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Sail to Success 2016, Part 1.

Posted by dougdandridge on December 12, 2016
Posted in: Agents, Conferences, eBooks, Fantasy, Plotting, Proofreading, science Fiction, self publishing, Tropes, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

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I went on the Sail to Success cruise in 2015.  It was a great experience, I learned a lot, and I got to sit at the front in an instructor’s chair for a couple of sessions to give my take on self-publishing.  I really wasn’t planning on coming back this year, though I was thinking about returning to the beautiful Bahamas.  Then, in February, Shahid Mahmud, the publisher of Arc Manor and the organizer of the cruise, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.  The entire cruise and workshop for a significant discount, and all I had to do was sit at the front of the class and wax poetic on the joys of self-publishing.  I couldn’t turn that down, and I immediately got some ideas to promote myself on the trip.  More on that later.

The ship, the Norwegian Sky, was large, if not the largest of the cruise ships sailing the Caribbean and Atlantic.  At over 78,000 tons, it is actually larger than the Titanic (52,000 tons).  Some of these monsters of the sea tip in at over 225,000 tons, twice the displacement of a nuclear powered supercarrier.  Still, Norwegian Sky was large enough.  They quote the capacity of the ship at 2,004 guests with double occupancy, but some staterooms might have one occupant (like mine) while others had whole families crammed into them.  So I would say well over two thousand passengers, probably closer to twenty-five hundred.  The ship sailed from Miami at 5:00 PM on Monday, December 5th, 2016.  I checked in at 11:00 AM, after spending the night in Miami.  I was using a cane to help me get around, and I didn’t ask for any special accommodations, but someone noticed my cane and I was whisked through the boarding procedure and was on the ship in fifteen minutes.  Later I came to determine that I did need special accommodations, since I didn’t seem to be as mobile as last year.

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Cabins were available at 1:30 PM, and I had planned to take a nap, but since my luggage didn’t arrive until about 3:30, I was not able to get in my nap.  And then we had the lifeboat drill, which was totally FUBAR, with just about everyone violating the rules of the drill, talking loudly, laughing, texting.  In fact, I was not marked down as having attended, and received several nasty notes about having to attend a makeup the next day.  A phone call from my cabin cleared that up.  So I was in my stateroom.  Last year I had about five outlets in the room, and only one bottle of water, along with multiple bottles of liquor.  I don’t drink, and I was often dehydrated at night with no way to get drinkable water.  So I brought along six one liter bottles of water.  This year I had two outlets total, and there were six bottles of water in the fridge, along with daily replenishment.  Unfortunately, I was only able to plug in my white noise generator and my CPAP, and not my alarm clock.  No problem, leaving my curtain open meant I woke up with the sun, which worked perfectly.

So that evening we met to meet and greet the faculty, which was basically the same as last year.  Eleanor Wood of Spectrum Literary Agency; multiple award winners Nancy Kress and Mike Resnick, best seller Eric Flint; short story specialist Jack Skillingshead; and Baen editor Jim Minz.  The only workshop I have ever been to that has a lineup in this range of quality is Superstars, Kevin J Anderson’s conference in Colorado Springs.

After introductions they plunged right into two sessions, Publishing Business 101 with Eric Flint and Eleanor Wood, followed by The Importance of Character Building with Nancy Kress.  These were basically repeats of last year’s presentations, still, every time a topic is presented the instructors can’t help but make them a little different, and I did learn from these presentations.  Then we were through for the night, and it was back to my stateroom to work on a novel.  This year I had a porthole stateroom on the eighth deck, instead of the balcony room on deck nine.  A little smaller, but still comfortable in a ‘I can’t take more than three steps without running into a wall’ way.

 

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I hadn’t signed up for any shore excursions last year, though I did snag a tour on Nassau.  This year I signed up for two, on Wednesday and Thursday, but Tuesday was free.  I stepped ashore at Freeport harbor, and caught a taxi to the city.  But I never really got to the city.  The taxi van went from the group of tourist trap buildings to another group of tourist trap buildings that looked almost the same.  I never really saw the city of Freeport.  I did get to see some of the island, which reminded me of where I grew up in Florida.  Pines, palms and palmettos, a lot of exposed sand, and flat terrain.  Some hurricane damage here and there, lots of roundabouts and cars driving on the wrong side of the road.  The architecture was similar to Florida as well, along with Burger King, Dominoes, and other icons of the States.  That was what I wanted to see, not the tourist traps.  Still, found an awesome hand carved cane in one of the hole in the wall shops, and bought a coffee mug at a drug store, and my shopping for this trip was done.  Then it was back to the ship for my meeting with the agent.  Continued in part 2.

Superstars Writing Seminars 2015, Part 2: The Professionals.

Posted by dougdandridge on February 18, 2015
Posted in: Conferences, eBooks, Fantasy, History, Military, science Fiction, self publishing, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I will be putting out another blog tomorrow (Thursday, February 19, 2015) about the upcoming novel in the Exodus Universe, due to be released on Friday.  But today I wanted to get back to my impressions of this year’s Superstars Writing Seminar in Colorado Springs, while they are still fresh in mind.  Next week I will post Part 3, about the attendees, many of who have become friends and colleagues.

