The Whirlwind Continues

This week, I'm doing a presentation at Fyrecon titled "Structure, Outlines, and Other Things Pantsers Hate". Next week I'll be at the 20 Books to 50K writing conference in Las Vegas. I recently released Breakdown, book 2 in the Polecat Protocol series.

Add to that edits for book 3 in that series, assembling a Best-of anthology for the Planetary Anthology series, and editing two novels for a local small press, and I wonder when I'll have time to sleep.

Then there's the day job that runs 40-50 hours per week. I don't recommend a schedule like this since many people don't do well with so many irons in the fire. Sometimes I wonder how well I do at it. My problem is that I don't really know how to sit and do nothing. Relaxation means digging out a favorite project instead of a required project.

Such is the life of a creator. I love to build things. Woodworking, writing, editing, electronics, software, they all count as creative outlets for me. Those things all recharge my batteries so I can go out and socialize again.

What is your passion? If you're not sure, find something worth dedicating time to. Learn something new. Expand your horizons.

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Need something to read? I've got Science Fiction: The Polecat Protocol trilogy.

I've got Fantasy: The Riland Throne trilogy.

And I've got a bunch of short stories in anthologies, including this collection that's all mine:

FyreCon 3 Report

I had a great time at FyreCon, held June 20-22. I had a busy schedule, consisting of:

A book signing.

• Some friends stopped by to chat and I sold some books.

Three solo classes.

• Senses Beyond the Big Five: Expanding Your Descriptive Toolbox
• Making Infinite Worlds in Finite Time
• Beginning Calligraphy

One team-taught class with Lyn Worthen

• Surviving the Slush Pile

A couple panels.

• The Future of VR and Video Games
• Robots, Androids, and AI

Now I need to update my presentations page. That's where I keep a record of what I've done, and when. This year I didn't teach anything on writing short stories, but the Slush Pile class covered a bit of the same stuff.

The Senses class was great fun, and was the first time I've covered that material. It was inspired by my panel at MisCon a couple years ago talking about the senses involved in violence.

Infinite Worlds went well, and was a lot of fun reviewing ways of building background information on a world to give the characters something to do, whether they're aligned, opposed, or surprised by some aspect of the world around them.

Beginning Calligraphy was great fun as usual. I've taught that class I think four times now (three at FyreCon) and it's cool to see people excited about an art form that doesn't see much attention.

Surviving the Slush Pile was a great chance to help new writiers find ways to get past the first round of gatekeepers. Once you have a fair amount of writing skill, success often consists of being professional and following instructions.

The VR and Video Game panel was me and Jay Barnson talking to several local game development veterans and a couple of teenagers interested in games. I think we avoided traumetizing them with war stories.

Robots, Androids, and AI with Martin Shoemaker was great fun. We talked about the scientific views on AI and how that's too boring for fiction in most cases.

I attended a handful of classes and spent a little time at our bookstore table selling books, but I spent a lot of time on the honored tradition of networking and hanging out with friends, often in the Green Room (which was not actually green).

This time around I was also representing the League of Utah Writiers, and spent a little time supporting our volunteers there manning an information table. We have the League's Quills conference coming up in August, so we're getting the news out.

Overall, the conference was a great success. Attendance was up, several of my classes were near capacity, and a great time was had by most. Problems with an elevator (not me), a low blood sugar incident (also not me), and other challenges were dealt with quickly and smoothly.

What happened to June?

Bear with me to the end here because that's where the important stuff is. June was an extraordinary month. Extraordinarily busy, at least. Coming off the MisCon trip at the end of May, I figured things would settle into a pretty normal cycle as summer got underway. Silly me.

Brandon Sanderson signing a book for me at MisCon.

One week I attended two weddings and a funeral and had a book club in Austrailia talk about my book. Our grandbaby had a birthday the next week. Over the past three weeks, I've been reviewing options to install solar panels on the house and fielding visits and phone calls from several salesmen.

I won first place in the DragonComet writing contest which was announced at Fyrecon where I helped out with about seven classes, panels, and demonstrations, and had to cut that short on the last day to man a table at a community event in my hometown to drum up membership for our local chapter of the League of Utah Writers. With that win, I suppose that makes me an award-winning author. The contest had entrants from multiple countries, and I even beat out a Writers of the Future winner, and friend, who took second place.  (Sorry, Julie.)

My shiny DragonComet trophy and the book with all the winners and placers.

I also found out last week that FanX® Salt Lake Comic Convention™ has two of my panel suggestions on their program for this fall to talk about writing sensory inputs beyond the big five, and how to steer your creative tendencies into the right path.

Here we are in July, and I feel a little bit dizzy.

The thing is, I got through it all and still took time to be with my family (both immediate and extended) because without them, all that other stuff wouldn't matter.

My brother-in-law and my son with their babies. That means the baby on the left and the dad on the right are cousins.

