I’ll be at Rustycon this weekend!

Rustycon 34 is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention, held locally in at the Seatac Marriot, with approximately 500 – 700 people in attendance. They have multi–track programming in writing, art, gaming, cosplay and more. They also have a dealer’s room,  art show, game room, and a hospitality room for the general membership. Itinerary for Elizabeth Guizzetti

Fri Jan 13 3:00:pm	Fri Jan 13 4:00:pm	Magic or Religion?
Washington C		Priestess, cleric, mage, witch, sorcerer. What are the differences and who should I use in my story?
Bruce Taylor Elizabeth Guizzetti G.R. Theron Jeremy Zimmerman

 

Fri Jan 13 7:00:pm	Fri Jan 13 7:30:pm	Reading Elizabeth Guizzetti
Tacoma		Reading from Elizabeth Guizzetti’s newest work, The Grove. A sorcerer believes waking a few ancient gods will save humanity from itself. (And Elizabeth will bring chocolate chip macaroons using the recipe from the novel!)
Elizabeth Guizzetti

 

Fri Jan 13 8:00:pm	Fri Jan 13 9:00:pm	Are You Sure You Want To Go There?
Washington C		Writing about the darker things in life; Rape, torture, childhood trauma, Sex with Dwarves. Sometimes it’s done for a laugh. Sometimes it is done for an emotional response. Sometimes, we ask ourselves “What was THAT all about?!” This will be a panel that goes into the darker side of writing, where the envelope is not only pushed but fed to the shredder. When is “shock” essential to the story, and when is it sensational?
Bruce Taylor Elizabeth Guizzetti G.R. Theron John Lovett

 

Sat Jan 14 12:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 1:00:pm	Self-Publishing – When and Why to go Indie
Tacoma		Self-publishing is a viable career path, but is it for you? Discover the answer as a formerly traditionally-published author gone indie takes you through the ins and outs of what you need to consider when looking at self publishing. Includes balancing the risks and rewards, questions of creative control and freedom, and, of course, the financial side of things.
Elizabeth Guizzetti Tod McCoy

Sat Jan 14 12:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 1:00:pm	Self-Publishing – When and Why to go Indie
Tacoma		Self-publishing is a viable career path, but is it for you? Discover the answer as a formerly traditionally-published author gone indie takes you through the ins and outs of what you need to consider when looking at self publishing. Includes balancing the risks and rewards, questions of creative control and freedom, and, of course, the financial side of things.
Elizabeth Guizzetti Tod McCoy

Sat Jan 14 3:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 4:00:pm	How do I finish???
Washington C		You have the story, the big climax.. how do you end it?? A lot of beginning writers (and some pros) have problems with that. Come get some ideas.
April Daniels Elizabeth Guizzetti John Lovett Tom D Wright

 

Sat Jan 14 5:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 6:00:pm	The Bechdel Test
Washington C		What is the The Bechdel test and why does it matter? Do you have at least two female characters in your novel that have conversation *not* about a man? Discuss why this is so important, especially in genres that aren’t romance.
Elizabeth Guizzetti John Lovett Rebecca Birch Sienna Saint-Cyr

 

Sat Jan 14 7:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 8:00:pm	Self Marketing for Artists and Writers
Evergreen I		Some basics can be applied to any self-marketing. What has worked in the past for our panelists, what have they tried that was a total bomb?
Anthea Sharp Elizabeth Guizzetti Michael Suiter Rob Carlos

 

Sat Jan 14 8:00:pm	Sat Jan 14 9:00:pm	Why the heck do I write?
Washington C		Lousy pay, long lonely hours, no recognition. Heinlein called it the other solitary vice. Pros and not-so-pros discuss why they keep on writing.
Bruce Taylor Elizabeth Guizzetti Geoffrey Quick Richard Gilmore

 

Sun Jan 15 2:00:pm	Sun Jan 15 3:00:pm	Violence in our World, Violence in our Stories
Everett		Let’s do some soul searching. Are there any super hero movies that don’t end with the hero physically pounding on the villain? Do all SF/fantasy novels tell readers that violence is the only real answer? What stories avoid violence and yet still grip the reader from start to finish? Are there stories we are not telling?
April Daniels Elizabeth Guizzetti Michael S. Warner Tom D Wright

Be My Valentine, Second Annual Poetry Night and Radcon are coming!

This week will be super busy for me.  I have two author events and hope to see you!

For Seattle readers, I will be reading at Be My Valentine, Second Annual Poetry Night at Barnes & Noble.

Writing Group, Performance, Author Reading
Calling all romantics, all writers, all poets! Bring your own writing or a love poem by a favorite author and join us at our Second Annual, Be My Valentine Poetry Night. If you are a fan of the Spoken Word, this is the night to celebrate love!