 

One of the most amazing things about the seminar were the professionals who were on hand.  People who not only taught the courses, but also took meals with the attendees and talked with them between sessions.  There was plenty of time to talk with these people, even if there were almost a hundred other people clambering for their attention.  Kevin J Anderson knew everyone there, or, if they were a first time attendee, knew them by the end of the seminar.  He actually named everyone in the room during the farewell session in order.

It all starts with Kevin, who, with his wife Rebecca, is the heart and soul of the seminar.  Kevin always seemed to have time for a couple of words with everyone. He took people to Garden of the Gods the day before the seminar started, and hung out with Dean Wesley Smith in the lobby after the close.  His productivity is amazing, and you still see him at just about every con around.  My most salient memory of Kevin this year was when I bought his book, Martian War, and brought it to him to get signed.  His eyes were aglow and there was a smile on his face as he signed the book, telling me the whole while about both that book and one he had written about Captain Nemo.  I told him about the animated movie on Netflix in which Teddy Roosevelt fights the Martians, and Kevin showed himself what he is at heart.  A fan, who went into writing science fiction because of his love for it.

Rebecca, of course, is also a permanent fixture, and is always kind and gracious to everyone at the seminar.  She teaches several of the sessions with the other professionals, and her knowledge of publishing, both from her own career and being right there alongside Kevin during his is amazing as well.

Eric Flint is one of the other stalwart regulars.  Eric comes off as a curmudgeon, but is another writer who both loves the field and the people in it.  I talked with him just a few minutes, telling him how much I enjoyed his newest collaboration with David Weber.  That brought a smile to his face, and I realized no matter the stature of the author, they still like to hear people tell them how much they like their work.  I sat at Erik’s table for last year’s VIP dinner, and was heartened by the story of a man with a degree in history who worked most of his life in a factory until he won a contest, Writers of the Future.

Dave Wolverton (David Farland) is another regular, and a man who had helped innumerable writers to success.  I saw Dave last year, then took a workshop from him in Atlanta, before appearing on  Podcast with he and Kevin.  I would have liked to talk with him more, but didn’t want to monopolize his time when there were so many others who wanted his attention.  Dave is someone I hope to have much more communication with in the future.

James Artemis Owens is the last of the regulars, also back from last year.  James is an artist as well as a writer, and the complete comics enthusiast.  Toward the end of the seminar, James showed me some art he had finished for a project he was working on.  It was amazing, with so much detail in a pencil drawing that it has to be seen to be believed.  James’ strength as an instructor is his demonstrated perseverance, coming back from a hand injury that should have left him unable to draw, and now producing master works like I saw at the seminar.

I took Jody Lynn Nye’s Writing Workshop at Dragon Con in 2013, which was really the start of my networking with such amazing people.  I have seen her at Liberty Con 2014, and visiting the Dragon Con Workshop again in 2014, and every time I saw her it was like seeing an old friend.

All the above people are also friends on Facebook, so I get to see so much that is going on in their lives, while they get a peek into mine at the same time.

I had dinner with Toni Weisskopf, and as related in the last post, it was an amazing experience.  Three hours of talking to the publisher and chief editor of Baen Books.  Baen is one of the few companies I would want to write for, but the dinner, for the most part, was not about that.  It was conversation about some of the greats in the field, Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Howard.  I told her about meeting Nancy Springer in Tallahassee, and the discussion turned for a short while to Robert Adams.  A completely enjoyable evening.

Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch were people I didn’t know at all except by email and Facebook.  I got to meet them, and am looking forward to getting to know them better at their workshop coming up.  Last impression of the last day was Dean and Kevin sitting and talking in the lobby, and Kevin telling Dean he didn’t know how I did it with my horrible covers and such.  And Dean saying I must be doing something right.

I met Todd McCaffrey at two Dragon Cons and Liberty Con.  Haven’t spent much time talking to him at either event, something I may have to rectify in the future.

And this is the reason you go to an event like this.  The instruction is first rate, the things you learn can change your life.  But the opportunity to meet and network with such stellar professionals is what really brought me back this year.

