Dead Duck

Well, not dead, just tired. Duckon is over, and I'm back at home. I had a great time at the con. Jackie Powers did a great job running the writer's track, where I spent most of my time.

Friday night, Todd Stone came in and gave a three-hour condensed "Novelist's Boot Camp." Stone is an ex-Army Colonel, and his talk was very focused on "getting the draft done" which is what I need. He was selling the book version of Novelist's Boot Camp, which I bought and highly recommend.

Saturday's writing track stuff was solid, as usual, but I skipped out of part of it to catch beamjockey's talk on Heinlein and space suits. It was well worth it. I was also the audience (alas, not a typo) for Richard Chwedyk, one of Chicago's best short SF fiction writers. Richard read from his entry into a new anthology, Visual Journeys. The story was great, and I shall have to put the book on my to-be-acquired list.

Sunday, Jackie did a great presentation entitled "Plot Yourself Out of the Slushpile." The best part of that seminar was a handout she gave which was basically your plot on one page. I'm already filling mine out now.

Well, my stomach is growling, so enough for now.