Back from Wizard World Chicago 2008

Donald L Stephens Rosemont Convention Center in IllinoisSaturday I took the trip down to the beautiful Rosemont convention center in Des Plaines, Illinois for the Flames Rising webzine I’m project manager for. I had the opportunity to talk with artists, publishers, vendors and many, different folk excited about the comic book industry. This was my first comic book convention, and I have to say that I was very impressed with how nice everyone was.

I did a full write-up of the con through this article on Flames Rising, “Impressions of Wizard World 2008.” Additionally, I asked a few of the artists I had met to write some guest blog posts on topics related to our universe: first convention appearance, copyright and image rights, etc. If you have something you’d like to know about hiring artists or working with them, feel free to contact me with your questions and I’ll feature them on my blog. The artists I met were very enthusiastic and dedicated to the concept of working within a community; I’m sure that one of them would be happy to answer anything you might want to know.
Sandperson Costume from Wizard World Chicago 2008

My next big convention will be at GenCon Indianapolis where I will be working the Abstract Nova booth. Fortunately, this company is really great to work with and understands that my day job comes first. In my reflections of a gaming industry freelancer, I had talked about some of the positive and negative experiences I’ve had in the industry. My first writing credit in the gaming industry was through this company, and I’m happy to support its efforts to grow.

This week is going to be a bit on the light side for posting: I just had two, really great pieces of news come through the pipe and my deadline for the last novella is looming. With a shorter workweek due to the July 4th holiday, things are extremely busy in my world.

The two that I have in the hopper do continue the discussion about getting published and where to look: thank you to everyone who provided quotes for my upcoming posts. I will get to those posts as soon as I can.

Happy scribing and please, don’t forget to write!

June 29, 2008
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Hobby Games: The 100 Best is an Origins Award Nominee

In Hobby Games: The 100 Best, the top designers, authors and publishers in the hobby games field write about the most enjoyable and cleverly designed games of the last 50 years. Their essays cover the spectrum of the hobby market, from role-playing games to collectible card games, miniatures games to wargames to board games, with titles both familiar and esoteric. Writers include such legendary designers as Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons; Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering and Larry Harris, creator of Axis and Allies; best-selling authors R. A. Salvatore, Tracy Hickman, Ed Greenwood, and Michael Stackpole; as well as dozens of other noteworthy and award-winning creators. Hobby Games: The 100 Best is edited by James Lowder.

Hobby Games: The 100 Best is a finalist in the Non-Fiction Category for the recently announced 34th Origins Awards Nominees.

Astounding Hero Tales, also edited by James Lowder, is a finalist in the Fiction Category for the Origins Awards.

May 3, 2008
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Search Engine Strategies: I’m in New York!

Thanks for staying tuned to my blog, I’m going to have a brief interruption this week primarily because I’ve been attending a work-related conference through Search Engine Strategies: New York. I’m listening to speakers and sitting in on some interesting sessions where buzzwords are floating around and everyone is in a tither over a little something called “universal search.”

So please, bear with me as I return home to my family in Madison, a daunting “to-do” list, and a rather larger “in” box that is
waiting patiently for me at my cool day job. 🙂

Happy scribing!

March 18, 2008
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May 2008 Online Auction for Juvenile Diabetes from Novelist Brenda Novak

One of the really cool things I’ve come to enjoy is the ability to not only review books and network with other authors, but to follow up with them and their work. I was in the process of reading up on Yasmine Galenorn (I had reviewed her urban fantasy book entitled Witchling) when I saw that she was donating signed books and other collectibles to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes. Ms. Galenorn has a vested interest in the auction, as does the founder, romance author Brenda Novak.

Here are more of the auction details:

Online Auction for Juvenile Diabetes

When: May 1 through May 31
What: Raising funds to find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes. From Brenda Nowak’s site:

all auction proceeds will go to the Fund-A-Cure drive of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (which means it goes directly to research). To find out more about this top-notch charity, visit their website at http://www.jdrf.org/.

Where: Details through Brenda Novak’s Auction Page

Prizes and Raffle: A healthy range of items from both inside and outside the publishing industry; you don’t have to be a fan or a reader to participate. Here is Yasmine Galenorn’s Auction Basket, but there are other items with a broader appeal like a camcorder.

Even if you don’t participate, I hope that this event inspires you to get out there and do something for your community or a cause you believe in. If you hear of any other writers who are out there, “doing good deeds,” please let me know.

Happy scribing!

March 12, 2008
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Google’s Blogger: Pros and Cons for Freelancers

Last year, when I started learning about SEO and blogging I tried an experiment. The goal was to learn as much as I could about Blogger (owned by Google) to build visibility and get some readers. After months of toying around with different aspects, I’d like to share with you the pros and cons of this free blogging software so you can ascertain whether or not it will work for you.

Setting Up Blogger

I found that there are quite a few good things about Blogger from a usability standpoint. First, it’s super easy to set up, especially if you don’t have a lot of technical or programming skills. You can easily rearrange the on-page elements to get the look you want, with a variety of themes that don’t take a lot of time to customize. I’d say truthfully, that you could get started blogging through Blogger within a half an hour.

Read More…

March 4, 2008
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