Sidney Blaylock Jr.'s Blog, page 69

The Good, the New, and the Problem (. . . with reviews)

So Destiny has released and I’m absolutely loving it (yes, Destiny is why I missed a blog entry last week.  So sorry!)  :)

The game is AMAZING and I’ve reached the “soft” level cap of 20 just today.  I enjoyed  Mass Effect 2 and 3 on the Playstation 3, but looking at their backgrounds, I said to myself that the verisimilitude just wasn’t there yet.  There was a mission where Commander Shepard goes against an AI and the mission was awesome, but the backgrounds just didn’t sell it.  The backgrounds looked flat, almost painted.  The system just didn’t have enough resources to truly replicate an alien world, plus alien sky, plus character actions and shooting, plus enemy actions and shooting and everything that the Mass Effect 2 and 3 were trying to achieve.  I told myself that the “next” generation of systems would capture that realism much better and that is what Destiny has done.

Yet, many reviews (and reviewers) have called Destiny mediocre.  They say that it is a mediocre shooter that has simply taken some of the trapping of a MMO (massive multiplayer online–like World of Warcraft).  Many reviewers claim that Destiny’s success is simply based on hype and marketing (although I can’t help but remember that Bungie ALSO created Halo for the Xbox and that didn’t get the same criticism, but now that Bungie and Activision have a preferred marketing agreement with Sony, now that criticism is being raised, but that’s a blog entry for another time . . .)

My problem with reviews, and by extension, many critics, is that we the audience want the GOOD, while the reviewers and the critics prize the NEW.  And unfortunately, the new and the good are not necessarily mutually compatible.

Reviews and reviewers face a problem–they live in a world that doesn’t match reality.  You can see it easiest in movie reviews (especially those who are “film” critics as opposed to “movie” reviewers), but many reviewers (professional and amateur) fall into the same trap: they seem to prize the new and innovative irregardless of actual quality.   Reviewers see many more films, are sent (or must purchase) many more games, comics, food, or whatever is being reviewed.  Many (not all) people seem to have problems watching a movie more than once–for them, seeing how the plot will unfold is the gold mine.  Once they’ve watched it, they KNOW what happens and they are satisfied.  Now magnify that for reviewers–they’ve watched the buddy cop movie over and over again (with different actors in different roles), but they are seeing essentially the same movie.  Same with many genre pieces–by default, a Fantasy movie is going to have some element of magic to it, that’s what makes it a fantasy.  Same with Science Fiction–there are certain tropes (robots, aliens, spaceships, future, past, etc) that are associated with Sci-Fi.  Sure, you can vary those tropes, but they still have to be present in some way at some level or you don’t have a Sci-Fi story.  Thus, many reviews note the novelty of something.  It’s doing something new and different from the rest, and that to many reviews seem to be the ultimate goal and that many reviewers seem to prize.

However, most audiences want the good.  Most audiences want to know if the movie is a good representation of whatever type of product or genre of product is being reviewed.  Generally, we don’t get to see movies all day long.  We have finite resources.  We need information from someone who has seen it, played it, read it to make an informed decision.  Is it good, is it worth spending money on?  Yes, it can be innovative, but that by itself doesn’t guarantee quality.  Audiences seem to have a higher tolerance for repeated types of media so long as they are good.  For instance, it has taken years for the Western to go out of favor.  The Western was a staple of the movie industry from its beginnings to well into the ’60s and ’70s, but slowly fell out of favor starting in the ’80s and ’90s.  There are always a few attempts to test the audiences’ reaction to Westerns (Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven are two notable examples), but the Western as a genre is still moribund in movies (although there have been TV series that have become fairly popular and the Western seems to be making a resurgence there).  Right now, thanks to CGI, the genres of Fantasy and Science Fiction have risen to a new prominence.  (Yet there are still critics out there who refuse to give credence to ANY Speculative Genre work–not to slander, but I think the magazine was Film Comment, but I could be mistaken, but if I am correct, I challenge you to read that “magazine’s” review of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.  I couldn’t do it because the reviewer’s prejudices against the fantasy genre were on display (again, if that is the wrong journal, I apologize, I tried to read the review at the library and the library no longer has the paper issues of that particular magazine so I can’t fact check the way I want . . . but based on their feature Trivial Top 20: Worst Winners of the Best Picture Oscar, I’m pretty sure they’re the right magazine–take a look at #22 on the list).

