! John (Lars Shoberg) will be at the Klingon table, and I (Trudy V Myers) will be manning the MoonPhaze table (basically across the aisle and down a table from the Klingons), selling prosthetics and books. We'd love to chat with you! 

Failure!

Well, I’m late getting this written and posted. (Sigh.) What a bummer.

I actually tried to do some quick research on ‘tardiness’ for this thrown-together blog. Google returned lots of sites where I could get the definition, but I already know that. The few sites that weren’t for the definition were mostly about students who were habitually late, and a few were about business policies concerning tardiness. Not what I was looking for.

I was looking for clues about the reasons why people are late with projects. I thought maybe I could share some insights about why I am sometimes late getting a blog done on time. But that kind of site didn’t show up, or if it did, it was so far down on the list that I never got to it.

THIS week, I know why I’m late. Our household has become a mad-house.

Last weekend, we got another storage unit and started packing up and taking boxes of stuff that we’d been using the last several months. Any effort to maintain some semblance of a ‘daily schedule’ flew right out the window. My hubby was so worried we wouldn’t get things done that there were times when he got up at 5 am to pack. Having finally gotten our new po box number from the Florida post office, I’ve been trying to notify everybody of our immediate change of address, which made Hubby mad, because I wasn’t helping him pack and take stuff to storage. So no, I’m not done with my list of businesses and people to notify.

Today, Hubby dropped me off to drive home the rental truck. He is off at dospace for one last session on the laser printer. The moving men are supposed to arrive sometime around noon to load up the furniture and take it to storage for us. Then I can take the truck back.

Almost everything is packed. We will take the tv to storage in the morning. I have a laptop and e-reader to throw in my suitcase, and we’ll do one last load of wash tonight. (The washer and dryer are staying.) So, without him ranting about ‘never getting it all done’, I can take a break and do this blog, at least until the moving men show up. I have to be careful with what they take, because we have quite a bit of stuff that we are actually taking to Florida with us.

So, no big insights into tardiness. Only the insight that I do better when life has some semblance of a schedule. And eventually, once we get a new home and get settled, we will develop something that could possibly be called a schedule. I will be so relieved when that happens!

What’s coming next week? Hmmm. Hard to say. We are attending Icon in Iowa City this weekend, on our way to Florida, so I won’t have a lot of time for research. I keep hearing tidbits about ‘Planet 9’ - not that they’ve found it, only that it has to be there. I might put that off a bit longer, see if they finally do find it. Possibly a report on Icon; we haven’t been there for several years. Or maybe not, because once we get to Florida, there are lots of conventions of all types for us to attend.

I guess you’ll just have to come back and see what I write!

World Con 2016

Today was the first day of World (SF) Con 2016. The World con moves around from year to year. This year, it’s being held in Kansas City and is called MidAmeriCon 2. (Kansas City held its first World Con – MidAmeriCon – back in the ‘70s.)

The cheapest time to buy a membership is right after the vote that determines where the World con will be held TWO years from now. The votes happen at World con, so the members of this year’s convention get to decide what city will host the convention in 2 years. Of course, their choices are limited to those cities who have figured out how and where they would have the convention.

Worldcon 2017 will be in Helsinki. We didn’t buy memberships to that one, because we seldom follow the con outside the US. When the worldcon is held somewhere other than North America, there is a North AmeriCon held that year. That location for 2017 will be chosen at this worldcon. We might go to that, depending where it is. The choices are San Jose and New Orleans.

World cons last for 5 days. They used to be held over Labor Day weekend, but that made it difficult for parents to attend, because the school year was just beginning. So they have migrated to mid-August. North Americons are typically 4 days long.

Worldcons generally have a few thousand people. When they are held in large cities – like LA – they might have 8,000 attendees. So much larger than the 200 attendees at the first, held in New York in 1939.

