Category Archives: The Writing Life

Tampa Bay Comic Con

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Tampa Bay Comic Con (TBCC) is a family-friendly convention held in the Tampa Convention Center the first weekend in August. If you like your Cons sweaty, this one’s the fandom sauna for you. All joking aside, TBCC is hot when you’re standing in line, but you get to cool off inside the Convention Center. It’s got a strong vendor presence and attracts top-notch celebrity guests (including best-selling authors like Kevin J. Anderson, Terry Brooks, and R.A. Salvatore). The panel schedule is crammed with celebrity appearances, fandom-specific topics, and even quite a few writing panels. Let’s talk about the whole panel thing in a little more detail.

I’ve hosted and participate on TBCC panels for several years. The process to get into TBCC programming hasn’t been very hard. They start taking panel submissions in the Fall and make decisions during the year to fill out their three-day schedule. The key is to have a compelling, popular topic, and a description that will grab an audience. Watch the website for details and submit early.

As I stated before, the Con is family-friendly with guest ages spanning eight months to eighty years. I’ve always found the crowd pleasant, if not a bit snarky (not that I bring that out in people. At all. Ever.) and welcoming. The vendors I’ve worked with, both at my own table in the Artist Alley and while volunteering in the WordFire Press booth have been easy to work with, always willing to watch your table when you need a bio break.

Parking can be a bit of an issue, but you’re all set if you get there early. As a vendor, you can enter the Vendor Room an hour before show opening, so grab some coffee, arrive early, and get a choice spot in the parking garage across the street or connive your way into the Marriott parking lot.

Book sales have been strong. I prefer to partner with a few other authors to have more titles on the table. The different, vibrant covers and multi-genre offerings draw more interest.

Overall, I love TBCC. It doesn’t hurt that it’s in my backyard, but it’s a solid, fun Con and I will continue going back as long as they’ll have me.

By the Numbers:

  • 2017 Attendance – Approx. 60k
  • 2018 Dates – Aug. 3-5

Cost:

  • 6’ Artist Alley Table – $250 + 3% Paypal fee (includes two entry badges)
  • 10’ x 10’ corner booth – $575 + 3% Paypal fee (includes badges, but not sure how many)
  • Parking (how much depends on where you find a spot)

And Now For Something Completely Differ—err—Related – Superstars Writing Seminar

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I know it’s the month for being Con-Fabulous, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about Superstars Writing Seminar (SSWS) now, before the submission window closes for the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship. Wow, lots of new things in that one sentence. Focus, Scott, focus. Okay. Let’s break it down.

Superstars Writing Seminar

SSWS is a drink-from-the-firehose master class on how to be a professional writer. First and foremost, it’s a business seminar taught by international best-selling authors like Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, and Brandon Sanderson. You know, the people we want to be like someday. They bring along with them a supporting cast of heavy-hitting guest lecturers (agents, editors, publishers) to provide deeper insight into their areas of expertise. Again, this is a business seminar. The focus is on treating your writing as a business and providing guidance on how to make your dream a reality.

But there is so much more than the incredible information. The instructors and guest speakers are there with you the entire time. They don’t run off. They don’t avoid you. They hang out. They go to lunch, dinner, and even out for a beer later on. They answer questions and talk and laugh and drink and exist in the moment.

And at Superstars, those moments are intense and wonderful. The atmosphere is so charged with creative possibility and hope, it’s contagious. Attendees refer to themselves as a member of the Tribe—a supportive collective of like-minded creatives looking to build their writing careers—and leave with a soul full of energy and a brain crammed with exciting new thought patterns and opportunities.

Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship

If you’re new to Superstars and find the costs out of reach, there’s hope—the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship. Here are the deets from the Superstars website:

This seminar can be a life-changing experience, and our scholarship program makes it possible for writers to attend who would not be financially able otherwise.

We fund our scholarships through direct donations to the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund, as well as through the sale of anthologies. One Horn to Rule Them All: A Purple Unicorn Anthology galloped onto the scene in 2015. In 2016 we added A Game of Horns: A Red Unicorn Anthology. Last year, the Dragon Writers Anthology joined the herd.

Based on the success of previous anthologies, WordFire Press has again teamed with editor extraordinaire Lisa Mangum from Shadow Mountain Publishing, the inimitable artist and author James A. Owen, and an eclectic menagerie of Superstars writers, to publish Undercurrents: An Anthology of What Lies Beneath (available in 2018). Proceeds from all four anthologies are applied to the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund. The number of scholarships awarded varies based on the quality of the applications and the amount of funds on hand. We hope to continue awarding multiple scholarships to deserving writers each year.

The scholarship covers the cost of the seminar, including the Advanced Writing Craft Day. The scholarship does not cover travel, accommodations, meals, VIP seating, the VIP Dinner, or any other add-ons that may be available.

