WonderCon 2012

Now that I'm mostly recovered from WonderCon, I might as well talk a little about my experience covering the convention for Comic Booked.

Although WonderCon is a comic convention in a similar vein as Comikaze Expo, the two couldn't have been more different. For one thing, Comikaze was a very new convention experiencing its first year and all the growing pains that go along with trying to establish an identity. WonderCon, while experiencing its first (and perhaps only) year in Anaheim last weekend, is a 26 year old convention that has firmly established a reputation in the Bay Area. It's a miniature version of the San Diego Comic-Con, which is to say that it's still a large and popular convention, just not as massive as SDCC has become in recent years.

Comikaze was small enough in size that it was pretty easy for one person (namely me) to cover all two days with little difficulty. Heck, I even played handler for one of the web series celebrities at the con and still managed to meet a number of people and pick up some interesting info to put up on the site by the time it was over. WonderCon, however, is large enough that it takes more than one person to cover the glut of information that the companies bring with them to the panels, especially with so many awesome panels overlapping. And while I know I wasn't the only one on Team Comic Booked at the convention, it sure felt like it from the cries of "MORE COVERAGE!" coming from some of the team members who weren't there.

Admittedly, it must be a bit dismaying to see another site posting news from WonderCon when you know there's at least two people there from the site attending these panels. However, coming down on the people in the trenches for not doing a better job while they're frantically trying to cover as many panels as they can and make as many contacts in the attending companies as possible for future news items can make an already stressful convention experience even more so.

It used to be that comic conventions were nothing but fun for me. Now it's a job, with all the accompanying stress. So when I mention the tiredness of the weekend in my official write-up of the convention, only part of that is the typical con fatigue after three days of a comic convention. The other, much larger, part of that is the anxiety of others breathing down your neck while you're working, with none of the pay to show for a job well done. And while I did enjoy the convention, I can't help but wonder: Am I really building my future as a writer by taking on these assignments, or should I scale back on my involvement with Comic Booked to further my own projects, like my long overdue trilogy?

Either way, you can read all about my convention experience in WonderCon 2012: Post-Convention Musings over at Comic Booked!

My Awkward Adventure at Comikaze Expo

So, I covered my first comic book convention this past weekend, Comikaze Expo. It wasn't the first convention I've ever been to, not by far. That honor goes to San Diego Comic Con 2002, which instilled in me a love for conventions when I got to meet Peter "Chewbacca" Mayhew in person and ended up sitting at the booth with him talking about Star Wars. That was before SDCC turned into the absolute clusterfrak of pop culture that it is today.

Comikaze was almost perfectly situated in my life, too: I got sick before the convention, not during, and my beloved broke up with me right after it. The timing of these two events meant that I was able to enjoy the convention well enough without coughing or sneezing all over the people I was meeting, or in such a heartbroken funk that people would avoid me on sight. Timing, as they say, is everything.



It was a great event, though, even with so much going on. I spent most of the time that weekend in the company of my friends Eric and Jessica, then met up with my friend Jesse, and even spent some time with my mother (pictured above with me and Marina Sirtis) and her boyfriend. I met a lot of new people, made some new friends, and ended up with one of the best convention experiences I've had since 2002.

You can read all about My Awkward Adventure at Comikaze Expo, Day One and Day Two at Comic Booked!

WriteOnCon 2011 Review!

First off, let me just say that I'm bummed I missed out on so much of the awesomeness that is WriteOnCon this year! There were some awesome live chats and ninja agents prowling the forum, and I wish I'd been able to partake of those. Maybe next year.

That being said, there's still a TON of stuff that rolled out across all three days that is still available for all!



Rather than covering the convention by days like I did last year, I'm going to group them by general topic. That way, you'll have a better idea of what WriteOnCon offers the writers of the future.

For starters, there's a lot of good YA-specific material for those writing kidlit fiction, such as "Pacing in Contemporary YA," "Middle Grade’s Got Heart," "Marketing 101 for Children’s Book Authors" and "Chapter Books, Graphic Novels, & Hybrids: Exploring the Potential of the Young Reader Market." The first one was especially helpful to me at the stage I'm at now, trying to figure out how to get the pacing right in each book of my trilogy so it doesn't feel too rushed or too slow. The last one was surprisingly informative to me, despite having pretty much grown up with graphic novels.