Other conventions are larger; Dragoncon in Atlanta, Nebcon in Omaha are just 2. But worldcons are big enough to be daunting, especially to shy or introverted people. The dealer’s room is large, the art show amazing, the costume contest can be over the top. And the panels! LOTS of panels, on all sorts of subjects. As usual, I find 2-3 panels I want to attend, all at the same time, and probably at opposite ends of the convention center. It can be tough to choose which one I will actually go to.

Sooner or later, we run across friends at worldcon. Some are people we know from smaller conventions. Others we only run across at worldcon (or North AmeriCon). In either case, we take some time to chat and catch up.

If you’ve never been to a worldcon, a description really can’t do them justice. I suggest you save up your money - tickets can be $250 for 5 days at the door, and the surrounding hotels are high-end brands. If the WorldCon is close enough for you to drive, you could save some money finding a cheaper hotel further away. But you will have to pay to park somewhere near the convention each day. And don’t forget to have money on hand for food; WorldCons provide snacks (chips, veggies, crackers) and soda at certain times of the day, but not anything that could be considered ‘real food.’

Despite the expense, they can be fun and informative. However, they are not a comicon, an anime con, or a media con. They are a literary convention. They are aimed mostly at science fiction & fantasy readers. When we walked through the dealer’s room today, we saw 4-5 tables selling t-shirts, and at least twice that many selling books.

So if you don’t read, this probably isn’t the convention for you.

What If?

Last weekend, I attended Demicon, a science fiction convention held in Des Moines, IA. While there, I gave 5 panels and 1 reading. So far, readings have not brought me loads of fans, but I don’t think I’ve ever given a reading where nobody has shown up, so those who do come get a taste of my writing style.

The panels were better attended. As I explained to the audiences as each panel broke up, I generally like to introduce a subject, and let the ‘talk’ turn into a discussion. In that case, the audience members might participate as much - or more! - than I do, although I will attempt to guide the conversation from time to time. I really like that formula, because being an introvert, I tend to sit at my computer for long periods of time, and that can lead to thinking in a circle... no new ideas. But when I get other people lending their thoughts and knowledge to a conversation, I wind up with a whole batch of new (to me) ‘what if’s to ponder.

One of these discussions was on planet building. This subject is not just for science fiction; I have one fantasy universe set on a world with 3 moons. But we tended to compare our ideas to situations we’ve heard about within our own solar system, and when the talk moved to dwarf planets, I mentioned that one of the dwarves living out beyond Pluto is not spherical, as the definition states, because it spins so fast, it has flattened itself. That brought up the question, what if you had an actual planet, roughly the mass of Earth, but also spinning so fast that it is flattened quite a bit. Would the gravity be different at the equator than the poles? What an interesting idea! Of course, nobody had an answer for that.

The side subject of moons - If you don’t have a relatively large moon, you probably won’t have tides in your oceans - brought the question, if your planet had rings like Saturn, would they exert enough gravimetric pull to effect your tides? Another stumper! If I had been giving out prizes...

These particular questions both came from James C Hines, who poked his head in the door half-way through this panel. I invited him to join us, without realizing who he was. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put a name to the face until the talk was breaking up. Thank you, James. I now have specific questions to pose to my brother-in-law, the astrophysicist.

Every sf writer should have access to an astrophysicist.

Personal Appearances

These days, it is the responsibility of the author to do most - if not all - of the marketing for their book. One way to do that is to make ‘personal appearances’ - talks, readings, book signings, that sort of thing. For authors who write science fiction, fantasy or something fairly close to those genres, much of those activities can be done at science fiction conventions.

1) You can participate on ‘panels’, either alone or with other speakers. Panels are discussions or talks on a particular subject, and the marketing involved includes mentioning your (most recent or most known) work when you introduce yourself. 2) Readings are falling out of favor with some sf conventions, but others will still give you a time slot. 3) Most sf conventions have a ‘freebie’ table, where you can place fliers about your work. 4) The author or a group of authors can rent a table in the dealer’s room, where they can sell copies of their books. 5) Autograph sessions can be organized at that dealer’s table. 6) Get out there and mix with people! The more people have met you and had a conversation with you, the more they are likely to buy a copy of your work.