Thursday February 13, 2014 7:00 PM
Downtown
Pacific Place, 600 Pine St Suite 107, Seattle, WA 98101, 206-264-0156

Then on Saturday, I’ll be off for RadCon “The big Con with the Small Con feel”

RadCon is a Science-Fiction Convention held annually in Pasco, Washington. They cater to all genres of the SciFi community.

Who wants to see my schedule?

SATURDAY

Sat Feb 15 12:00:pm	Sat Feb 15 12:30:pm	Elizabeth Guizzetti
2209		Now I know what I am going to be reading. Chapter 7 from Other Systems and Chapter 3 from The Light Side of the Moon
Elizabeth Guizzetti

 

Sat Feb 15 12:30:pm	Sat Feb 15 1:30:pm	Women in Comics
2205		Our comic professionals share the underground history of women in comics!
Roberta Gregory and Elizabeth Guizzetti

 

Sat Feb 15 4:00:pm	Sat Feb 15 5:30:pm	Dropping The World
2203		You have a great world! It’s filled with lively characters, detailed scenery, and complex economic systems. How do you ease audience into this world without overwhelming them with data in the first chapter? Our experts will discuss and share tricks to avoiding the world-building data dump of writing.
S.A.Bolich, Voss Foster, Elizabeth Guizzetti, Peter Jones, and Kay Kenyon

 

Sat Feb 15 5:30:pm	Sat Feb 15 6:30:pm	Griping About Grammar
2205		Love it, hate it, but you can’t live without it! Or can you? How much of a part does grammar play in reader’s experience with a story? Does it really matter? Or will you lose readers to poor grammar? Join our writers and editors as they debate over the importance of grammar! Warning, some knowledge of proper grammar may be learned during this discussion.
John Dalmas, Elizabeth Guizzetti,  Andrea Howe, and Kamila Miller

SUNDAY

Sun Feb 16 11:00:am	Sun Feb 16 12:30:pm	Getting into the mind of the Religious Fanatic
2203		Uber villain or bit player, what are they like? Are there any useful generalizations? Are they likely to be suicidal and does that depend on the religion or the person?
Luna Flesher, Elizabeth Guizzetti, Guy Letourneau, and Rhiannon Louve,

V-Con Wrap Up

So I just got back from Vancouver BC and had a great time at V-Con. My doggies missed me. Dennis might have missed me too, but it sounds like he had a good weekend.

As with all conventions there was some fantastic costumes. My favorite was Jareth and Sarah in their crystal ballroom attire from Labyrinth. Unfortunately I was running to a panel so I did not have time to take a photo.

Can You Write SF Without A Science Background? was not as fun as I hoped it would be.Author Donna McMahon Moderated, Dave Duncan and I both spoke as authors. Kristi Charish and David Ngboth came in to panel as scientists. It was a good panel, I just wished I had spoken more eloquently about how the story must come first and the science is just window dressing. I admit I got flustered–mostly from road fatigue. I had driven three hours, got checked in and then had a 1/2 hour to figure out the layout of the convention.

Reading of Other Systems – Friday 7pm I reading chapter 7 & 9 from Other Systems.

The three people who came to my reading loved what I read.  Everyone loved the mini button attached to a postcard in one of those cellophane bags for the postcard sets. They loved it as a package. I had 25 and no one said no to the button. Then discovered I still had more time. So I read from Chapter 4.

Drawing Monsters I felt was my best panel.  It went perfectly to plan. I talked about a cute dragon, then a colossal dragon. Plenty of time for a QA afterwards.

So You Want To Be A Writer? was the first panel I moderated. Ever.

Don DeBrandt, Alyx Dellamonica, Julie McGalliard, Lorna Suzuki were also on the panel. I felt the panel went well. I only got to ask one question before the audience started asking questions.

After the panel, I was sitting around and got a free eye-patch from Kittie’s Knitting. I like her costume. 

Sources Of Inspiration Stephanie and Karl Johanson and I saw Don DeBrandt and Alyx Dellamonica again. We had a very small audience for this one, and basically we just kept thinking of things that inspired us. Of course once we got going, things other people said inspired us to give more details about what inspired us.

Between panels, I had a great discussion with David Ng about a project he is work on.

In my last panel, Drawing Maps Of Your World only three people actually were drawing with me, most just sat there. So I stopped drawing and just began talking. I would definitely do that map panel again, but next time  set up the panel differently.  It ended really being a discussion on world build novels and graphic novels. How ancient cities are formed. The differences between ancient and modern cities with the advent of the cars.

Then I headed back home. Going through customs I only was behind one car so there really wasn’t much of a wait. Since I was driving after 8pm, traffic was good. One quick stop at Starbucks for a Chai Tea Latte and I made it home pretty fast.