Convention season is in full swing, which means traveling to hang out with friends, mingle with readers, and talk about cool, nerdy stuff on panels. I freaking LOVE going to cons, because big or small, they're always so much fun! I get to geek out with my people for a full weekend of pure awesome, and I've never regretted the time spent. Clearly LOL
Last weekend was FantaSci, a wonderful small con that takes place in Raleigh, NC. They're taking a break next year to restructure on the business side of things, but I have no doubt they'll be back in 2026 for more amazingly awesome geekery. And so will I.
FantaSci holds a special place in my geeky heart, because it was my very first con as an author back in. . . whoops. I almost did Time Math. That was close. Anyways, a few years back I got to be on my very first panel -- with Marisa Wolf no less, talking with Ian Malone about music and writing! Obviously, we still have a blast on panels, though SOME people don't think we can be trusted to sit next to each other. Rude, no idea where they got that idea from. . .
In silly news, Kevin Ikenberry (kickass scifi author, writing mentor, and one of my favorite people) started a fun trend in CKP by declaring himself the VP of Awesome. I mean, no lies detected! The rest of us decided to get in on the game, and I decided that I'm the Director of Chaos mwhahahaha! Caffeine and Chaos is 100% my author brand, no embracing required, I'm already there LOL
So what about that reset I mentioned? Well, while cons are super fun, they're also exhausting. Partly because we stay up waaaaaay too late, and maybe have a little too many beverages at 'bar con', but mostly because we're ON that whole time. That can be a little easier if you're extroverted like me, but even I can only be bouncy and chaotic for so long before I need a recharge period. Just like that old saying 'I need a vacation from my vacation' goes, we need to build in a reset period after getting back home. How long that reset period needs to be will vary person to person, and even con to con. Usually, a single day is enough for my brain to bounce back into writing mode, but not this time. I had Swiss Cheese Brain for two days, and was fairly useless -- but I built that into my schedule. I got ahead on my daily word count goals before the con, and when I was calculating those goals, I included those reset days in my plan. I learned early on that it was necessary for my mental health to do that, otherwise I would stress about not writing and not focus on what I really needed. A break!
BUT break time is over and I'm full speed ahead on not one but two different novels. Because as established in the latest CKP Year Ahead (watch the livestream here: https://www.youtube.com/live/ppghHLTJYzg?si=ls8PmJ07LRncGXsq), I don't sleep much, and I work my butt off. By the way, if you watch the livestream, you'll see me being my chaotic self talking about what's coming up in the Salvage Title Universe. The new series is being kicked off by two books from Nick Steverson and Jason Cordova, and as of last night, I've got my grubby little hands on the second. Cue ALL the mad cackling. I'll be diving into that one today. . . along with hitting my daily wc goal for Forlorn Hope (Blood and Armor 4) with Casey Moores, and my daily wc goal for GRIFFINS!!
See? Working my butt off. Never let anyone tell you writing isn't fun. . . but also don't think it's not a ton of work. Personally, I'm having a blast doing this, and I have no plans to stop ; )
Until next week, folks!