2020 Events Update and Flights of Foundry: An Online Convention During COVID-19 | May 16-17
It’s day 59 of sheltering in place in San Francisco. The past few days have been rainy and today is no different, but I love rainy days <3 Another convention I was scheduled to be at later this year has just canceled due to COVID-19, and I respect the organizers' decision …
It’s day 59 of sheltering in place in San Francisco. The past few days have been rainy and today is no different, but I love rainy days <3 Another convention I was scheduled to be at later this year has just canceled due to COVID-19, and I respect the organizers' decision. This would have been my first year at Rose City Comic Con, a convention I have heard nothing but good things about (for both vendors and attendees). Because that’s the thing about conventions: the attendee experience does not always mirror the vendor experience, and vice versa.
So far it looks like the only in-person convention I have set that has not yet been canceled is Powerhouse Comic Con in Pleasanton, CA, which is still scheduled for 7/26/2020. I’ll keep you posted if anything changes.
And now onto a convention I will be attending: Flights of Foundry! This will be my first time attending an online convention and being part of a virtual dealer’s room. I have no idea what to expect but am super grateful to the organizers for all the work they are putting into making this event happen. I won’t be doing any panels, which means I get to enjoy the programming to its fullest. I admit to feeling major FOMO (fear of missing out) yesterday as I was looking over the schedule and found myself thinking, “I should have at least done a reading.”
Not since I published The Deadbringer have I gone to a convention just as an attendee. Normally, if I’m not doing a panel I’m doing a live reading. If I’m not doing either of those things, I am behind a table vending. But preparing for a panel takes time (it’s a professional presentation, after all), and I want to prioritize my own writing, i.e., book 2/The Faceless God. To that end, the panels I will be attending focus on topics that are relevant to the writing stage I'm at.
Photo Credit | Flights of Foundry
The panel I am really looking forward to is “Using Mythology in SFF” since I incorporate my own culture and mythology into the secondary world of the Ellderet. The knowledge you gain from hearing first-hand the authors, editors, artists who have “been there, done that" has been invaluable to me. Literary conventions are basically CEU (continuing education credits). Do I think I’m the greatest writer in the world because I go to these conventions and attend these panels? Hahaha, no. But I do know I'm a better writer than I was when I first started, and that’s part of what my #writerslife or #authorslife journey is about.
If you would like to attend the panels, you have until May 17 to register. Flights of Foundry is free, but donations are welcome.
All the best,
EMM
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Welcome to the first post of 2022! I hope the New Year has been kind and that everyone is staying safe. So, I'm just going to jump straight into what's been going on with me as it's directly affecting my career.
Like most readers, I know what I like. I have a weakness for troubled souls who turn it around. For me, the redemption arc is one of the most satisfying aspects of a good book.
A casual skim of my bookshelves stories where characters become better in spite of themselves. There’s Pride and Prejudice, where Lizzy Bennett and Fitzwilliam Darcy give up their biases for love.
When I was a kid, I went to a sleepover at a friend's house. Her family were strict evangelical Christians, which makes what happened later even more inexplicable.
Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day ✊
It's important to remember that the indigenous peoples of the Americas are alive today and that they are not just an anecdote in a history book. Their cultures, beliefs, and stories are not static, are not relegated to the past, and exist in the here and now.
This month’s featured reader is @tldr_bookreviews! Many thanks to her for the lovely photograph of The Deadbringer. Give her a follow at @tldr_bookreviews.
My first real "adult" job was working as the private secretary for one of the main lecturers at the Dental School at University of Michigan. Bradley was an intimidating man, large, with a booming voice when he lost his temper. He got angry at his lab assistants a lot …
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It’s day 66 of sheltering in place in San Francisco. Clear blue skies and blinding sun are dominating the day, and the the Assistant—Kanoqui the Feral Prince—is quite happy with this change in weather. Kanoqui tends to get rather cranky when there is no sun for him to bask in …
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It's day 44 of "sheltering in place" in San Francisco. I hope everyone is keeping safe as best they can <3 The shelter-in-place order for the Bay Area has officially been extended to the end of May with some restrictions slowly being lifted starting May 4. I've been thinking about how I keep wishing life would go back to the way it was “before.” But then I remind myself that the way things were before is the reason that so many are without any form of safety net right now and are struggling to survive …
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Deep breath. Relax. Remember that no one likes all caps. So, in lieu of all caps, just imagine me and The Assistant running up and down the hallway with glee.The Ellderet Series has made it to RedStarReviews top 10 fantasy list! Not going to lie, it was always a dream of mine to see TES on a top ten-fifty-hundred-thousand fantasy list, but that’s all it ever seemed to me it could be: a dream.
Until now.
Welcome back! Today, I want to share a podcast interview I did with the wonderful folks over at Unreliable Narrators, a few of whom I had the opportunity to meet at Fogcon 8. They asked some great questions that touched upon the premise behind The Ellderet Series, my literary influences, the pluses and minuses of being an indie author, the very important role my culture plays in my works, and if I have ever been stereotyped because I am a woman. Spoiler: yes.
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