Scholarships are intended for:

  • First-time Superstars attendees only (sorry alumni).
  • Serious writers who want to learn how to kick-start their careers or build upon their existing platforms.
  • Writers with financial challenges. If you can afford this seminar, skip the scholarship application and register now. It’ll be one of the best investments you’ll ever make in your career. If you can’t afford it but know deep down in your soul that you NEED it, read on.

You can download the scholarship application from the scholarship webpage, but you gotta hurry on this one. The application window closes on 9/10.

I can’t put into words how much this seminar has meant to me and changed the way I approach my writing career. I know it’s not a Con, but if you are budgeting for next year’s travel, please make Superstars one of your primary destinations. It’ll transform you.

September is Con-Fabulous!

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Welcome to September on The Fictorians! This month is all about Cons, or Conventions to you non-Con-goers who don’t spreckidy the same lingidy as us cool kids. I love Cons. I love the noise. I love the topics. I love the vendors and celebrity guests and…I love the smell of Fandom in the morning, but not in the afternoon. As an author, I love working a table or booth and talking to people and books and writing and publishing and whatever. Bonus if they happen to be wearing a Queensryche t-shirt because then we talk about music too. For me, though, it’s not all about the sale. Sure, selling books is important. We writers need to cover the expense of the Con plus travel and hopefully walk away with a little extra.  

But beyond the sale, I want to connect with readers and I believe many other Con-attending/working writers will agree with me.  

As we near the end of the Con season, I thought it would helpful to run down some of the events we’ve attended this year to assist in planning for next year. The more information you have about an event, especially a new one you’re considering, the better.  

Now, we’re not just going to say, “Hey this Con was cool. You should go.” Oh no. I mean, we might use those words, but we’ll back them up with super neato factoids from a writer’s perspective. Cost and attendance are easy to look up on the Con’s website. What you won’t get from the site is the writer’s perspective on how the con “went”. How were sales? Were the attendees into books/reading? What was the atmosphere – cool and laid back, edgy, frenzied? How was the Con run? Was the Con staff friendly and supportive? Can Indy writers get on or host panels? Does the Con even allow panels on writing topics? You know, the good stuff…the stuff not typically covered in the marketing white-papers. We’re shooting for info that can help the writer decide if she wants to attend next year.  

Here’s an example. I found a new Con, SwampCon, that I thought of attending and asked a fellow writer about it since I’ve seen him post about it in the past. He said it was a nice Con, great people, but writing wasn’t a high priority topic. And, here’s the kicker, because SwampCon is hosted in Gainesville on the University of Florida campus, the campus bookstore is not too keen on anyone but them selling books. I know I said I wanted to connect with readers, but I at least want the chance to sell books. Glad I know and can take that into serious consideration for next year. 

As the month progresses, I hope you’ll walk away with some interesting new destinations for next year. In addition to the Cons, I believe you’ll find a few posts discussing major writing seminars and events that have proved amazing, transformational even, and should be seriously considered in your travel plans.  

Got it? Good. See you around the Blog this month.  

Have fun, 

Scott 

I Work Out

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For the last decade, with life after college and kids and long hours of building a career, I put some other things on the back burner, like my health. Occasionally, I’d get sick of fast food and energy drinks and commit to a diet. But they were always short lived. More recently, I faced the music. I got a gym membership and a gym bag and changed my lifestyle. Now, I work out.

At first it sucked. I hated it. I told myself that i didn’t have to do much, just show up. It was okay to even just get in the pool and float. Every day I added a little more to the routine. After a week I started making it hurt. Then I got a personal trainer and things really started to hurt.

Now, two months later, it’s every day. I’ve got my routine. My stays of 15 minutes before now extend to an hour or more. And it’s shown. I’ve lost 30 pounds. I’ve put on some muscle. And I’ve got plans to lose a bit more. I’ve got momentum. I enjoy my mornings. If I miss my routine, it nags at me the rest of the day.

Writing isn’t any different other than it is undoubtedly more enjoyable than lifting weights. Just about every article this month, (and there have been many wonderful articles) have mentioned the importance of writing daily. Start off slow, just a few words. Join the 100 club:  100 words for 100 days. Reality is, that more often you write the easier it gets to tap into your muse. 100 words isn’t anything.

Many can write 1000 words in an hour. Do that every day and after 3 months, you’ve got a novel. That’s one hour a day for 3 months. Easy peasy.

While working out I struggled to write. It was difficult to find the time where I’d spend an hour at the gym nearly every day. I listened to several novels through Audible, but couldn’t find time to write. Until a couple weeks ago I started with just a few minutes everyday after my workout session, writing while eating breakfast. That has expanded now and soon I expect to produce at least 1000 words a day. So check back in with me in a few months to see when that novel will be finished. I’ve got me some momentum.

 

Jace KillanI live in Arizona with my family, wife and five kids and a little dog. I write fiction, thrillers and soft sci-fi with a little short horror on the side. I hold an MBA and work in finance for a biotechnology firm.

I volunteer with the Boy Scouts, play and write music, and enjoy everything outdoors. I’m also a novice photographer.

You can read some of my works by visiting my Wattpad page and learn more at www.jacekillan.com.