My apologies, True Believers! I wanted to get a blog posted Wednesday so I could start a new posting schedule. Better late than never!
Last weekend, I traveled to Maryland to meet my friend Sarah “Serenity” Kilduff. She invited me to go with her to her local library’s “mini-comic-con” that Friday in Aberdeen. After a harrowing drive the previous day (mental note: don’t ever drive that far again in one day!), the two of us put on our cosplay outfits–I was the 10th Doctor and she was the coolest-looking TARDIS I’ve ever seen–and headed to the library.
Sarah in her awesome TARDIS dress (right) and me as the 10th Doctor (left). “Alons-y!”
We had a great time, and I hung out with several people the whole afternoon, most notably Anthony, who was dressed as the 11th Doctor.
That, however, is just the set-up.
The “mini-con” (not to be confused the Transformers faction of the same name) was capped off with a lecture by author Jonathan Maberry. Admittedly, I’d never heard of him nor read his books, but I was interested in hearing him as a fellow writer.
My gosh, this guy has connections! He met Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson as a kid. He’s friends with just about every horror author out there. He’s written comics and screenplays. He even said he once had dinner with Neil Gaiman and talked to Steven Moffat, the showrunner for Doctor Who, on the phone! “Talk about geeking out!” he said.
His story was fascinating. He started as nonfiction writer on martial arts. Then he tried his hand at compiling an encyclopedia for vampire and monster mythology he heard from his grandmother as a kid. He sort of stumbled into writing fiction, doing it at first just to stretch himself as a writer. Now he does that full time. He has friends in the scientific community, too. They constantly feed him story ideas based on their research–like cloning neanderthals. (Seriously, he says that’s being worked on).
He’s quite prolific, so I asked him how long he writes everyday. He said 10 hours! He goes for about 3,000-4,000 hours a day. But he always makes sure to take weekends off for his family. Still, I was blown away. My days are split between writing, chores, and a part-time job. It makes me want to re-evaluate my priorities. Perhaps even make some changes to my lifestyle.
After hearing all this, I couldn’t resist giving him copies of my books (yes, I take them with me everywhere) and since he was a Whovian, I got a picture with him and Anthony. A photo background with with zombies are there, so we took the photo there.
This is what happens when these three meet! Anthony the 11th Doctor (left), Mr. Maberry (middle) and me (right) running from zombies.
I re-learned an important lesson from him: network, network, network. Knowing the right people is just as important–if not more so–than writing talent in this business. But its important to know people outside the writing field, too. They can help with research or give one story ideas. It reminded me to make as many friends and connections everywhere I go. I never know when it’ll pay off later.
Long time, so see! I need to update this my site more often. I think I should post at least one post a week. Perhaps on Wednesdays? If something else comes up, I’ll obviously be posting that ASAP. As I say in my vlog, “but I digress.”
I now have two more appearances booked in the coming months. First, I will be at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for their Author Fair. Not only I be there, but my friend and co-author Nick Hayden will also be present! We’ll be selling books and mingling with readers. The event is November 9, 2013, from noon-4pm. Learn more about it here. Here a Poster & flyer for public to attend.
On January 16, 2014, I will return to the Roanoke Public Library in Roanoke, Indiana, where I had a signing during its grand opening. (Sadly, Governor Pence didn’t show up). But this time its not for a signing. I’ll be giving a 90-minute lecture on how to write fantasy. Think of it as an interactive, extended episode of my vlog! Exciting times!
Leo and Nick return for a special bonus video! Nick presents a David Letterman-style top ten list for writers. In this case, the Top 10 Ways to Ensure Your Novel is a Bestseller. Enjoy!
This episode has two special treats. First, I have a sidekick: Leo. More importantly, I have my first guest: my friend and fellow writer Nick Hayden, who’s just published a new novel entitled, “The Unremarkable Squire.” The episode is done in the style of a late night talk show. Enjoy!
I really need to update more often on here. Heck, I took a writing seminar at Gen-Con where I was reminded that if I want to be successful as a writer in the digital age, I need not only maintain a blog but update on a regular basis. I’ve been trying to do that more often, usually writing about things besides, well, writing, but life has a way of interfering with my best laid plans.