My first appearance this convention season is Willycon, held April 10-12. Held at the college in Wayne, Nebraska, it is the smallest convention we attend each year, but it is a good way of ‘easing’ back into the convention scene after a long winter of hibernation. John and I have been going since the convention got started, and a number of former students are now friends with us on facebook.

I like Willycon because I am not always at my best after that long hibernation, so a small convention lets me get my groove on, so to speak. I always take some fliers for the freebie table, and participate in at least one panel or workshop. This year, as lack-of-planning will have it, I am having a stubborn tooth root surgically removed the day before Willycon, so I have deliberately limited myself to one panel, but it will be fun!

“Well, this is it; We’re all going to die!” will be an audience-participation-expected panel, where we will compile a list of all the various ways humans (or at least most of them) could be wiped off the face of the Earth.

John Lars Shoberg has a few panels that he is giving, including the ‘flip side’ of my panel, which he calls “Surviving the Apocalypse”, or something similar. After I and my audience come up with a list of dooms, he and his audience will figure out how humans could survive each awful fate.

Hope to see you there, or at one of the other conventions we’ll be attending this year. More info on those other conventions in the future.

Shamrokon Report

After visiting the doctor, we rode the train to Holyhead (Wales), where we caught a ferry to Dublin (Ireland). We pulled into Dublin port around midnight on Thursday, and were lucky to catch a taxi going in our direction. The driver asked if we were in town for the convention, we specified which convention, and he knew exactly what hotel it was in. He almost delivered us to there, instead of the one we had requested, which was 3-4 blocks away. We checked in, and this was an actual hotel room, instead of a closet.

Shamrokon was the European science fiction convention. Although held in Dublin this year, it travels from city to city, like the World Con does. Since we were traveling to London for the World Con, and Dublin was just a wee bit away, we decided to check it out.

John thought the con started early on Friday, at 9 or 10, so we had breakfast and walked over, only to find signs that registration would open at noon. So we walked back and I made the mistake of laying down. When it came time to go, I could not get up, and my throat was sore. John went by himself and I slept. I did get up for supper, but I was probably asleep again before the sun went down. It was disappointing to miss the first day.

Saturday, we walked over and kind of went our separate ways, choosing different panels to attend. In looking over the list of panels, I got the impression that European conventions take their science fiction somewhat more seriously than Americans. But it’s possible I didn’t understand any inside jokes they may have.

They also had far more panels devoted to one guest than I’m used to seeing. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with that guest’s work, so I didn’t feel a need to attend those panels. Actually, I seldom attend panels that are based on one of the guests; it’s the subject matter of a panel that gets my attention.

One panel I attended on Saturday was about how their plan to have WorldCon in Dublin in 2019. I wouldn’t have a chance to site-see before we left, so the idea of coming back appealed for me. They were taking a bus load of people to the Convention Center on Sunday morning, but I had a panel to be on. Happily, John opted to join that bus load for the look-see.

Another panel I attended gave the answer to, “Why have a pen name?”, a question I’ve wrestled with for some time. Let’s say somebody reads books by Trudy Myers and they are fantasy and science fiction. Then they see a new title and grab it (I’m dreaming a little, but this is just an example). If it turns out to be a romance or a western, that reader will be disappointed and confused. But if I write fantasy and science fiction as Trudy Myers, romance as Linda Joy and westerns as Mel O Myers, and they know that, then they know what to expect based on the name I’m using. It’s all about branding. I don’t know if I ever heard anybody explain it so well before.

Saturday night, we got to see the new Doctor Who in his first episode on a big screen (Well, bigger than we have). What fun!

My panel was about mapping and world-building. The moderator spoke about star-maps, and I stated that I had not mentioned stars in my novel, but I did mention the planet’s 4 moons, which the natives call ‘Mother & daughters’. I design worlds by deciding where the plates are located and which direction they move, which gives me mountains, rift valleys and some volcano locations. Then I consider the prevailing winds, which would determine which areas get lots of rain, and which ones get very little. Later, I was surprised when all the questions that came my way were about the moons! Did I know their orbits? Did they have strange tides because there were 4 moons? I tried to give answers that would satisfy their curiosity.