Brandon Sanderson has a great comment on the nature of criticism in an Epilogue entitled “Of Most Worth” in his novel The Way of Kings.  Paraphrasing, one of his characters speculates on what we prize most and, no spoilers, says that it doesn’t matter so much as what is created, but rather what is created first.  This is the same with many critics–they are so busy looking for the new that they overlook the good.

I personally want to know if something is good and I find myself at odds with reviews and reviewers.  I’m using Destiny as an example of something that’s good that critics don’t like, but I do, so I’ll use Bioshock as something that the critics like, but I don’t.  I don’t care for the way it tells its story (through audio logs that you pick up along the way), I don’t care for the grimness of the world, and didn’t much care for the way the story was unfolding.  Another game that I didn’t like was Red Dead Redemption for many of the same reasons (audio logs excepted).  But to the critics, the games were new, innovative–we’d never seen anything like this so it MUST be good and I simply disagree.  Just like I disagree with the assessment that ONLY being great makes a game mediocre.  I just can’t make that leap.  A great game should be great irregardless of whether it is doing something new.  The same is true with other media.

I missed seeing World War Z at the movie theaters because I relied on the reviews saying that the movie was only mediocre, only to buy the Blu-Ray and watching and being BLOWN AWAY by the amazing storyline that was only slightly hampered by its ending (the set pieces were awesome).  I still find myself wondering what it would have looked like in IMAX 3D.  What I learned from that was that there are some things that I’m predisposed to like, so irregardless of the reviews, I’m just going to go and get it (within reason–if the reviews are ALL unanimous and one of the criticisms is incompetence, then it would be foolish to ignore those sentiments.  I’m talking about those things that I like that I already know critics aren’t going to like).  For instance, Guardians of the Galaxy was a movie that I’d made up my mind to see back in the spring when the trailers first started hitting the internet REGARDLESS of the critical reception.  That the critical reception was mostly favorable was a nice surprise, but I was going to see it no matter the reception.  I like Marvel movies, I like Science Fiction, I grew up in the ’80s so I know the songs in the movies, and I like the actors.  I was predisposed to like the movie, so as long as the movie was competently put together, I was going to enjoy GotG on some level.

Please don’t get me wrong–this isn’t a diatribe against reviews, reviewers, and/or professional critics.  I just think there is a disconnect between the ideas of revolution and evolution.  Many critics seem to want revolution while many audiences prefer evolution.  We don’t mind revolution so long as it is good.  Critics seem to eschew evolution for those revolutionary ideas irregardless of the quality of the ideas.  Destiny is a fine game–it merges the old (first person shooter) with the new (MMO elements–not found in shooters) and the makers of the game (Bungie) deserve far more credit than they are currently getting for their efforts.  As much as we value Revolution, our world is an Evolutionary one.  Yes, new ideas are important, but so too are the refinement of the ideas that we already have in order to create a synthesis between the old and the new.

“My Dream is to fly over the Rainbow so High”

Chapter 1 of Project Skye is done!  It’s currently called “Storm Dark.”  And this Chapter 1 has felt different from all of my past attempts at writing a novel–it actually feels like something manageable this time.  If feels like something I can complete.  Time will tell if this is true or if this is another false start, but at least I’ve done something right this time around.  Working on the first chapter felt like a breeze as opposed to the slough trying to do a chapter normally feels.   

