Today I Post About Ideas and Try To Draw a Sheep . . .

“Sometimes an idea really is greater than the sum of its parts.  Each idea on its own might show little potential; but combine them and BOOM!” The Summer-(Now-Fall) 2012 THIEFTAKER Blog Tour continues today with a new post at my “home blog” — Magical Words. It is another in my series of essays dealing with creative ideas and how to handle them. The post is called “On Creativity and Writing: Making the Most of Ideas, part V — The Quest” and it can be found here.

I also have a new interview up at the “I Smell Sheep” website.  No that’s not a typo.  It was a fun interview.  You should check it out.

I hope you enjoy both posts!

Dragon*Con Cometh!

I’m heading to Atlanta the day after tomorrow for Dragon*Con, and frankly I am totally psyched.  Can’t wait.  I’ll be catching up with tons of old friends, and hopefully making some new connections.  I will also be appearing (as D.B. Jackson) on several panels and doing a reading of something from the THIEFTAKER universe — don’t know what yet.  My revised schedule is below.  My 11:30 panel is a late addition, and so I might not be on the list of panelists in your programs or on the D*Con app.  But I’ll be there.  Promise.

When I’m not on panels, I will be signing and selling books and t-shirts in the Marriott Marquis Dealer’s Room, booth 100-102 (Tairen’s Lair/Author’s Lair).  So, I hope that you’ll come and find me at one venue or another.

D.B. Jackson

——————-
Title: The Abundant World of Alternate History: An Overview
Description: Not just “Steampunk 101″ this panel will survey it all: Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Post-Apocalypse, and much more!
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: International BC – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Gods and Goddesses
Description: How to develop a plausible religious/spiritual system for your fiction. Who worships whom and why?
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Embassy D-F – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Meet the Authors of Alternate History
Description: Join a wide array of Steampunk authors as they discuss their various Steampunk worlds and what to consider when writing your own.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Urban Fantasy – What exactly is it?
Description: What makes urban fantasy different than other kinds of fantasy?
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: The Steam Horizon
Description: Editors and writers will give sneak peaks into what’s coming in the near retro-future. Come and be the first to know what lies ahead.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: International A – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Reading: D.B. Jackson / David B. Coe
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Roswell – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: The Perfect Blend – Genre Mixing In Urban Fantasy
Description: Urban Fantasy has been romantic, mysterious, magical.  What makes the perfect blend?
Time: Mon 11:30 pm Location: Fairlie – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: How Do You Take Your Steampunk — Light or Dark?
Description: Steampunk can be light “fun adventure” or dark “something sinister.” Do you enjoy Steampunk light as aether, dark as night or a bit of both?
Time: Mon 01:00 pm Location: International A – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

D.B. Jackson Dragon*Con Schedule!

I have my schedule for Dragon*Con, which I will be attending as D.B. Jackson. I have several panels and a reading, and when I’m not doing something in programming, I will be in the dealer’s room in booth 101/102 signing books!  Looking forward to the con and to seeing many of you there!

D.B. Jackson

——————-
Title: The Abundant World of Alternate History: An Overview
Description: Not just “Steampunk 101″ this panel will survey it all: Speculative Fiction, Steampunk, Dieselpunk, Post-Apocalypse, and much more!
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: International BC – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Gods and Goddesses
Description: How to develop a plausible religious/spiritual system for your fiction. Who worships whom and why?
Time: Fri 08:30 pm Location: Embassy D-F – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Meet the Authors of Alternate History
Description: Join a wide array of Steampunk authors as they discuss their various Steampunk worlds and what to consider when writing your own.
Time: Sat 02:30 pm Location: Augusta 1-2 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Urban Fantasy – What exactly is it?
Description: What makes urban fantasy different than other kinds of fantasy?
Time: Sat 04:00 pm Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: The Steam Horizon
Description: Editors and writers will give sneak peaks into what’s coming in the near retro-future. Come and be the first to know what lies ahead.
Time: Sat 05:30 pm Location: International A – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: Reading: D.B. Jackson / David B. Coe
Time: Sun 01:00 pm Location: Roswell – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

——————-
Title: How Do You Take Your Steampunk — Light or Dark?
Description: Steampunk can be light “fun adventure” or dark “something sinister.” Do you enjoy Steampunk light as aether, dark as night or a bit of both?
Time: Mon 01:00 pm Location: International A – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)

Green With Envy

So I’m having a great time at Marcon.  I’ve gotten to spend time with Faith Hunter and Lucienne Diver, I’ve met some terrific people, and had a few fun and interesting panels.  But I have to admit that I have one strong regret about being here instead of at home.  My wife and daughters got to see Alison Krauss and Union Station tonight in Chattanooga, and had I been home I would have gone with them.  I love AKUS and though I’ve seen them in concert a few times before I still would have enjoyed seeing them again.