Dublin’s Shamrokon was an interesting experiment for us to try. It was not nearly as big as a World Con, and hadn’t expected to be. It had 5 (maybe 6) panel rooms, ranging from large (seating 350) to medium. If I had to guess, I’d say it was about the size of a decent regional convention in the US. Maybe that’s why I could enjoy it; the size did not overwhelm me. Also, the trees in the yards, the houses and businesses along the route we walked to get there and back were... homey.

2014 World Con Report

This year’s World Science Fiction Convention was held in London, England. We don’t normally go it is overseas, but we decided if we were going to do any traveling, it was time to get started. I won’t go into details about our trip to get there, except that a storm in Atlanta (Georgia) made our trip an endurance battle.

The convention was held in a huge convention center located in the dock area on the Thames River. There were several hotels in the immediate area, but they were expensive, and by the time I had figured out our plan early this spring, I couldn’t find one in the area that had a room available for our entire stay. We wanted to do some site-seeing, too, so I found a cheaper hotel closer to London Central... and only 4 or 5 blocks from a major underground station.

London doesn’t have street signs like America. The names of some streets are on the side of the corner building, if you are lucky. Some streets are no wider than an American alley. It made reading my map difficult, especially after our marathon of non-sleeping to get there. When we finally paused and asked for directions at a cafe, we had turned a block too early.

I had been told that European hotel rooms are smaller than American, but when we finally got to ours, we were stunned. The room was the size of the bed with about a foot of ‘walking space’ on 3 sides and an attached bathroom that’s smaller than ours at home (which is definitely ‘dinky’). There were no chairs, no table, no drawers or shelves to put your clothes. Very claustrophobic! The first thing I did was fall on the bed and sleep for 15 hours.

We figured out the underground system and crammed 4 days of site seeing into 3. We didn’t have time to do the Jack the Ripper Walking Tour, but eventually I realized our hotel was IN his ‘hunting area’. (How exciting!) We weren’t afraid to ask questions, so it wasn’t difficult to add a ‘Docks Light Rail’ route to our pattern to get to and from the convention center, but it did mean we were riding the underground during the morning rush hour. Crammed like sardines.

The convention itself was good. There were a couple of space organizations giving lots of science panels, which always seemed to be over-crowded. Many times, people got turned away because all the chairs were full, and sometimes that wasn’t a science panel, either. There were times when I had to go to my 3rd choice of a panel, because both of the first 2 choices were full.

The convention had registered over 10,000 people, but on any given day, there were about 5 or 6,000 people in attendance.

Food and drink was probably over-priced, since it was all brought in by businesses within the convention center, but we were dealing in Pounds, so it was hard to say. I can’t say any of it was good.

Registration had a looooooong line every morning, but seemed efficient when my turn came. The freebie table, however, was way too small. This one table had fliers, books, business cards, book marks, pens and who knows what else, all jumbled together because there wasn’t room to lay things out nicely. As soon as somebody tried to organize an area so their items could half-way be seen, somebody else came along and slapped down a stack of... something right in the middle of it.

To sum up London: metropolitan, crowded, fast paced, efficient mass transportation, confusing; but if you can get a local to slow down, they will answer questions. As an introvert, I was stressed because it was so cramped, which I couldn’t escape, but I lived through our 10 9 days there.

LonCon3, the 2014 World Science Fiction Convention, was also crowded, but fun. Some things could have been better, like more freebie tables, or more room for photographers of the costumes in the costume contest, or a better method of presenting art workshops. (In the art show area was too noisy, especially without a microphone, and only those in the front of the crowd got to see what the artist was doing.) But they did have tables and chairs in the hallways, as well as water coolers.

Make a note; there are no water fountains in London. You are expected to buy your drinking water.