I promised last week that I would post if I discovered the secret to writing long.  While I’m not sure that I know the secret yet, I tried several different things this time around that aided me, I think.  Here’s what I tried:

1) I have the story completely mapped out.  On my iPhone, in my Notes App is a note where I have each of the 3 parts of Project Skye written out in 3 longish paragraphs.  The 1st chapter was an elaboration of the 1st sentence on the phone.  I’m thinking that the next sentence of that “rough draft” on my phone probably needs to be expanded into two separate chapters in order not to have too much going on in any one chapter.

2) I eliminated pretty much all of the setting except where necessary for understanding.  The only thing I’m focusing on this draft is character and plot, with character being my primary focus of the two.  I don’t honestly know how long it’s going to take to write this book, but if I plan for it to run the entire school year then that’s 10 months (well, now 9 months) to get from beginning to end.  That would leave 2 full months (June & July) to go back chapter by chapter, scene by scene to add in the scenery that’s in my mind.  I would also have better idea of where things like foreshadowing need to go, where extra characterization (or motivation) is needed because I would have a “finished” draft to work with (& that’s essentially how I work with short stories–I usually go through 2 major drafts/passes, sometimes 3 or 4 before I get them where I want them).

3) I’ve given Chapter 1 to an “Alpha” Reader to read.  I used to be a Librarian and I worked at the Main branch of our local library.  Quite a few of my former coworkers are there and one of them is an English major like myself.  She has graciously agreed to read my “early” drafts.  Now, here’s the new thing that I’m trying–my library books are due every 3 weeks and I promised her a new chapter when I come in next to return my books.  That means I need to have Chapter 2 done in 3 weeks or else I’ll risk disappointing her.  That’s an external goal that I can work toward.  Yes, I know that she’ll be cool if I miss my deadline to her, but (being the “perfectionista” that I am, I won’t be cool with that.)  So, my only out is illness, or if there is some school related thing that comes up, but otherwise, I gave her Chapter 1 with the INTENT that 3 weeks from now she’ll be able to read Chapter 2.  And 3 weeks after that Chap. 3, and so on until I finish the novel.  

As soon as I wrap up this blog post, I’m going to open up Pages (my word processor) and start chapter 2.  While I only have an hour before the new episode of Dr. Who starts that may be enough time to at least knock out the 1st paragraph down and start the process.  After all, I only have 3 weeks before Chap. 3 needs to be out this computer and into someone else’s hands.  :)

For those who’ve made it this far–I took the title of the blog post from lyrics that heard from a song on iTunes Radio today while doing yard work.  The song is Rise Up by Yves LaRock and the lyric “My Dream is to fly over the Rainbow so High,” symbolizes my goal to succeed in writing.  I wanted to give the artist a shout-out by linking his music video here, but then was blown away by the fact the music video pretty much has a novice training and working hard to become an outstanding talent in her chosen discipline.  Talk about Synchronicity!  Anyway, here is the video, check it out because it’s awesome:

 

One Story Closes, Another Story Opens

So I picked this rather provocative title, but all that I really want to say is that I finished one story and I’m beginning to work on another.  

I finished a short story that I’ve been working on for most of the spring and summer.  I, Magi is the story that I finished.  Readers of the blog will recognize the title as one that I was contemplating starting once I finished Citizen X.  I literally finished Citizen and started Magi right away.  I usually don’t work like that, but I was so enthused about the project that I couldn’t help myself.  Now that the project is done, I have at least 3 more short story ideas, but I find that I want to try longer works.  

I have Project Skye that I started on 2 weeks ago, but I have not worked on it since.  Today, while I wait on this week’s episode of Dr. Who, I want to work on a graphic novel project that I’ve had in my brain for a little while.  I’m calling it Project 51.  I would like it be a Sci-Fi project that I want to work on in tandem with Project Skye.  

The problem with working with longer projects is that they are marathons instead of sprints.  When it takes 2-3 months to sprint to the end of a short story, a novel, a graphic novel, or a screenplays seems like an ETERNITY.  At the rate I’m going, Project Skye may not become a reality until 2016/2017.  Project 51 may be done by the end of the school year, but that’s 10 months away.  That feels SO far away.  

