Thursday, March 02, 2006

Con Central

I managed to survive two conventions, back to back, on top of finishing the edits to my manuscript. And I didn't kill anyone, myself included. StellarCon was the first convention of what promises to be a busy year. Held in High Point, it pulled together a number of intriguing writer guests (ghosts as I call them) including the inevitable Tee Morris, Tony Ruggerio and a new acquaintance, Anthony Karnowski. I chatted with Anthony and his brother-in-law until the week hours of the morning on Saturday about a variety of topics. Very pleasant fellows. I finally got to meet the amazing Mur Lafferty and actually did a few panels.

Weekend #2 was in Roanoke (about a 7 and some hour drive from Atlanta) and SheVaCon. A bit quieter gig than StellarCon, it underwent some reorganization programming-wise in the last year. Some of panels didn't quite fit my capabilities, but I'm always willing to give stuff a try. Got to catch up with Laura Underwood & Stephe Pagel (Meisha Merlin Publishing) and hear what's new in their lives. Tony Ruggerio was kind enough to allow me to share his table in the dealer's room, so I hung there, with our mutual buddy Patrick, for much of the con. The trip home was LONG as I really don't like to drive more than about 5 hours at a stretch.

The convention isn't for a couple of weeks (Fantasicon in Chattanooga) so I get to muck out the house, plan the advertising campaign for the new book and generally try to find my brains. I have 12 cons on the books this year--I have to be a lunatic. The trick is finding the time to write the new book...

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