Post Convention

I apparently fall apart the day after a convention. I sleep until noon, or there-abouts, even though I know sleeping so long will make me feel crappy when I do get up. And sure enough, I get up with a splitting head-ache, a body that wants me to eat anything in sight (I can’t do that anymore), and a desire to mark the day a complete failure and crawl back into bed - which I’m pretty sure would not help.

Why do I do that? I’m not positive, but I’m thinking I am trying to make up to myself for spending 3 days at a convention. Don’t get me wrong; I LIKE conventions. I like costumes and shopping in the dealer’s room, attending panels. I even like giving panels, when the panels are of my choosing. Hospitality suites have become something of a no-no, because the convention’s finances often dictate that they are full of candy, chips and other things I should not be eating (no matter how much I want to), and few of the types of things I can eat without guilt. I’ve started taking my own fruits and vegetables to help me get through the weekend.

Still, much as I like conventions, they are 3 days spent in fairly close quarters with lots of people, when - as an introvert - I am only comfortable interacting with one or two at a time. [So if you see me at a convention, and you try to get my attention but can’t, it’s probably because in order to maintain my sanity, I ignore everybody but the one I’m talking to, or the item I’m looking at.] Even though I take breaks during those 3 days to ‘hide’ in our room (as my hubby says), I am still worn out after the con.

Just to complicate things, I also spend those 3 days trying to semi-keep up with my extrovert hubby, as well as take care of my own things. When will he need to get into costume and have his makeup applied? And how can we fit that around my schedule of panels? Inevitably, when I have a break and am looking for a late lunch, he’s already eaten (probably with friends) and suggests I go check out the Hospitality Suite - where all those no-nos are. The same can be said for supper, a lot of times. By the time I get home from the con, my meds have been skipped more than they’ve been taken (because I need to take them with food).

So. That all gives me some ideas on how to hopefully avoid this Monday-morning reaction to conventions. First, get up at a decent time and try to treat it as a normal day; if anybody is at home with me, it won’t be more than the younger son and the dog, and they tend to leave me alone; take a short nap later if I’m still tired. Second, take charge of my own well-being at a con. If hubby has already eaten, or isn’t ready to eat, I’m perfectly capable of going to a restaurant myself. I’m a grown woman, and this inability to cope punishes me. Not eating regularly and not taking my meds regularly threaten my health. Not getting up at a decent time deprives me of that day’s writing time.

I deserve better than that. Right?

Constellation Report 2014

This past weekend, John and I attended Constellation in Lincoln NE. I had a blast, more fun than I’ve had at a con in years, probably because I was feeling better than I have in years. Still, when we got home Sunday evening, I was too tired to write a blog. And today, I tried to catch up with some things, which took way longer than I thought it would. So I decided this week’s blog would be an edited version of my daily journal entries from the weekend:

4/25/14, Friday - got up around 8. John had said he wanted to leave around 1 pm, then at some point in the morning, he said that in order to get on the road by 1, we should probably leave the house around 11:30, to give us time to go the Credit Union and have lunch. That gave me time to print some things for panels. My first panel was 6 that evening, Exoplanets, and although the group was small, and my notes only produced a half hour panel, I think it went pretty well. I took my blue wig off before the end of the hour, it was sliding around on my head so much. If I’m going to do any costuming, I’ve got to figure out how to put on a wig properly.

4/26/14, Saturday - got up around 7 feeling good. After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, went back to the room and watched tv for a time while John was on the computer. Made John into a Klingon for the day, then went downstairs for my reading. An audience of about 6 (numbers are growing!) and at least one of them took notes on where to find my work! Again, about half an hour of reading, but I stretched it out a bit by talking to the audience about the types of books they like to read, favorite authors and so forth. Then down to the basement for my panel on alien archeologists digging up Lincoln NE and needing help figuring out what some of the items they had found were. Not a big audience, but once they understood the concept of ‘audience participation’, I think they had some fun. Again, need to find more items, as I ran out of pre-thought items, and was drawing random items on the white board, in order to get past the 1/2 hour mark.