How do you piece together the puzzle over months, over years, over decades, if necessary?  Creation takes time.  That’s the greatest flaw about creativity that most people don’t understand.  Even I fall victim to turning a blind eye to this fact.  I’m less than 2 weeks away from Destiny, a game that I’ve wanted since I first heard about in February 2013 and yet, I’m chomping at the bit to play it, to devour it, to lose myself in the world that Bungie has created, without regard for the amount of time they’ve spent on it.  

Another way to look at it would be this: imagine reading your favorite book 1 page at a time because that is how much you were allowed to read by some unnamed person, organization, etc.  Imagine how infuriating that would be.  That’s what its like to be a writer who wants to write long, but is limited by time.  It takes me so long to write something, to build something, that it is easy to freeze by looking at the enormity of how long it will take to finish what I want to accomplish.  

If I can find a solution to this problem, I’ll definitely post it here.  Some authors don’t have this problem–for them, writing long is easy.  I’m not one of them.  I’m a perfectionist, or at least, one who has a definite idea of how the project should go.  My philosophy has always been, “better to have it done right, even if you’re slow about it, than to have it fast and wrong.”  For some parts of my life, this has been helpful, but right now, trying to transition to a longer form writer, it is very discouraging to know that there are projects that I won’t see the end of for many months or years.  Somehow, someway, I need to find a way to make peace with this prospect, or I don’t think that I’ll ever mature into the writer that I would like to be.

Dr. Who

I watched the Dr. Who season premiere last night on BBC America.  I mostly liked it.  I thought that they maybe tried a little too hard to create a link between the “still cooking” Doctor scenes of David Tennent and Matt Smith.  Once the “mystery” was introduced and the Doctor and Clara began to investigate the mystery, that’s when I thought it settled down.  I began to like the episode at that point.  

As a Whovian, I have been watching Dr. Who since it “rebooted” with Christopher Eccleston.  I saw the first series with him, but missed episodes, not understanding that British TV runs their seasons differently from American TV.  I managed to catch the first (of the current Doctors) regeneration where Eccleston’s Doctor morphes into David Tennant’s Doctor.  However, because I still hadn’t figured out how British TV worked, I was still missing episodes, so I didn’t have to get used to David Tennent’s Doctor–there was no emotional investment on my part.  

It wasn’t until I saw the episode “Blink” that I was hooked.  “Blink” introduced the Weeping Angels and was probably the most suspenseful TV episode that I’ve ever seen with some beautiful emotional moments.  After that episode I made it my mission to figure out how British TV worked (I was helped that around that time I also discovered Top Gear–and both series helped me to figure out the way British TV works).   I followed Dr. Who since then, and I really did have to make the transition when David Tennent’s Doctor gave way to Matt Smith’s Doctor.  At first, I didn’t think I’d like the new interpretation (too mad-cap), but the episode was so well done and Amy and Rory played off each other so well that by the end when Matt Smith’s Doctor was in full form and calling the aliens back at the end to chastise them, I was totally on-board.

I said all that to say that the last scenes of last night’s episode, “Deep Breath,” while it didn’t grab me in the same way, I have hope that I’ll at least be able to like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor.  The mad-cap humor may be gone, but the wordplay more than makes up for it.   The final scenes where the Doctor mentions that he doesn’t think he’s a “hugger,” or a “fetcher,” and Clara’s responses to both was absolutely priceless.   I’ll try to revisit this again when this “season” ends to determine if I like Peter Capaldi’s Doctor Who.

I found a blog post from another blogger written about a year ago who wrote about the 5 Stages of Accepting a New Doctor Who.  The post is so spot-on that I want to link to it in this blog.  If you have a chance be sure to check it out–it’s a riot (& true too!)

 

 

Characters

So, I was watching TV the other day and I heard something that made me take note and I jotted it down so I wouldn’t lose it.  I was watching a small featurette that plays in the couple of minutes before the new feature movie started on one the Epix channels.  In it, one of the directors of a movie (I think World War Z–yes, it was that movie because I remember him talking about how the book didn’t lend itself to film).  

