DragonCon 2024 has come and gone…

Wow, I’m behind on posts! The time between DragonCons seems to be how I measure time, and the period since last year’s DC was full of writing deadlines, respiratory illnesses, and minor catastrophes, but also a fabulous trip to Barcelona (only my second overseas trip) and two short story publications.

And this year’s DragonCon was as great as ever! I had fun talking about women in STEM, real-world spies, and Our Flag Means Death (one of my favorite shows) on panels for the fabulous Alternative and Historical Fiction track.

I got to talk about Lovecraft and one of my own stories on a horror track panel about the new short story anthology Southern Fried Cthulhu (https://www.amazon.com/Southern-Fried-Cthulhu-James-Palmer-ebook/dp/B0DC15Z9ZL/) spearheaded by James Palmer.

I received my contributor copy of the charity book DragonTales (https://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Tales-Michael-Gordon/dp/B0DCSVHGND/), put together by Michael Gordon. Its sales benefit the American Heart Association (https://www.heart.org) and Lost-n-Found youth (https://www.lnfy.org).

I hung out with friends (some new and some I hadn’t seen in years), dressed up as a Fallout 76 wise mothman cultist for the huge Fallout photoshoot, and wandered the hotels ogling all the great costumes and remote control droids. Here’s me with R5-D4, and a bonus Chopper in the background, on the last day of the con.

But alas, it’s over, and now we are left to count the days until next DragonCon.

Until then, happy reading, writing, gaming, costuming, and whatever else you like to do!

Recovery, DragonCon and Beyond

Wow, it’s been quite a year. And nearly that long since my last post!

In case anyone was wondering why all the radio silence since January, it’s because I broke my ankle in February and let lots of stuff fall by the wayside. The blog is always the first thing to go, procrastination-wise. During recovery, I mostly worked the day job on my laptop and watched TV at night, all from the comfort (or sometimes discomfort) of my living room couch.

But I made it to DragonCon, thankfully, where (two weekends ago) I thoroughly enjoyed participating in panel discussions with other speakers for the Alternative and Historical Fiction track! If you ever get a chance, check them out. Their panels are incredibly educational, with lots of history and truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tidbits.

If you’ve never been to DragonCon, it’s a convention that has something for everyone, whether you want to see any of the many guests speak, get celeb autographs, buy cool stuff in the dealer room, go to a dance or concert, or just hang at one of the convention hotel lobbies or atriums and costume watch. There’s so much more to do than that, of course, but I have to stop somewhere.

This year I kept it light and chilled in the room a lot to read, watch movies, and let my poor ankle recover from all the walking. But I still managed to do panels for two fun days, show up for the Fallout photoshoot in a Tunnel Snakes jacket, eat at High Velocity twice and Sear once (where we finally got the Marriott carpet cake), check out the dealer room, and catch a really great indie-filmmaking panel on the last day. I’m definitely going to try to catch more film panels next year.

In beyond-DragonCon news, I’m writing a new trivia book that has to do with a motorsport, working on a draft of a novella with our nephews, finishing up a collection of horror stories, working on a script, and juggling a few other projects. Gotta make up for lost time. Thank goodness for Scrivener and my Reminders app.

Here’s a random writing tip: If you are having trouble making headway on a writing project, just try to write one sentence a day. Sometimes that’s all you’ll get. Sometimes you’ll keep writing. But in either case, you’re moving forward.

Happy writing, reading, and recovering from whatever ails you!