4/27/14, Sunday - had a harder time getting up this morning. John got me up at 8, and I told him I needed another hour. That extra hour did help. When I got up, I finished packing up, then went to the con suite in search of breakfast so I could take my pills. By then, the elevators were overflowing with people trying to check out, so I walked up to our room, thinking I heard John below me in the stairwell. John had given up on elevators, and started taking suitcases to the car without a cart. Smaller items were all that was left, so I started taking them out into the hall. Couldn’t carry them all at one time, but thought I could move them down the hall towards the stairs little by little. Then John showed up and took most of it to the car, while I took my stuff down to the basement to wait for my next panel time. Bought 3 books from Tyree, and it sounds hopeful that he’s going to publish Cali. ‘First Americans’ was, again, a smallish audience, but I managed to get some comments out of them. Again, need more material, only lasted half an hour. The next panel in that room never showed up, so people wandered in and out, and everybody farbled their way through the hour. Then my last panel - Dissecting Dragons. HUGE audience! Filled up all the chairs in the room, and then some. Lots of audience participation, lasted 52 minutes (thanks to the audience participation), and many people told me they had enjoyed it.

A great weekend, for me.

Non Fiction Writing

I keep getting told that I need to write non-fiction. “Write some articles for all those magazines out there; women’s mags, fitness mags, finance mags- it doesn’t matter what kind,” the advice goes. “Get your name out there in those formats, and you’ll develop a group of readers who will follow you when you delve into fiction.”

Excuse me? Yes, I know that’s how countless authors have done it, but what makes these people think that I have anything to offer the readers of magazines?

Women’s mags? Please. I don’t read them. If I’m stuck in a waiting room, I might flip through one, looking at the pictures of uncluttered, clean homes that bear absolutely no relationship to my home, but I have no interest in whatever articles they print, so how am I supposed to write some?

Fitness mags? Yeah, there’d be nothing hypocritical about that. Yes, I have lost 40 pounds so far this year, but that still leaves me on the wrong side of 200, with a long way to go. I’m not even sure how I’ve managed it, so I can’t write any “How I Lost...” articles.

Finance mags? When we got married, we were comfortably located in ‘Middle Class’, but we have definitely fallen to the bottom rung and are trying NOT to make that magical leap into ‘Poor’.

Actually, I have written non-fiction, as part of my job before I retired. I wrote things like instructional newsletters on how to correctly fill out the new internal forms so that the full and correct data could be input into the database; how to use this new-fangled contraption to repair film; step-by-step instructions on how to do the various parts of my job, which got disbursed to the rest of the clerical staff when I went on maternity leave or recovered from surgery. I did not find these subjects very interesting, but at least I knew the topic. I knew where to start, what had to be included, and where I could end.

Even these days, I am writing non-fiction. When I contacted local conventions about doing panels, I offered as many as 4 topics I thought interesting and not already beat into the ground by other panels. All four topics, it turned out, were snapped up. Most of these ideas were inspired by an article I had read on that subject, so now I’ve been gathering more background, trying to break each topic into smaller bits, and organizing those bits into a logical page for an informational hand-out. I don’t expect these to land in any newsletters or magazines, but it is non-fiction. Most of them

Still, I feel like I’m writing 4 different term papers at the same time. I will no doubt tweak these between conventions, but I’d really rather be writing fiction! In fiction, I have my whole imagination at my disposal, and I don’t have to stick to the ‘facts’ if I don’t want to!

What magazines do you read? Would you be willing to write an article for them?

Convention Introvert-us

Hub and I got back on Sunday from Willycon, a scifi convention held at the University in Wayne, Nebraska. Unlike Planet Comicon, Willycon is small, with about 300 attendees this year. No, I did not come home with a case of stomach flu, as with Planet Comicon. But I did have a case of Introvert-us to get over.

Do you know what it is to be introverted? I knew that’s what I was, and I knew that spending time with large groups (anything > 0) was draining. But I recently learned of other nuances that I hadn’t heard put into words before, like the fact that ‘small talk’ doesn’t hold any interest for me.