An Evening With Eric Flint

Posted by dougdandridge on March 15, 2014
Posted in: Agents, Conferences, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, Future Prediciton, Future Warfare, History, Kindle, Military, Near Future, Plotting, Proofreading, science Fiction, self publishing, Websites, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Most of the readers of this blog know that I attended the Superstars Writing Conference in Colorado Springs back at the beginning of February.  Superstars is put on by writers Kevin J Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, and draws several other big name authors as presenters.  One of the highlights of the Conference is the VIP dinner on Friday night.  At the dinner the participants sit with one of the presenters through the meal where they can talk and ask questions.  Kevin had said online that any of the presenters would be a good choice, and after the first few days of the conference I would have to agree.  However, I had my sights set on one particular guest for the meal.  Kevin would have been a very good choice, but I had already spent time talking with him, and had lunch with Rebecca on one of the conference days.  The other author whose work I was very familiar with was Eric Flint, long time writer for Baen and the brains behind the 1632 series of alternate history books, also known as the Ring of Fire series.   If you’re not familiar with this series, it’s worth a look.  Eric developed it from a tale about a small town in West Virginia going back in time to Germany in 1632.  To those not familiar with this period of time, this was the Protestant Reformation, and the war between Protestants and Catholics that killed from between one quarter and a third of the German population.  The Germanies were a number of kingdoms, principalities, duchies and so forth, and more often than not the armies of either side were as likely to prey on their own co-religionists as the other side.  Flint brilliantly placed his story in this backdrop of warfare and intrigue, when Cardinal Richelieu of France and the Pope were major players, along with King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.   And a bunch of engineers, former military men and librarians from rural America change the technology of the era.

There were three reasons I wanted to talk with Eric.  One, because I love the series.  I haven’t read all of them yet, but I’m definitely working on it.  Also in that he wrote alternative history, a subgenre I have always loved and eventually want to work in.  And third, because he works for Baen, one of the most progressive of the traditional publishers, and one I would love to work for.  Eric turned out to be a most gracious host, giving each of us a choice of signed books and including everyone in the conversation.  I learned a lot about the publishing industry, about collaboration, from the king of that art, and about Baen books.  At times the conversation went into military history, a subject several of us were well verse in.  And I was able to bounce some ideas off of Eric, mostly just the basics, to see what might be a good choice for a submission to Baen.  It turns out that Eric has a degree in history, something that seemed pretty useless for most of his life while he worked as a machinist in factories, but has come in handy in his current profession.  At the end of the meal Eric gave each of us his card, and the invitation to contact him in the future if we had further questions.  A true case of paying it forward, just like the other presenters were doing.  The evening went by too quickly.  I really can’t wait for next year’s Superstars.  There was also the trip to Garden of the Gods with Kevin, the previously mentioned lunch with Rebecca, an conversation with James Aremis Owen one night in a quiet corner of the lobby.  It was a great experience through and through, and one I would recommend to any author out there who wants to learn about the publishing industry while networking with some  great people.  Till next year.

The Authors of Dragon*Con

Posted by dougdandridge on September 9, 2013
Posted in: Conferences, Dragons, eBooks, Fantasy, Far Future, History, Kindle, Military, Near Future, Plotting, Proofreading, science Fiction, self publishing, Titles, Tropes, Writing. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

I attended Dragon*Con last weekend, my first real Con.  I have been a scifi and fantasy fan since I was a young child, but never had the time to attend a convention.  I attended a small one day affair in Tallahassee, Altcon, which was worth going to, but was not near the same class as Dragon*Con.  I heard over fifty thousand attended.  I could believe it.  I went early, on a Wednesday, so I would be there for the Thursday start of the writer’s workshop I had signed up for.  Author Jody Lynn Nye taught the workshop, and did a very good job of it.  Her husband, Bill Fawcett, helped her out a bit, and had read some of the submissions.  Thursday evening was time for registration, and there were already a bunch of people dressed in their costume finery.  Fantasy Author Todd McCaffrey, Anne’s son, talked with us on Thursday and gave us an assignment on how to plot out a novel based on a classic four part structure.  The workshop continued the next day, with best seller Kevin J Anderson and his wife, Rebecca Moesta, spoke to us on Friday, and both were very gracious.  I talked with Kevin a couple of other times during the weekend, and found him to be a man with an easy manner of connecting with people.  That night I saw Robert J Sawyer, who sat with me a moment before his panel.  I saw him and his wife in passing the next day, and on a panel on Monday.

Todd McCaffrey was on another panel with Lynn Abbey, and he signed a book of his I bought at the session.  Later I was introduced to Lynn Abbey in the VIP room while talking with Bill Fawcett.  There were panels with John Ringo, Timothy Zahn, Michael Z Williamson and Michael Resnick.  Then there was the hour with Larry Niven, a man I have been reading for over forty years.  I stopped by the Baen table later and Larry signed a book.  Kevin J did the same at his table.  I also saw Van Allen Plexico on a couple of the panels, and he moderated the hour with Larry Niven.  Man, how I envied him that job.  I met Jeanne Stein, an urban fantasy author from whom I had taken a course in how to write that kind of literature.  There were other Authors I met, some I had never heard of, many that I had heard something about, but not a lot.  One of the more interesting authors was Jim Butcher, who in an hour long conversation stated that he had once entered a room at a con that was almost empty.  This time the room was full, with what looked like a couple of thousand people.

There was one thing all the authors had in common.  Most were friendly, though not all, but all were genuine people who seemed to really love the genres they wrote in.  No one jumping into scifi and fantasy just to make easy money, as if writing anything was easy.  I had originally gone to Dragon*Con wanting to see a number of the celebrities, but soon changed focus to the authors.  It was my first Con, but will not be my last.  I am already planning to go next year, and to LibertyCon as well.  I just didn’t know what I was missing.