I am on my way home from the Cascade Writers Workshop in Portland, Oregon and am now suffering the cascade effect. Okay, I admit “cascade effect” is just a fun play on words the grey mush in my skull thinks is funny because of where I just was, but still. I am suffering the effects and suffering greatly.
Cascade was a fun weekend. I met lots of new and old friends, pontificated about my editorial opinions, answered questions about the pros and cons of small publishing companies, tried to take pitches and instead taught the writers what I’m looking for in pitches, and attended JayWake in which Jay Lake was carried into the room inside a casket (not a coffin, a Tweep in the funeral service industry informed me Saturday night) and muchly mocked cancer with many of his friends and fans. There was even some cosplay done by several of his fans with interesting costumes.
I taught a few writers a quick self-hypnosis technique designed to relax the body after one pitch session (should have been at the start) and before one writer went into her one-on-one sessions. This honestly needs to be a class added to conferences and cons. I actually taught it to my actors back in college when I played director as part of one of my courses. It worked better than expected (then and now) and does wonders for people’s stress levels. So I am going to start advocating to teach this workshop at cons I attend, preferably at the start of the con so authors have a technique they can utilize to reduce their anxiety before it gets to nasty blood-pressure catapulting levels.
I had a wonderful time catching up with some SFWA tweeps and discussions on where we want the organization to go, as well as making plans to catch up with them at GenCon at the Writer’s Symposium. I also asked Jennifer Brozek to sit with me to discuss editing (stuff I sorta kinda vaguely know but needed reinforcement and reminding on). She was wonderfully patient with my comments and questions, giving me all sorts of advice and notes. When I feel comfortable enough in my own editorial skin, I will probably do as she did, paying it forward to the next generation of editors.
And then I found plot bunnies, cheddar bunnies (don’t ask), and multiple story possibilities. It never fails but I always walk out of a con with at least 3-4 story thoughts and only have time to follow up on one or two of them. But I always take what notes I can (good reason to carry a notepad and pen with me at all times) so I can recall them later and see if my brain can make sense of the rambling handwriting of a sleep-deprived author-editor lunatic.
To one group of writers, I reinforced my lessons on networking and business cards (another class I need to actively start teaching at the start of conventions). I also spent a lot of time referring to my theatre background. In college I was taught that we needed a one line concept to describe our vision of a play before we built the sets and costumes, designed the lighting, etc. that would allow everyone to build upon that for a coherent experience. I kept hearing several paragraphs worth of “this is what my book is about” and finally told one group “If your pitch does not fit on the back of a business card, it is too long.” Because quite frankly, I zone out after the first or second sentence of the pitches. If a writer can’t give me the Who, What, Where, and Why in one sentence, then the pitch rolls right by me and I’m not interested.
But now I’m rambling. Inevitably, the side effect of attending a convention / conference is that I’m pretty much useless on the trip home and for two days afterwards, despite my intent to write / edit / Do Work. That’s the place I’m in right now, the cascade effect, trying already to recover and being completely unable to sleep solidly on the plane because of old, creaky joints complaining about cramped seating and allergies that give me altitude headaches. So as I wait at the airport for my flight home, I vaguely toss around thoughts of the one story I need to write (because someone asked me for it after I made a crack about it – WHOO HOO!) and find myself doing Mary Sue Doctor Who stories instead. Because right now those are so much more entertaining to my exhaustion-induced stupor than thinking about actual writing work-work.
So final note to self: write up blurbs for Stress Management for Authors, Networking for Authors, and Pitching to Michael Bay in 10 Seconds or Less. (Michael Bay on an elevator was the example I used.) Maybe I can fill a niche, or create a niche nobody knew we needed Who knows. Maybe one day I’ll even know enough about the industry to pitch a “How to Control the Weather and Turn People into Minions” class. @=)
#SFWAPro