I left Willycon this year wondering how I’m going to cope with the rest of the conventions we’ll attend this year. And next year. And many years to come, I hope. Because when I got to Willycon this year, as small as it is, I nearly did a complete shut-down. I spent most of the convention in the hospitality suite, sipping soda and working on the puzzle book/notebook or book I had before me.

When a friend paused to exchange a few words, I was happy to do so. (Even an introvert can have friends, and I have developed several among convention attendees over the years.) But there were very few panels I wanted to attend, and even some I had wanted to attend, I ultimately decided to skip. I even skipped suppers, because they were held in university facilities, and besides convention attendees, there were also students there - Wayne is a small town, with not a lot of options available to the students.

The subjects I discussed with friends ran the gamut from the weather (one group had driven there on Thursday night, through horizontal snowfall on ice-covered roads) to superheroes (female vs male) to Klingon recipes and applying Klingon prostetics/makeup. But another person sat down to talk, someone my hub knew from way back. I would like to be friends with him, but I had no interest in politics, locations he knew in Omaha that I don’t know because they are no longer there, and his latest kitchen appliance.

I came home worn out. The only thing worth any effort, it seemed to me, was the book I’d started reading while I was there. It wasn’t speculative, it was a British mystery based on one of their cop tv series - and I think I saw that episode, at one time - but tired as I was, I couldn’t put it down and go to bed Sunday until 3:30 am or so. When I finally got up on Monday, I only had enough energy to finish reading the book, and then took a nap. After that, I started feeling somewhat better, although I still didn’t get anything ‘done’.

I need to think this through. I’ve attended conventions for years. When they are weeks and months away, I think of them with eager anticipation. As they approach closer, I start getting uneasy, even when I know I will find friends there. Once I actually arrive - I never know how I’m going to react.

Hub accuses me of ‘hiding’ instead of mingling. What bothers me is when I come home unable to function the next day, especially when the reason is not a physical sickness, like the stomach flu.

Do you have something that really wears you out? How have you learned to cope?

Looking Ahead

Okay, last week I looked back at 2013, so this week I'll try to figure out what I'm going to do in 2014 to get me closer to my goal.

The first thing that comes to mind is I've got to overhaul / reinvent the website. (www.MoonPhazePub.wix.com/MoonPhaze) I can't afford to hire anybody, so it's up to me. I've been gathering notes on what makes a good website, and I have people I can consult for their opinion, so maybe it won't be too bad. Still, it's not my favorite activity, so it will be slow-going.

Hubby and I will be attending the World Science Fiction convention in London, and the European Science Fiction convention in Dublin the following weekend. That has been occupying a lot of my time, trying to figure out the travel arrangements and all that. That long a trip will suck up a lot of our resources, so as far as personal appearances, the 'usual' local conventions may be the only ones I can plan to get to. Still, that doesn't mean I can't schedule some appearances at book stores, libraries or corn fields in the region that I can drive to in a day, so I will be trying to organize some of those.

MoonPhaze Publishing has wanted to print its first hard-copy book. We'll be looking at means of doing it that will not require thousands of dollars up front, like going with POD. Of course, if we happen to find a few thousand dollars to go to a regular printer, we'll switch gears again. In any case, having a paper-back book on hand could make those appearances mentioned in the previous paragraph more enjoyable, both for me and for anybody who attends them.

I've signed up for some classes in leatherwork! In at least two of my universes, I have a segment of the population who work with leather, and this will help me 'identify' with them. Besides, I like to learn new things.

As far as writing, I've got 4 contests/anthologies to submit to during the first 2 months of 2014. It's time for my second novel (romance) to start looking for a home. My third novel needs some rewriting & polishing, the roughs of 2 other novels need to be finished, and I've started a sf novel rough. If I keep finding more contests and anthologies, I should be plenty busy!

Maybe I should get an early start on some of that, don't you think?