I still have a lot of things on my to-do list. I have Crystal Queen to get out on September 4th, and I've started writing Crystal Prince, the capstone of the trilogy. I have a tight schedule on some cool things at work. I have fireworks to blow up on the 4th of July. Behind all of that is family. It's why I do things, and who I do them for. Spend time with those you love.

2017 Wrap-up and Writing Goals

Holidays Winding Down

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of time spent with family. My wife's birthday party Christmas Eve consisted of making custom tree ornaments. She rolled her eyes at me when I helped one of my sons stuff a clear glass ornament with cat hair and glitter. We had kids, their in-laws, and others over Christmas morning. We visited a local park with a tree lit up as the Tree of Life. I didn't get down to see the lights at Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City this year, but most of the family was there at one point or another.

I hope your holidays were as joyful and filled with family as mine.

Goal Report

Last December I posted some goals, so let's see how things went.

• Finish and publish “Crystal Queen” with Immortal Works.
• No, but not by far. Crystal King saw some delays, and I've just now got Crystal Queen to where I can send it to the publisher.
• Speak at three conferences (panelist, presenter or moderator). Most likely are LUW spring and fall conferences, LTUE, Salt Lake Comic Con, and FanX. I’m likely to attend all five either way.
• Yes. I presented at LUW spring and fall, LTUE, and Fyrecon. It was a lot of fun. I'll be at LTUE again in February as a panelist and I'm proposing panels for LUW and Fyrecon for next year.
• $200 in face-to-face book sales at conventions and conferences.
• Maybe. I haven't crunched the numbers, so I don't know for sure. We had a very successful booth at Salt Lake Comic Con, with some success at LUW, LTUE, and Winterfaire.
• Publish four short stories. (stepping things up from the 3 and 2).
• Yes. I sold six. It's a difference in semantics when you talk about sold vs. published. Sold is easier to track. I'm also tempted to bend the rules a little since one of the six was poetry rather than a short story. Also, coming in as a semi-finalist at the Writers of the Future is a rejection, but it's a highly valued rejection.
• Get 30 short story rejections.
• Yes. I got 35. I measure rejections because it's a way to turn something that's usually a negative into a scoring mechanism. If I keep my stories out there gathering rejections, I will also gather sales. It worked. I got only a few more rejections this year compared to last but I doubled my acceptances.

Crystal King Published

The book came out in September through Immortal Works and you can buy it here. When I sign this book I usually write "It's all about family and friends." This applies to the story, but it also applies to life in general. Families are the bedrock and foundation of society.

It was a long road to publication, about two years in the making. As a first fantasy novel it required a bit more editing and adjusting than my second effort which is already prepped and almost on its way to the publisher.

Short Stories Sold in 2017

I didn't enter the Utah Horror Writers contest for their anthology this year since I was too busy with other projects. Some of the stories from this year are online or for sale in ebook or paper format. Others are not quite in print yet. Here is a list, including one long lead-time story sold over a year ago and still not quite out.

Learning to Run with Scissors (sold 2015, due out in an anthology next year)

Dissonance (due out online next year)
Market Rat (free online at Silver Blade)
Protector of Newington (Storyhack Issue 1 on Amazon)
Unlocked (poetry in a League of Utah Writers Antho on Amazon)
The Bannik and the Soap (due out in an anthology next year)
The Lure of Riches (Clarion Call 3 on Amazon)

2018 Goals

Here's what I want to accomplish this coming year. I'm not going to keep up on the short story rejection list because I'm transitioning more to targeted anthologies along with the novels. The shorts have done well for me in the past, so I will continue some effort there, but maybe not quite as much as in the past.

• Send Crystal Queen with my publisher (nearly there!)
• Write Crystal Prince and submit it to the publisher.
• Get another Semi-finalist at Writers of the Future. I've got a small stack of honorable mentions now.
• Write a science fiction series outline. Depending on the timeframe for Crystal Prince, I may be able to do this as a NaNoWriMo project in November.

And there you have it. 2017 was a good year. I expect 2018 to be even better.

Fyrecon Schedule 2017

I will be presenting at Fyrecon, a new conference on art and writing held June 8-10, 2017 in Layton, Utah.

Here's where I'll be helping out:

• Thursday 4:30: Cat Saving for Fun and Profit: Various Story Structures (panelist)
• Friday 1:30: Adapting Timeless Stories (moderator)
• Friday 2:30: The Future of Steam Punk and Cyber Punk (panelist)
• Saturday 10:30: Calligraphy (teaching a hands-on beginner class)
• Saturday 5:30: The Short Story Submission Machine (team teaching with Julie Frost)

I guess that means I need to update my presentations page on the blog now. I like to at least reference the stuff I've done so I can remember later. "What was that one con where I did that one thing?"

I'm also signed up to attend Toni Weisskopf's master class.

• What’s Missing? Story/Theme/Structure—How to Build a Strong Story

This will be a lot of fun. Come on out and join us!