The Five Hundred and Sixty-Eighth Post: The GenCon After Action Report!

Posted by Seething With Apathy

GenCon was great! I got to play a few games, one of which I hadn’t played since college. I also tried out a game that I like and I hope to be able to play again in the future. I met a couple of people and got some pictures of cosplayers. I’m going to admit that I am not the best photographer, but I am proud of some of the pictures I took.

I learned a lot about painting miniatures and found out that what I was doing initially was wrong, but I got some good correction, and I will be applying these lessons to the next set of miniatures I will be painting.

I also got some dice because I am a dice goblin at heart. I can’t wait to show them off with my gaming group Saturday. I also got a couple of books as well and some more minis to paint (correctly). I supported my favorite stores and publishers. I did good.

I also did no writing at all whatsoever. Didn’t have an idea, didn’t break out the laptop to catch up on missing days. I had a genuine vacation that was nice. I did a lot of walking, though. While I was there, I registered 10,000 step days each day I was at the convention. So, I got in my exercise as well.

I did miss the celebrities, however. I never got to see the ones that were there at GenCon because they were doing other things that I couldn’t get tickets for. Oh, well – better luck next time, I guess.

Now that the vacation is over, I am back to work and trying to get a little caught up on The Catastrophic Christmas Party by writing four times a day with 850 words a session. This is to catch up from the days off I took. I need to have this manuscript finished before the end of August so I can get it edited and ready for December publishing. I can get it done. I’ve done it before with The Dreaded Day Job and I am confident I can finish this in time.

I had a good vacation, but it’s time to get back to work.

The Rules…

Posted by Seething With Apathy

The Rules for GenCon:

No laptops, notebooks, fancy-schmancy pens. This is a vacation, and I am going to play my little brains out. No writing.
We’re not going to stress out over time by leaving early enough for the events that I got tickets for. I have the schedule on my phone, so I have no real excuse to miss or be late for an event.
I have a certain amount of money. I am not going to exceed that amount. Yes – I am going to buy from my favorite merchants, but I am not going to go hog wild. I also need to feed and hydrate myself.
Speaking of feeding and hydrating myself: I can’t be too lax with my diet. I can indulge a little now and then, but I must maintain my diet for my health.
If I happen to see a celebrity (and I intend on running into this guy), I am going to comport myself professionally. I will ask for an autograph, not gush and thank them for their time. I accept that I will be nervous and maybe a little hesitant to ask for an autograph – they are human beings and will not bite, taze or mace me (hopefully).
I am going to take a lot of pictures. I will not be bashful in getting permission. I will walk up to them and ask permission.

How many of these am I going to follow? 2-6 definitely, but number 1? I will be honest – I don’t know. The writer part of my brain I can’t turn off. While I am not going to have my laptop with me (I am afraid to lose it), I can’t guarantee that I am not going to buy a notebook. I am a sucker for those homemade leather books that GenCon is going to have in spades. I probably will buy one of those because I like them so much. I’ll use it to take notes, directions and more than likely since I have said that this is a vacation, my muse will no doubt go into overtime with ideas.

The reason why I have rules 5 and 6 is because – believe it or not – I am a very, very shy person. Approaching other people is difficult for me to do, asking for an autograph is almost impossible. Usually, I have my wife do things like this because she’s way better at it than I am. However, I am going to push myself to go out there and be a little more extroverted. My wife is going to be with me for most of the time – there are late night games, and I am not going to keep her here until 1 A.M. I’m going to take her back to the hotel room so she can get some sleep. I am going to take a tablet for her to watch some TV on it. She’s not a table-top gamer like I am, and I want her to have a good time, too.

When it’s over, I am going to load up some of the better photos I took and put them up here in the blog. Will you see me? Maybe.

The Five Hundred and Sixty-Third Post: The One Where I Am Dancing on This Keyboard!

Posted by Seething With Apathy

Wow, I have had the best writing week ever! Everything was coming out of my fingertips with hardly a hiccup. I got to work on one of the scenes that inspired the book The Show Must Go On, but I am not happy with the dialogue that Lin says before the end. Well, that’s what re-writes are for.

Really, I love days like this. When two thousand words just come out in about under two hours. When I’m itching to get to the next scene while I’m at my dreaded day job is when I feel really alive and useful. Wonderful times for everyone!

I’m also still outlining Your Tribe, Our Tribe, but I’m only doing that when I don’t have anything for the current project, which means I haven’t been doing it very often. I’m working through a couple of scenes that are getting a little too “isn’t that just convenient…” for me. I wonder if anyone has ever done a second draft to an outline?

Another thing that’s been occupying my mind is GenCon. A little over a month away, I’m still socking away money, so I’m sure that Amazon and Goulet Pens are concerned for my health. I have no doubt that I’m going to get an e-mail from these companies asking me if I’m okay. I’m looking forward to the games, which are going to keep me up past my bedtime for a couple of days – reminding me of my college days. I’m looking froward to the shopping as well, which is why I’ve been saving up some money. There are going to be a lot of stands and booths wishing they worked on commission when I am done.

There’s not much else going on. I’ve got a meeting with my writing group today, so I’m taking my lunch to get this blog done. I hope to get another good writing streak going and maybe get another two thousand words down. I’m at the body disposal scene, and I am going to ramp up the weirdness for the book here on out. I really need to turn this into a ghost story for the res tof the novel, and I might have to bring the word count up to 80K. I’m three-quarters of the way through the word count, but I just got to the climax. I think I’m not going to pay attention to the total word count while I’m writing. I need to write the full scenes, and not cheat the reader out of things because I was concerned more about keeping it under 80K. I can always cut.

Well – have fun, be safe and maybe I’ll bump into you at GenCon?

The Four Hundred and Fifty-Second Post: The One Where I Feel Good About Things…

Posted by Seething With Apathy

I’m feeling better about Camp Nanowrimo. I’ve settled into a routine, and I am over halfway through the novel. I’ve hit several ice cream scenes (with one I had to re-write because of a guilty conscience) and I am actually close to wrapping it up. Will I get it done by the end of the month? Looks like it, to be honest. If I keep up this pace, I’ll probably finish it before the end of the month. What’s helping? Coffee, early morning writing sessions and slow workdays where I can work on the book during down times. Heck, I did 1500 words today at work before coming home. Nice.

I am looking at my next project: a haunted house book called Breeder. I am going to try to hold myself to the same schedule. I can get this done in a month. Now, when I say I’m getting it done in a month, I am only referring to the rough draft. There is no way I am going to go from first draft to print in a month…well, not if I want to put out a good book. Right now, my writing group is getting the current project I’m aiming for an October release – this is the perfect Hallowe’en book.

As far as anything else goes – the only thing I’m looking forward to is GenCon. Not only is it a vacation for me, it’s going to be three days of gaming. No writing, no plotting, no nothing. I have a feeling I am going to need it once Serve Me Now and Breeder are finished. I think I have gotten a hold of my muse for once.

Yes…you…

It’s back to being fun again. Tiring, sure – waking up a 4:00 AM is a thrill to no one, but I have the house nice and still to concentrate on writing, and it makes me feel like I’ve done something, which boosts my mood throughout the day. I do sleep in on the weekends with me waking up at 7:00. Good times, really.

Well, that’s all for now. Still up to my hips in one novel and thinking about the second one. Hope everything is good for you. Ta-ta.