Oh man, am I behind! It’s been a whirlwind of activity lately and I missed posting about a few things.
I had a great time at Read Between the Stars and would do it again! Great location, excellent people, and an all-around fun time!
Then it was off to Mile-Hi Con at a new location! The same great people were running it, and the new venue was very nice. Plenty of excellent panels on the roster and fantastic authors to boot! I didn’t get to wander around as much as I would’ve liked, but that’s for the best of reasons!
It was an incredibly well run convention at a great location. Plenty of room for vendors and visitors and a fun vibe all around. I had some wonderful conversations with a bunch of folks, was told many times I needed to watch K-Pop Demon Hunters and had an all around grand time!
I know I’m missing a bunch of names, but a quick shout-out to Chaz Kemp & Carolyn Kay for spending time with Lyndsie and me and all of our questions (so many!), and to Lena M Johnson and Logan Young for excellent conversations about writing! You should go check out all their stuff!
The weather was perfect, the overall vibe was fantastic and Grand Junction is wonderful town! I would love to go back next year!
Come out and support a local indie book store during the Lafayette, CO Farmer’s Market! Many local authors, including me, will be there this Sunday August 24th, between 10:00AM and 12:00PM. Come by and say hi!
I had an absolute blast at Soonercon 33! And I’m not talking about the hot wind blowing around town!
This Con had one of the best vibes I’ve felt in quite a while. Everyone was very cool, the volunteers and staff were incredibly helpful. Even the guide sent by email prior to the Con was loaded with fantastic information for the event! It was a smooth operation!
The art on display in the Exhibit Room and at the tables was fun and fantastic and the cosplay? Some of the best I’ve seen!
This was the first Con I’ve done as part of a Publishing Collective and I must say having someone with the same drive for the success of Machines of the Infinite Press makes the hours go by fast! Thanks so much Lyndsie Clark!
We met some great people at the event and the conversations alone were worth the drive. A huge shout out to Sci-fi author Robb Wetmore, Gothic horror author Tommy B Smith, Fantasy author Cheryl L-G Trent and to the podcast Bookthots! You should definitely check them out!
Soonercon 33 was an excellent show and I’m thinking about going back next year. If you are around Norman or Oklahoma City, this convention is worth it.
Either way I am more motivated than ever to get the next book done. I’m staring at you manuscript!
2024 has been a weird mix of exciting, off-putting, fun and terrible. It’s been draining and exhilarating at the same time as well as at different times and I am left holding the blank page with no gusto left in me.
So yeah, writing has been a real struggle this year. Every time I feel that energy pouring in looking for a release something wayward just sucks it out of me. Even with everything I have gotten done (and it has been a lot!), I just feel nothing shortly after. No joy, no satisfaction, and frankly I’m getting tired of it.
There are exceptions, thankfully. As far as the business side is going, I pulled back on spending for marketing and advertising and I expected a drop, but surprisingly this has been a decent year! Another unexpected joy was learning that a friend of mine’s son liked Nun With a Gun so much that he did a book report on it. That had me grinning for days and thinking about it again, I have a smile on my lips right now. But the best surprise of all? I saw a person reading one of my books out in the wild!
Beneath all the grinding through life, I am feeling motivated to get back to that blank page and completely filling it, even if the first, second, third and fourth attempts aren’t something to be proud of. So I’ll be writing, rinsing, and repeating until the bears come home!
I know what you’re thinking: What happened? Where’d you go? Is electricity edible?
As to the first question, just a whole bunch of life and a writer’s block from hell. The regular work front was draining every ounce of energy, drive, will to continue… you know the usual job stuff. It can be incredibly hard to sit in front of a computer trying to write for a few hours after having been in front of one for 10 hours and wanting sleep. It’s been a great additive to go with the writer’s block. The best way to combat writer’s block is to just write, but that only works for a while before every word you put down tastes like ash from a long cold fire.
I feel like I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and keeping the middle over an open flame and it was killing my creativity.
So where did I go? I went to Denmark and did a bunch of history stuff (ships, castles and other architecture) art stuff (weird how many giant humanoid things are in Denmark) and generally amusing things (did you know the oldest continuously run amusement park is in Denmark?). And it was a nice brain cleaner.
I’ve been weirdly creative in everything except writing the past few months, sewing, leather work, metal work, wood work, bead work, painting and stamping to name a few. I’ve been busier with just about everything I can find a minute of time to fill. I was even in a dragon boat race last week!
As to the last question, is electricity edible? New technology is working on making batteries edible, so sort of? Look that up. The future is interesting…
Where is all this going, you may ask? I’m taking a break from conventions this year. Working all night then running a table all day with a couple hours of sleep in between is wearing on the soul. I still plan on getting the next Nun story out, but it’s going to take longer than I want. I’m still researching material for a completely different character driven story at the moment as well. So, there’ll be something new coming out on the horizon, I just have to get it right first.
Jon Gray Lang.com 