Anyway, at the very end, he said something profound and I wrote it down just to be sure that I wouldn’t lose it or forget it.  He said, (paraphrasing): “Begin with the character and you can explore any world you like.”  

This resonated with me because even though I write short fiction, I read novels, graphic novels, and watch movies–all longer forms of writing.  I’ve long been interested in trying to write and create these longer works myself, but have been unable to maintain the “traction” needed to make it through to the end.  I literally have notebooks filled with ideas that could become the basis for novels, screenplays, and comic/graphic novel scripts, but after about the first twenty pages or so, I seem to lose the thread, even if I’ve meticulously planned/plotted them out to the end.  

I think it is because I’m so caught up in the plot, in the cool actions and settings of the world, that I set out to write the longer works with only the vaguest hints of my characters.  I have a name, but perhaps I only have a cipher of a character rather than a true character when I start.  

I’ve decided to try again at starting a novel.  I have a character: Skye.  She has a personality.  She is a “grease monkey,” who works on airplanes.  She has a problem: She is only an Aviator, but she wants to be a Pilot (there is a whole WORLD of difference between the two titles in the world the story takes place.)  Somehow she must earn her place as a Pilot even though she “technically” doesn’t have the right qualifications.  

I think I have a title for the novel, but for the moment I’m going to refer to it as “Project Skye,” to remind myself that it is the CHARACTER who is the most important part of the story (not the cool setting or all the cool things I hope to have her run around doing, but that she needs to be the coolest and most important part of the story.)  And if this works out and I manage to publish “Project Skye,” then I owe the Director of World War Z a BIG thank you (as well as a non-alchoholic beverage of his choice :) )

Knights

I’ve always been fascinated with knights.  Swords, armor, shields, horses, the medieval timeframe, and the idea of a warrior class has intrigued me since I was a child.  I remember checking out books from the library about knights.  One of the reasons why I like and can play chess is that I found a book that showed the various chess pieces and moves using illustrations that were based on knights.  

Eventually, as I grew older, I expanded my love of knights to a love of heroes in general.  I think that expansion started with Star Wars and the explanation of the Jedi Knights.  It was that movie (along with lesser movies of the time: Krull, Legend, and The Dark Crystal) l where I saw that heroism could apply to more time periods that just the medieval age.  Now, I know that knights as a class of people were not the “heroes” that we often think they were, regardless of the chivalric code.  However, to a child, they seemed to represent the best of both worlds–fighters with a code of ethics.

Perhaps that’s why I’m so fascinated with knights.  They are a class of warriors that (ideally) can be awesome at warfare, but also can respect others (yes, again, I know that this is naive and that “real” knights–from the Templars all the way down to the Crusaders were little better than thugs, but it is the IDEAL of knighthood that I’m discussing).  

Many of my stories revolve around the idea of something or somebody as a hero.  I got tickled by a former co-worker who read my work.  She happened to read two of my stories in which the main character fails.  I think I only have two or three of these so far.  She was saying to me that it looks like I like “sad” endings.  Actually, I think I’ve written 20+ stories so far, and out of all of these 90-95% the hero wins.  I really wanted to tell her this, but patron came up and I never did explain myself.  I’ve never been a fan of the “sad” (aka kill the main character) ending.  I only use it when the main character must sacrifice himself/herself for the greater good.  I’ve read too many stories (“All Things Dark and Deadly,” which I’m pretty sure was published in the RPG Cyberpunk 2020–although I could be mistaken for I no longer have the RPG to fact-check it) is a prime example of this.  Spoilers–the main character dies in that story for NO good reason.  This is the worse type of “ironic” ending, but I see it all too often (especially in short works).  

I seem to have an affinity with knights as several of my published works have some element of knights embedded in them.  Don’t be surprised if you see more “knights” (or heroes) in my fiction.  I really, REALLy like them!

Fae releases today! (My story, Faerie Knight, is on p.175!)