But it’s not just that. It’s me. Dr. Hensley, my English professor from TUFW, would be disappointed with my time management. What’s weird is it seemed easier to be disciplined back then. Maybe it was because there were fewer distractions–or at least fewer readily accessible distractions. Regardless, I’ve been taking on more and more writing projects than I originally expected. Remember my last vlog of 2012 where I mentioned what my big projects were gonna be for this year? Well, it’s at least double that now. I’ve taken on a co-writing a nerdy devotional with a friend; making an updated version of Destroyer; writing short stories for a pair of collections; writing a script for a fanfilm I’d like to produce; and I’m still trying to keep up with my aforementioned projects!
If it was just because I’m trying to do too much, I’d say it was a good problem to have. But that’s not the only reason. I’m somewhat unique among writers in that I’m an extrovert. I like being social. I’ll usually respond to friends asking me to hang out. Or I’ll jump on Facebook and “hang out” there. Lately, I’ve been showing my brother Jarod the new Doctor Who show. He’s hooked–and so am I to showing it to him. Or I let my hobbies, like video games, sap my time.
Meanwhile I’m still have a part-time job and I want to go back to the gym.
Procrastination is a fiend!
Then I stop and realize I haven’t gotten nearly as much done as I wanted to. This bugs me. I like feeling accomplished everyday. The problem is I let myself feel accomplished doing things like earning trophies on my Playstation 3 games. It needs to come from getting a minimum 1,000 words written everyday (and that excludes blog posts like this!).
So, first, let me apologize for my poor time management. I still need to get photos from Gen-Con posted on here, dangit!
Second, you have my permission to harp on me to get stuff done. You’d be surprised what pressure from fans can accomplish. Also, if you have any advice for overcoming distractions and/or procrastination, please share them with me.
In a “sequel” to my first vlog, I give more tips to aspiring writers for selling books at conventions, all of which I learned from attending Gen-Con 2013 in Indianapolis. This makes a grand total of 13 tips. I hope you’re not superstitious. (haha)
It might seem a late to do this, but I don’t care. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, so I’m gonna stop procrastinating on it.
Back in April, I participated in National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). I did write 30 poems. While I will leave all of them posted, I’m only going to “promote” what I think were the best ones by listing them in this post and on the “Poetry” section of the “Nathan’s Works” tab.
Some of these will be links to posts with two poems, but only the poem whose title is listed is part of the list, but feel free to read the others.
Do you agree with this list? Were there any poems I wrote that you think should be included? Which ones were your favorites, True Believers?
So, without further adieu, here are what I think are my best NaPoWriMo poems:
I’m a writer, and I can’t find the words to express how fun Gen-Con was this year! Here’s a video compilation of the fun things I did and crazy/amazing people I met. Thanks Eric Anderson and Darrin Ball for joining me on this adventure!
I’ve discovered that my current photo gallery plug-in is annoying. So, I’ve downloaded a new one, but I haven’t figured it all out yet. I say all this to say that it’ll be a few days before I post any new photos. Sorry, True Believers! I promise I’ll get it taken care of soon!
After three days of sleep-deprived insanity and fun, Sunday was a welcome relief. I only signed up for one event and the exhibitors’ hall closed early. My last cosplay was a simple one: the 10th Doctor. Mind you, it was only a fancy T-shirt that looked like his costume. I had tried making a real costume using thrift store items, but that didn’t pan out before the con. I’ll save it for Halloween.
Anyway, we enjoyed our last breakfast at the hotel. I walked by Darrin, who was still too humble to brag about his HeroScape title, and said, “This means what you eat is the breakfast of champions.” After eating, I made sure to thank the black man who I’d seen every day at breakfast. I deduced he was the chef, so I thanked him for all his work. With our stomachs full, we packed up and checked out.
