So you almost didn’t get a post today because I faceplanted into my pillow and Did Not Move as soon as today’s conference panels were over. When I groggily came to, I thought it was Friday morning. The sun hadn’t even finished going down yet.

And The Rings of Power is out today. I haven’t seen it yet, which is kind of killing me, but I’m sure that’s what all the other nerds are doing right now, so who’s going to stop the party to read this?

Nobody, that’s who. I’m entertaining, but I’m not Young Galadriel in Middle Earth and the future of Amazon Prime streaming as we know it entertaining.

bookmarkedone would like to take this moment to remind everyone that our policy for spoilers is to chuck the grenade and ask questions later. You have been amply warned.

But I’m still posting anyway. Someday you’ll come back from Middle-Earth and the bookmarked blog will be here, right where you left it.

Still tired though, so expect this to be even more speedrun than yesterday.

(debates if “speedrun” is the proper conjugation. Decides not to care)

Day 4!

• First panel of the day, author interview with T.R. Napper, talking about a lot of things while sitting in front of his enviable floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, but mostly his experiences as a Dungeon Master and the comparisons and contrasts between novel writing and writing for roleplay games. Would be a shame if we didn’t have a DM somewhere in the mix, right?
• Interview with Emmi Itäranta next. She had my attention as soon as I heard her bio about being a Finnish speculative fiction author who writes her books in two languages (the second being English). Why?
  • Because Finnish Mythology Is A Thing and I have The Kalevala on the brain so of course I wanted to hear about her experiences and if the culture/history/mythology was in her books,
  • Tolkien’s interest in the Finnish language,
  • Because Itäranta reminds me a little of Cornelia Funke in the bilingual book aspect.
• Beyond that, Itäranta was a little nervous about her first book premiering as a film tomorrow (so if it’s a huge deal, we the ProWritingAid Sci-fi-ers heard about it first and watched history take shape), and her latest novel is interplanetary sci-fi with a character who has spiritual/herbal/magical abilities. This is the combination of science fiction and fantasy I have been begging for since–well, at least for the last six months. It’s a brilliant concept. Snobbish curmudgeon bookmarkedone is intrigued.
• Bethany Clift interview. Discussing a pandemic novel written before the pandemic with a posh, proper, reserved British author…who swears fluently. I’d say it was an experience, but my internet was still having issues through all three of these panels and especially this last one. I probably missed a lot. She gets one point for grinning and saying she’s writing a rom-com which means “less death” than her previous book. Not “no death.” Fair.
• (skipping the Networking event because I still am in Forest Goblin Mode and Do Not Want to Socialize)
• And then on to “How to Tell a Clear Science Fiction Story,” presented by Hayley Milliman. This one wasn’t earth-shattering for me, but again, internet issues didn’t help. A lot of sound advice I’ve heard many times before. Milliman’s cat and dog were also in attendance.
• Last of all, “Marketing your Science Fiction Book,” presented by Sue Campbell. I have mixed feelings about this one. A lot of what she said made perfect sense, but her Number 1 recommendation was to start an email newsletter. I have never met anyone who voraciously reads email newsletters. I cannot accurately recall anyone who didn’t delete them as spam because they were too lazy to unsubscribe. Even though she had good reasons why…I still feel uneasy, like I’d only be alienating readers. Thoughts, anyone? Do you want me in your inbox as well as on your blog feed?
• The good part about the marketing panel is that none of us were idly sitting by. We were taking action according to her advice. I mentioned yesterday that I snuck into the Discord channel, and that popped up again then. Better, everyone was sharing podcasts, blogs, and Twitch channels and asking for guests. I didn’t volunteer much, but I was copying everyone’s links to look at later. Especially the Alligator Preserves podcast. What’s that about? I don’t know. But you’ve got to find out with that name.

And…yeah, that’s about it. I changed a peaceful comparison of plotters and pantsers into a fight club on the Discord (unrepentantly. This brings me immense satisfaction) and last I heard we’re slaughtering each other with our manuscripts and outlines in a library while I, your humble bard and a self-proclaimed plantser, play DJ and get to watch the show. From a safe distance, of course.

There are some beautiful things in life, aren’t there?

Okay. It’s late here, everybody, so I’m signing off. Take care in crafting your Rings of Power, don’t sell me out to the Discord for being more pantser than planner in my plantser life (please. I want to live through this war I’ve single-handedly created), and tune in for the final day of the con recaps tomorrow.

Don’t expect this posting every day thing to last. I–no. I’m too lazy for that.