“FAE”
EDITED BY RHONDA PARRISH

Alpena, MI (July 22, 2014)– World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced FAE, a new anthology of fairy stories from classic tales to urban fantasy, edited by Rhonda Parrish, is available in trade paperback and ebook today, Tuesday, July 22, 2014.

Contact: Elizabeth Wagner publicity@worldweaverpress.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

Praise for FAE:

“A delightfully refreshing collection that offers a totally different take on your usual fairy stories! I found it difficult to stop reading as one story ended and another began – all fantastic work by gifted writers. Not for the faint of heart, by any means.”

— Marge Simon, multiple Bram Stoker® Winner “Anyone with an abiding love of Faerie and the Folk who dwell there will find stories to enjoy in FAE.”

— Tangent (C.D. Lewis)

“The Cartography of Shattered Trees’ by Beth Cato and ‘And Only The Eyes of Children’ by Laura VanArendonk Baugh are shining examples of what could be done with the subject of faeries that surpass tricks on the reader, that build worlds and characters worth knowing and exploring, that have something important to say about the real world.”

— Tangent (John Sulyok)

“Nibble on this deliciously wondrous collection of stories of fae one at a time or binge on its delights on one night, you’ll love the faerie feast this collection provides. I devoured it.”

— Kate Wolford, editor of Beyond the Glass Slipper; editor and publisher of Enchanted Conversation: A Fairytale Magazine

Meet Robin Goodfellow as you’ve never seen him before, watch damsels in distress rescue themselves, get swept away with the selkies and enjoy tales of hobs, green men, pixies and phookas. One thing is for certain, these are not your grandmother’s fairy tales. Fairies have been both mischievous and malignant creatures throughout history. They’ve dwelt in forests, collected teeth or crafted shoes. FAE is full of stories that honor that rich history while exploring new and interesting takes on the fair folk from castles to computer technologies to modern midwifing, the Old World to Indianapolis. FAE bridges traditional and modern styles, from the familiar feeling of a good old- fashioned fairy tale to urban fantasy and horror with a fae twist. This anthology covers a vast swath of the fairy story spectrum, making the old new and exploring lush settings with beautiful prose and complex characters.

With an introduction by Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman, and new stories
from Sidney Blaylock Jr., Amanda Block, Kari Castor, Beth Cato, Liz
Colter, Rhonda Eikamp, Lor Graham, Alexis A. Hunter, L.S. Johnson, Jon Arthur Kitson, Adria Laycraft, Lauren Liebowitz, Christine Morgan, Shannon Phillips, Sara Puls, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

FAE is available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Kobo.com, and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram. You can also find Fae on Goodreads.

Anthologist Rhonda Parrish is driven by a desire to do All The Things. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the benefit anthology, Metastasis. In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.

World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, dedicated to producing quality works. We believe in great storytelling.

Publication Date: July 22, 2014 • Fantasy / Horror Anthology $12.95 Trade paperback, 247 pages • $6.99 ebook ISBN: 978-0692207918 Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com

Information: http://www.worldweaverpress.com/books/fae

worldweaverpress.com @WorldWeaver_wwp

#####

 

 

 

Friday Night Trailers – Dead Island 2

So, I’ve been away from the blog for a while.  Sorry.  There are reasons, but they are too long and boring to talk about.  

I’ve decided to start something new.  I like routines, so I decided that I’d pick some things that I like and build posts around those themes.  My first theme is: Friday Night Trailers (a play on Friday Night Lights).  Every Friday, I’ll post a link to a trailer that I really like.  The trailer can be movies, video games, TV, or some media of some kind.  

This week’s Friday Night Trailer is for an upcoming video game called Dead Island 2.  I loved this trailer!  I don’t like zombie games, but the trailer is great!  The humor is dark and macabre.  I don’t always like this type of humor, but the way it plays out shows great creativity.  It doesn’t hurt that the song is catchy too! :)  Full Disclosure: I liked the song so much that I purchased it from iTunes.  

Take a look–but don’t blame me if that song gets stuck in your head!  ;)

I finished CROWN OF RENEWAL by ELIZABETH MOON

I finished Crown of Renewal over the weekend.  I liked it and gave it 4 (of 5) stars.

