Hey! I’m at Norwescon and had a bit of an adventure getting here. I decided to take the train and bike from the station to the hotel. It was only 12 miles and I used to commute that distance.
But. I forgot that this is Seattle and it has hills. The first part of the ride was totally flat. The second part included a stretch that was, I kid you not, four miles of uphill. Four. Miles. Now granted it was a fairly gentle grade, but still, that was completely unnecessary.
I also, for the first time ever, got spoked. A branch kicked up from the ground and went through the front spokes. Fortunately, I was going uphill and so going fairly slowly, which meant that I didn’t actually go over the handlebars, just came to an abrupt and screeching halt.
Which is why I opted to go to my hotel and relax rather than registering right away. I’ll do that in the morning.
Meanwhile, here is my schedule.
Friday, 11:00 a.m., Cascade 6
Independent and Small Press Publishing
Thinking about starting up a small press? What do you need to know? Where do
you find authors and artists? What niche do your books fill? Do you need a
million bucks, or will a couple hundred do? How do you get what you publish
into stores? Are independent small press projects financially viable in
today’s market?
Caren Gussoff (M), Rosemary Jones, Rose O’Keefe, Mary Robinette Kowal
Friday, 4:00 p.m., Cascade 4
Writing: The Long and the Short of It
Why are some people good at writing novels but not short stories or vice
versa? What does it take for an idea to be `novel length?’ Are short stories
just like novels only you finish sooner?
Mary Rosenblum (M), Daryl Gregory, Eileen Gunn, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jack
Skillingstead
Friday, 5:00 p.m., Cascade 4
Creating Your Voice
Plot and character are critical; but voice and point of view can be just as
important for crafting an effective work of fiction, and can even suggest
interesting new stories. We’ll explore point-of-view, tense, voice, and
character choice, and we’ll show how an understanding of these elements can
actually create ideas and stories.
Mary Rosenblum (M), Eileen Gunn, Darragh Metzger, Kevin Radthorne, Mary
Robinette Kowal
Saturday, 9:00 a.m., Cascade 5
Building a Balanced Mythos
When building a religion for your world, how do you make it balanced and
plausible without riffing off of existing religions? How will myth and
religion impact your plot and motivate your characters? Why should there be
several types of belief systems on a world?
Mary Robinette Kowal (M), Jason Henninger, Joshua Palmatier, Mary Rodgers
Saturday, 1:30 – 2:00 p.m., Cascade 3
Reading: Mary Robinette Kowal
Excerpt from Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal’s debut novel,
coming out from Tor in Spring of 2010. It’s what Jane Austen would write, if
she wrote fantasy., Rated: G
Mary Robinette Kowal
Saturday, 2:00 p.m., Evergreen 3 & 4
Autograph Session #3
Saturday, 5:00 p.m., Baker
Writer’s Workshop: Michael Hodge
Orlando on the Dump,
David R. Silas (M), Pat MacEwen, Mary Robinette Kowal, Felicity Shoulders
Sunday, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., Baker
Writer’s Workshop Round Robin #1
Kristin King – The Rescue Game, Mike Brennan – Marriage Made on Earth, Manny
Frishberg – The End of the Road
Christopher Bodan (M), Mary Robinette Kowal, Bruce Taylor