There's also some really good stuff here that spans the age gap, presenting itself as useful information for any sort of writer, regardless of their audience. I'm speaking, of course, of "How to Write A Killer First Sentence," "Myths and Misconceptions," "Setting," "LGBT Lit" and "How Two Write." And that's just the first day! There's plenty here for all types of writers, covering the aforementioned topics and more, such as the dreaded synopsis, queries, character development, critique groups, marketing, revision, and more. If you're a writer and you think you know everything there is to know about your craft, you should check these out anyway. They might just surprise you.

Finally, and most importantly, the sense of community that WriteOnCon has built between its first year and this sophomore outing is made stronger with its amazing inspirational offerings. "10 Questions to See if You’ve Got What it Takes," "You’re Already Invited: Connecting to the Lit Community Online," "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," "Don’t Give Up!" and "Using Intuition to Balance Writing and Life: Advice from an Editor and Life Coach for Writers." That last one especially spoke to me through my love of the Hero's Journey, and its relevance to writers not just as a story template but as a road map for life itself.

There are plenty more essays to read and vlogs to watch, but hopefully this will have intrigued enough of you aspiring writers (and agents, and editors) to check out the full schedule and see what WriteOnCon has to offer you. Poke around the website, visit the forums, and become a part of an amazing community of writers who want their fellows to succeed. (And if you make some friends in high places, tell 'em I sent you!)

Quick Take On WriteOnCon 2011

WriteOnCon is over! Long live WriteOnCon!

I was busy for the first half of WriteOnCon 2011, but I still kept tabs on what was going on and I'm still digesting a lot of the information presented over the past 3 days. I'll do a write up on it after I've had time to process, complete with links!

WriteOnCon 2011 Is Coming!

I'm so excited! WriteOnCon is kicking off its second year next week, and I'm excited to see what they've got lined up for this year!

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, WriteOnCon is a convention geared toward kidlit writers (like me) with speakers including fellow writers who are already at where we want to be, editors who can help us make our writing the best it can be, and agents who can get our writing where it needs to be. This is no ordinary convention, though. There's no registration table, no attendance fee, no long lines, and no scurrying about a convention floor to get from one panel to another. Nope, this convention is FREE and takes place ENTIRELY ONLINE in the form of written essays, chatrooms, forums and vlogs. It's the new wave of conventions, where you don't even have to leave home or change out of your pajamas to participate!

As the Fabulous Five Founders get everything lined up for this year's convention, take a look back at my quick review of their landmark first year starting with Day One, Day Two and Day Three! If you're a children's or young adult writer, you'll definitely want to check this out. Even if you're not, there's plenty here for writers of all types to walk away with some extra knowledge to kick their game up a notch.

Check out their website here, and stay tuned for my review of this year's WriteOnCon!

After Comic-Con Monday Meet-Up Party!

The San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, leaving geek culture reeling from the flood of news that pours out of the convention. For those who spent the better part of a week roaming the convention halls in search of their favorite artists, writers, creators and celebrities, it’s a time to wind down and take stock of everything they walked away with; be it autographs, exclusive comics or just plain booth swag. They’re not the only ones enjoying the downtime, though. The same artists, writers, creators and celebrities also take time in the aftermath to decompress from the hectic schedule of signings and panels and reconnect with their fellows in ways that they can’t while in the midst of the Comic-Con crowd.

This is where Golden Apple Comics in Los Angeles steps in.



Jump over to Comic Booked and read all about the After Comic-Con Monday Meet-Up Party!

They're At It Again!

WriteOnCon was such a hit, the talented ladies behind the kidlit convention are moving forward with it in a big way. Check out the awesome announcement regarding future con events here, and enter for a chance to win one of five truly incredible YA books here!

Epic epicness abounds! So what are you waiting for? Get in on it now!

Day Two and Three of WriteOnCon

Okay, to make up for yesterday's lack of a Day Two review of WriteOnCon, I'll fold it into today's review of Day Three to make it an uber-post.

First of all, major kudos to the convention's founders/administrators/organizers - Jamie Harrington, Elana Johnson, Casey McCormick, Shannon Messenger, Jennifer Stayrook, and Lisa and Laura Roecker - for getting such a huge number of writers, agents and editors to take part in the first online convention for writers I've ever heard of. Blog posts, vlog posts, and live chats (both text and video) were presented in rapid fire and so smoothly to the eager writer aspirants in attendance. You ladies made it all look so easy!