Here is the text of the review that I wrote for the Amazon.com Kindle page & Goodreads.com

Having read the entire series, I found this book to be a solid conclusion to the series. I started the series reading in hardcover and finished it via electronic editions. I liked the entire arc of the series and felt like most of the major characters got their time on-stage. I probably would not characterize this book as a good first book in the series (obviously, as it is the conclusion), but the sheer number of characters and their relationships to one another are something that the author (rightly) assumes that you’ve already read and understand based on the previous novels in the series. For that reason alone, if the description of the book’s contents intrigues you in any way, I can’t emphasize strongly enough that you should seek out Volume 1 and then work your way to this book. I enjoy Elizabeth Moon’s writing style and felt that this book is comparable to the others in the series, and more importantly, leaves a couple of the main characters in positions where they could explored further down the road should she choose to visit the world again in a new series. There could have been a little more action–the resolution, while not lacking conflict, is much more on the cerebral side. Some may find the story dull in places, but to me (and I like action) I found that the more subdued finale fit in with the overall tone of the series as a whole.

LibertyCon 2014

So LibertyCon is happening in a couple of weeks.  I debated about going to LibertyCon this year.  I have more time as I’m free for the summer, but in many ways I seem to have less time.  I’m working on my novel (more to come in a following post), I’m working on a short-story that is due at the end of this month (for a contest), I’m revising another short-story that just came back (rejected, but I’ve found another market for it & I’m trying to get it ready), and I really want to contact an artist that I know about seeing if she would be willing to accept commissions to do artwork for some of my stories (I’d really like to showcase her artwork here on the blog as “covers” to my short-stories so that people might be able to get a visual sense of what story might be like before having to plunk down money them to decide if they might like it–sorta’ what covers on books are designed to do).  In addition to this, I’m trying to clean up the house (inside and out), work on prepping for next school year, play games, and yes, rest over the Summer Break.  Last week, I finished four days of intense Personal Development learning how to become a better teacher (considering my school day is 9-4 and the PD was 8:30-3:30, I REALLY and TRULY did put in a full day’s work–I really hope that I can put all the great information to use and really shine this upcoming school year).

I decided that I might be trying to do TOO MUCH and so I wondered if it might not be better to scale back a bit and not go to LibertyCon this year.  After I thought about it, I realized that Chattanooga only has 3 major Sci-Fi/Fantasy conventions: ChattaCon, LibertyCon & Con Nooga.  Of those three, only LibertyCon is a writer/reader focused Con, meaning that while it has costumes, parties, and the like, it is really focused on authors, editors, and artists, the people who create and produce the genre fiction that we love.  Yes, there are actors (rarely) and media-based properties (again, rarely), but this is the one Con to go if you’re into books, authors, and the written word.  All the other Chattanooga Cons are more like traditional cons.  

I don’t like crowds–never have and probably never will.  Therefore, a more specialized con probably fits me more than a larger con would (at this point in my life, at least).  Also, I decided that if I could find one (just 1) workshop each day of the convention that might aid me in my writing, then the con would pay for itself in both information and inspiration.  Friday and Saturday were fine, Sunday, I’m probably going to have “stretch” to find a workshop that fits the bill, but I’m happy enough with the presentations that I went ahead and signed up for it.

Since this will be the first LibertyCon that I’ll attend with a blog, I’ll try to remember to take photos to upload on the blog.  After being somewhat ambivalent about it this year, I’m hoping that it will help me and inspire me.  At least, if nothing else, it will give me three days of SOLID writing time because the short story that is due at the end of the month has 3-5 planned scenes–I’ve only finished scene 1 at the moment.  Looks like I’m going to have to really press and use the downtime during the Con to get words on the page–so maybe I can use it as a mini-writing retreat, if nothing else ;)

Anyone interested can find out more information about LibertyCon by clicking on the link, or you can take a look at some of their pictures on their picture gallery.