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Friday, May 13, 2016

Progress is being made and GenreCon tomorrow!

On Wednesday, I had a writing date with Becky, and words came with me. That was pretty cool. A lot of the time on writing dates, or when I sit down to write during the day, I’ll spend a long time rereading. Or researching. Or … heh, blogging. Usually it’s writing-adjacent, but still quantifiably avoidance behavior, and almost always entirely fear-based. Not sure where I’m going from here. Not sure if I’m going to be able to pull it off. Not sure I’m doing it right, at all. Not sure if I’m going to offend, or be ignorant. But on Wednesday, after I got my computer plugged in, my chai and danish into my facehole, and my shoes off, the words just came.

It’s a good feeling, when it happens.

The unfortunate (maybe? Hopefully not) part is that I got to a transition point of the story just as we were wrapping up. That means two things: I got to a stopping place (which means that starting again isn’t as easy as I’d like it to be), and the story is about to go in a new direction. Which reboots the whole “am I doing it wrong” train of thought. Especially since it’s going to go places this story hasn’t yet gone, in any of the other 2.25 drafts. I used to write ghost / horror stories back in high school, but Cassidy has never treaded those corridors, and I’ve worn down such a groove with Cassidy that trying to bump her into that territory is proving… quite difficult. So, one tiny baby step at a time.

Tomorrow is GenreCon, a writer’s conference in Golden, Colorado. I’m really nervous. Not only have I never been to a writing conference, I’ve never been to any cons, ever. Unless the Renaissance Festival counts, cause from what I’ve heard about cons they seem kinda similar. But in my mind, at least, writing cons are different from, say, comic cons or anime cons or PAX. Maybe because it’s less fan-based? I don’t know. Anyway, if I bring the first three pages of my story, there’s a chance they’ll get read and critiqued. I think I’m going to do it, because what could it hurt? But I know it’s the equivalent of a first draft again, quality-wise, so I’m a bit embarrassed of it. I know that it’s almost certainly going to change, that this isn’t as polished and squeaky as it could be. But, as Cassidy would think, “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

On Monday, I shall regale you with the epic stories of GenreCon and how I took the writing world by storm. Until then!

Word count: 6,494 (ᥞ)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can do it!!!!

I don't have much advice about writerly conventions, as I'm a shy wallflower made of shy, but don't hesitate to talk to people. (If you can manage it! I'm bad at it!) Chit-chatting with random people in lines or before panels or browsing whatever booths are set up (if there are any) can garner you some interesting stories at the very least. Plus, it looks to me as tho GenreCon is relatively small compared to some, so that it will be more intimate and more conducive to people willing to ramble at you and be rambled at.

I KNEW I had seen this somewhere (tho it's a little skewed towards someone with a book):
http://marthawells.tumblr.com/post/139790519807/on-surviving-and-planning-for-conventions

Elly said...

Lol I totally read "waliflower" like some combination of cauliflower and a shy person. I wish you had said that instead. Shame on you and your people, Rachel.

Thanks, I'm sure it'll be not just fine, but great. I will say it's been a long time since I've had an 8-hour day. Little nervous about that.