Now to the meat of it. As a writer of YA (AKA young adult) fiction, it's always a good idea to know more about your community in the publishing world. WriteOnCon gives you the red carpet treatment as it welcomes you in, hands you your beverage of choice, and proceeds to roll out advice, tips and secrets of the kidlit world all from the comfort of your own softly humming computer. As much fun as it can be to go to a convention center and interact with people, getting caught in the press of the unwashed masses is something you'll never have to contend with here, nor will you have to leave one room to find another panel you want to sit in on at a different room. It's the ultimate in convenience - the convention quite literally comes to you at the click of a mouse button!

And what a convention! So much information is imparted from so many different sources in so many different ways, I'm still catching up on some of the posts from Day Two. Fortunately, the convention isn't going anywhere, even when it's over. For those of us who had to work throughout the bulk of the convention, all the information posted over the past three days will remain online for easy reference. As for the live segments, transcripts will be made available on the web site and video chats will be uploaded to YouTube. It sure beats having to scribble down notes in an overly air-conditioned hotel room, that's for sure.

I can't even begin to tell you how helpful the information imparted through this convention has been to me. There are questions I didn't even know I had that got answered, in addition to my own curious musings. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to seeing my name pop up in the transcripts as my questions were posed to the professionals. (Even got a few of my humorous comments past the moderators and into public view - score!)

What were my favorite topics? I'm so glad you asked! Er, you didn't? But you were thinking it, right? Right? Right. Anyway...

Day Two was a racy day at the con, what with such topics like "Romance in YA," "Sex in YA: The ABC’s of Hooking Up," and "Authentic/Edgy YA" spread throughout the day. In addition, I gravitated instinctively toward the "Writing Genre Fiction," "Creating Memorable Characters," and the live chat where the topic was voice - both author's voice and character voice. For the record, though it's not written exactly as I posted it, the final question of that panel was one that I'd put through at the last minute, and got some good responses and a couple of books named as examples of my particular character voice question.

Day Three attempted to cover everything else that hadn't been said, and I'm still poking through a lot of it. The first topic I read about the moment I got to the site today was "Creating New Mythologies," not surprisingly. Beyond that, I was drawn into such topics as "Writing a Complete Story as Part of a Trilogy," "Writing Realistic, Captivating Dialog," and "The First Five Pages," which gave a sobering peek into how those first few pages of your manuscript will either net you an agent's request for more or a solid pass. The convention wrapped with the final chats, and I snuck in some comments and questions there, too. You'll just have to wait for the transcripts to see what made it and what didn't.

Now that it's over, I have the time to go back and read over every topic and revisit the ones that impacted me and my writing the most. As much research as I've done over the years on writing and publishing, you never really stop learning, and these three days presented me with a lot more ammunition to bring to bear as I get my trilogy up and running. I feel like I'm part of a grand community of writers going through a similar journey with their own manuscripts. More importantly, I feel like a successful writer for having made it this far. I may not be published yet, but I'm farther along than I've ever been, and I call that a win.

Day One of WriteOnCon

Now that I've finished watching "Working With Agents and Editors: A Live Video Workshop with Literary Agent Mark McVeigh," I can officially declare that I've fallen in love with online conventions. Sure, there's nothing quite like meeting someone in person and shaking their hand, but the next best thing is hosting a free convention that is accessible anywhere there's internet service. That's what WriteOnCon is, a 100% online convention for kidlit writers that is totally free to attend. It's just like a regular convention - you have guest speakers, panels and the like, all geared toward a particular topic, all laid out over a few days - only you don't necessarily need to bring pen and paper to jot down notes, most of it is presented in a convenient text format! (You may want to jot down notes for the live video chats, though. While the questions are presented in text, the answers are given over live video chat!)

Most of the topics are geared specifically toward writing for a younger audience ("Illustrating Children's Books" and "Writing Middle Grade" stand out there), but there's also a lot of material that applies to every writer, such as "Questions to Ask Yourself Before a Revision" or "Give Yourself Permission." If you fancy yourself a writer, you owe it to yourself to check out the convention here and bookmark it for future reference. You'll be glad you did!

Quick Take on WriteOnCon

I've never heard of an online convention before. So when I found out that an upcoming writer's convention would be held entirely online instead of at a convention center or hotel (like they usually are), my interest was definitely piqued. WriteOnCon is a convention specifically geared toward kidlit writers, but a quick glance at the first day's schedule reveals quite a few topics that could apply to writers of many genres. Best of all, it's FREE! If you're a children's or young adult fiction writer, or just a writer in general, check it out!

Special thanks go to Karly Kirkpatrick and her blog, without which I would never have stumbled upon this gem.