Anyway, tonight I get back to my hotel room and check my messages and there on my Facebook page is a photo of my two daughters standing with their arms around AKUS lead mandolinist and singer, Dan Tyminski, the voice behind the version of “Man of Constant Sorrow” from the movie Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou.  I kid you not.  I KNOW there is a great story behind this photo.  I can’t wait to hear it.  And yes, I am totally jealous of my kids.

On My Way to Marcon!

I’m on my way to Marcon, where I will be a literary special guest.  I’m staying tonight in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I had dinner with my wonderful friend, Faith Hunter.  Faith and I will be driving up to Columbus tomorrow morning (while her husband, Rod, kayaks!) and joining up with our terrific agent, Lucienne Diver.

I always miss my family on these trips, but I also enjoy the chance to spend time with my writer friends and talk shop. That’s what Faith and I did over dinner, and no doubt will again during our drive tomorrow.  I hope to see some of you at the convention.  If you’re there, please find me and say hello.  I’ll be on panels, I have a reading on Saturday night, and I’ll be signing books Friday.  I’ll also be catching up with an old friend from home Saturday morning. Looking forward to a fun weekend.

Ephemera and Update

So I missed a day of blogging, which might not seem that unusual because I don’t post something here every day. But between this blog and the D.B. Jackson blog I had managed to post at least something each day of the year. Until Sunday. I was doing the single parenting thing (Nancy is on a work trip), and had managed to write a Magical Words post for Monday morning AND do the grocery shopping AND make dinner AND take a little time to watch some basketball AND stay up with my older daughter who needed to talk through some school/college stuff.

But only when I finally got into bed at about 11:30 did it occur to me that I hadn’t written a post for that day. And by then I was too tired to get up and post something. I haven’t missed day since, and I am going to try not to miss any more. But I’m a bit annoyed with myself.

On the other hand, I’m pleased with the work I’m getting done this week. I’m revising a book that I have worked on, on and off, for the better part of seven years. It has been through several incarnations and has a long and tortured market history. But I like the way it’s coming together, and I think this might finally be the year I get it contracted. Hope so, because I think this is the last time I can rework it before I finally give up on it.

Other than that, I’m getting ready for MarCon next weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where I will be a special guest; I’m looking forward to having Nancy back home and (eventually) putting an end to this rather lengthy period in which we’ve been apart more than we’ve been together; and I’m enjoying this odd but lovely spring here in Tennessee.

Hope all is well with all of you.

And Another Guest of Honor Gig

I am very pleased to say that I have received a second invitation in as many weeks to be literary guest of honor at a convention.  This time it is for Marscon in Williamsburg, Virginia on the weekend of January 18-20, 2013.  Tamora Pierce will be YA Guest of Honor, and I think that D.B. Jackson guy will be at this one, too.  Looking forward to it.

Guest of Honor Gig

Quiet, rainy day.  Mostly stuck around the house and got little things done that I’ve been putting off.

But I did want to announce that I will be Literary Guest of Honor at Con*Stellation in Huntsville, Alabama, October 12-14.  Hope to see many of you there.  Oh, and some guy named D.B. Jackson is going to be there, too, as a “Special Guest.”

Dragon*Con Is Right Around the Corner!!

Dragon*Con begins Friday, and I’ll be heading to Hot’Lanta tomorrow to help with the set-up in our book booth.  My updated, final schedule, which includes my booksigning times, can be found here.  I haven’t been to D*C in years and I’m very excited to be attending this year’s con.  I expect to see lots of old friends and to meet some new ones.  I hope you’ll stop by my reading, or drop in to listen to a panel or two.  And I definitely hope you’ll come and see me at the signing booth, where I’ll have time to chat and about the con, fantasy, my books, or just about anything else you care to discuss.

A Post About Conventions and Conferences

Today’s post can be found at http://magicalwords.net, the group blog on the business and craft of writing fantasy that I maintain with fellow authors Faith Hunter, Misty Massey, A.J. Hartley, Stuart Jaffe, and Edmund Schubert, among others. The post is called “Writing Life — An Aspiring Writer’s Guide to Conventions and Conferences,” and it’s about the different sorts of conferences and cons available to writers. I hope you enjoy it.