Since we were leaving at different times, Eric and Darrin rode together and I drove separately. Our only event that day was the Christian Gamers Guild/Fans for Christ worship service at the Westin. It was huge this year and required a larger room. The music leader was Tom Vasel, the president of the Dice Tower network. He was quite animated while singing, which was a great thing to see. Also, this year we actually had music! Last year the attendees had to sing the worship songs a cappella. We partook of communion using the same wafer/juice packets used last year. Derek White the Geek Preacher returned. This year he cosplayed as his Dungeons and Dragons character, a cleric. His message was entitled “Living a Life Well Played” and preached from Genesis 1:26; 2:4-7. I learned some interesting things during that service, the most mindblowing being that D&D’s co-creator, Gary Gygax, was a Christian!
A couple arrived at 10am thinking that was when the service was and were disappointed they missed it. The woman even cried a little. Derek gave them leftover communion packets, offering a blessing, and several others—including myself—hugged her. I’m sure they felt the love.
On the way to the exhibitors’ hall, I caught a few minutes of a floor show (there were many throughout the weekend, and I wish I’d taken more time to watch them), featuring a Klingon minstrel and his lovely assistant/dancer. His name was Il Troubadour. I’d met him at his table the day before. He played a mandolin while singing in Klingon. Yes, you read that right.
The rest of my day was dominated by Doctor Who. Since the crowd was thinner, I went to see Peter Davison, aka the Fifth Doctor. Meeting him was probably my best story from the convention.
As I always do at a convention, I give the celebrities free copies of my books. But I also had another gift for Mr. Davison. His Doctor was known, among other things, for wearing a celery stick as a lapel, claiming it warded off a gas he was allergic to. So, after taking one photo and giving him the books, I said, “I’m sure thousands of fans have given you this over the last 30 years, but…,” and slid him the bagged celery. “In case your allergies flare up again.”
He laughed. “Actually, no one has ever given me this before.”
“You’re kidding me!”
“No. You’re the first.”
Geeking out, I asked, “Can I get another picture since I’m the first?”
He thought about it a second. “Oh…all right.”
This is that photo:
What you can’t see is my hand is shaking being this close to greatness.
Riding high on that experience, I left Eric in charge of my table while I explored the hall. I met a fellow writer who had a toy of the First Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, which he introduced saying I was “playing with cosmic forces.” He told me he’d had the thing was over 30 years old and he’d had it for 15 years—and the batteries still worked!
This kid was just hamming it up.
I returned to the Who North America booth to meet the Dalek I’d bantered with last year. The Dalek was having fun posing for photos with other fans, saying things like, “Smile or you will be EXTERMINATED!” But before I could get a picture with it, a kid stole the show. He was maybe 6-8 years old, dressed as the 11th Doctor, and had perfected his British accent. I filmed him as he taunted the Dalek and fell over after the evil alien had zapped him, only to stand up and say he had regenerated as the 12th Doctor and continue to taunt the Dalek.
Then I made things worse. I walked in front of the Dalek and pointed my sonic screwdriver at him. He panicked. “Alert! Alert!” he yelled. “Sonic device detected! Alert! Alert! Eye stock malfunctioning!” Then the light on said eye stock went off.
Yeah, I might be the Doctor…if I was cool enough.
When I returned to my table, I was soon joined by Becky and Kate. The latter wasn’t wearing her costume, so I didn’t recognize her at first, which they didn’t let me live down. As the day progressed, Becky appointed herself my manager, literary agent, editor, and fashion designer, among other things. (Did I mention the little tyrant likes being in charge?) 😛
Four o’clock came too soon. The con ended. My friends left. I packed up. A small sadness crept over me. I missed the convention already.
This wonderful woman gave me a ride back to the parking garage.
I packed everything up, but despite all the books I’d sold, the boxes were still heavy. I was determined to get to the parking garage, though. Thankfully, I met some people riding on big modified bicycles with seats in the back for hauling. I got a ride from one of them, a woman multicolored hair, and gave her a nice tip (I should’ve given her a book).
Well, there you have it, True Believers. Gen-Con 2013 in a nutshell for me. There are many other stories I could’ve shared, but I did my best to focus on the important ones. I’ll be posting a photo gallery from the convention—including photos of many fans who purchased books—on the website soon. I’m also compiling a “highlight reel” of the videos I filmed while I was there. That’ll be posted on YouTube.
I can’t wait until next year! Only 363 days to go!
A Man from Another Time Exploring Another Universe
