NaNoWriMo

I did it! 50,000 words in 30 days. This was my second NaNoWriMo experience. I completed it in 2009 as well. I finished today, hammering out the last 2,272 words for a total of 50,367. That's not the whole book. 2009's 50,000 words eventually ended up as a 103,000 word novel, and was rewritten six times across 2010 and 2011. It's now with my agent, I'm pleased to say. I've no doubt that this one, which I'm estimating will come in at around 75,000 words, has a lot of rewriting ahead of it too.

But the value in NaNoWriMo is in getting you to write a lot, in a compressed time. Having done this twice now I must say that I find NaNoWriMo an incredibly valuable experience. So many people start novels and never finish them, endlessly rewriting openings or crafting new openings. We all have draws full of great initial chapters. 50,000 words is a sizable enough chunk that it forces you to turn off the self editor and the procrastinator both and break past those 1-3 chapter abandoned drafts. If you can write half a novel, you can write the second half. Also, writing is a muscle and muscles improve by being exercised. Even if nothing worth saving comes out of your 50,000 words, you are 50,000 words deeper into honing your craft. Also, it makes the solitary pursuit of writing something communal. And finally it gets your butt in the chair.

Yay to all us participants. Also, I could not have done it without the patience of my long-suffering wife.

Dragon*Con 2011

Last weekend was Dragon*Con, one of the largest SF&F fantasy conventions going, if not the largest, with around 40,000 fans that gather in a host of hotels in downtown Atlanta every Labor Day weekend. I've attended the past three years in a row, and Dragon*Con has become a highlight of my year. What makes it such a rewarding show for me is a) the incredible access to readers and fans of all ages and b) the large numbers of Pyr authors and personnel on hand. This year we were joined by our authors James Enge, Clay & Susan Griffith, Erin Hoffman, Andrew P. Mayer, Ari Marmell, Mike Resnick, Jon Sprunk, and Sam Sykes, as well as my editorial assistant Rene Sears, VP of Marketing/Director of Publicity Jill Maxick, e-Initiative Coordinator Lynn Pasquale, and freelance copyeditor Gabrielle Harbowy.


I drove down with Rene on Thursday, and the two of us, together with Clay and Susan Griffith, began unpacking the 60 something boxes and assembling the Pyr booth. Putting up the wireframe booth and then assembling it is like a giant jigsaw puzzle and after having done this twice before, it's actually becoming fun. Lynn and Jill arrived a few hours later to help, and set about building the huge display of sampler books. Right after they finished, a director arrived to inform us that we'd built the stack outside the lines marked by white tape that delineated the confines of our space.

Fortunately, Andrew P. Mayer was on hand to suggest a method that allowed us to move the stack instead of having to start over. After that herculean effort, Sam Sykes arrived in time to join us for beers (hmmm) at my favorite Dragon*Con hangout, Max Lager's. What makes this show for me is friends. I love the work hard/play hard vibe, so after getting everything set up for Friday's opening, we had a *very* late night at Max's as our reward. Followed by the bar High Velocity in the Marriott.

And then the show started. Friday the Exhibit Hall opens at 1pm and goes until 7pm, and I had three panels afterwards, making it a racing start. We brought a huge number of the aforementioned free samplers to give out, double what we brought last year, but that didn't stop them being pretty much gone in under two days, same as last time. What was truly gratifying was the number of readers who remembered us from last year and were glad we were back. Equally gratifying was the way we all worked together to promote each others books, with truly above and beyond the call efforts on the part of Sam Sykes and Jon Sprunk.

Saturday was 10am to 7pm and no panels, though I did sneak off to record two back to back shows of the wonderful podcast Writing Excuses with Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Taylor. I also gave an interview to George Holochwost of Mtv Geek!. The result is his very generous article "A Visit with Pyr Books." Then it was back to Max's Larger and (subsequently) High Velocity.

Sunday was another 10 to 7, punctuated by the Pyr Presents Panel, an almost-two-hour panel event where yours truly and all nine of our authors take the stage to talk about forthcoming books along with a PowerPoint presentation of fantastic cover art.  Then later that evening, Clay & Susan had a private event courtesy of James Marsters (of Buffy fame) who was reading selections from their novel, The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1). James is reading for the forthcoming audiobook, a fact that has created quite a bit of buzz.

I had a 10pm sword & sorcery themed panel "Blood & Iron" that evening, which was seriously fun despite cutting into serious reward time. 

Monday was 10am to 5pm, but since some of my wonderful publishing family had left, those that remained felt their loss. Rene, Gabrielle, Andrew, and Clay & Susan remained. At 5pm, we were joined by my friends David Alastair Hayden, Cooper Chun, and Will Cockrell, and this crack team, armed with last year's experience, had the booth broken and packed in 59 minutes flat. 


But a tropical storm (!) kept us from driving home, so David, Cooper, Will, Clay & I headed out for a final night of dinner and drinks, and then Clay & Susan kindly volunteered their floor. Early Tuesday morning I woke and drove home, and one of the most incredible weekends of my year came to a close.

Dragon*Con marked the third of three straight weeks of conventions for me, after WorldCon (Reno) and ArmadilloCon (Austin). It's been incredible to spend almost a month in the company of writers and artists and fans, fantastic to have had two extra weeks of post-Hugo glow to spend in the company of people who actually care about such things, and tremendous to have such a sustained period in this science fiction and fantasy Brigadoon. 

Thank you all for an amazing time, an amazing job, an amazing life.

2011 Hugo Awards

Video streaming by Ustream

2011 World Fantasy Award Nominations

The 2011 World Fantasy Award nominations have just been announced, and it is very, very gratifying to see that Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery is up for an award in the category of "Best Anthology." Yours Truly is also nominated in the "Special Award, Professional" category for editing at Pyr. I'm having a happy afternoon.


Incidentaly, this means:

• 2011 Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor Long Form, nominee
• 2011 World Fantasy Award - Special Award, Professional nominee
• 2011 World Fantasy Award, Best Anthology, nominee: Swords & Dark Magic (editor, with Jonathan Strahan)
• 2011 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, nominee
• 2011 Locus Award finalist: Swords & Dark Magic (editor, with Jonathan Strahan)
• 2010 Hugo Award for Best Editor Long Form, nominee
• 2010 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, nominee
• 2010 Shirley Jackson Award nominee: Swords & Dark Magic (editor, with Jonathan Strahan)
• 2009 Hugo Award for Best Editor Long Form, nominee
• 2009 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, winner
• 2008 Hugo Award for Best Editor Long Form, nominee
• 2008 Philip K Dick Award, nominee: Fast Forward 2, (editor)
• 2007 Hugo Award for Best Editor Long Form nominee
• 2007 Chesley Award for Best Art Director nominee
• 2006 World Fantasy Award - Special Award, Professional nominee

Artists: Don't Miss This Year's Worldcon

The following post is from John Picacio's blog. I'm reposting it here because it's IMPORTANT:
(Art by Worldcon Artist GoH Boris Vallejo.)
I'm stoked about this year's World Science Fiction Convention in Reno. Kudos to Colin Harris, Anne Gray, Laurie Mann, Jannie Shea, Laura Domitz, Joni Dashoff, Patti Wells and company for working overtime to make this the best Worldcon for sf/f artists in years.

If you're an established pro, an aspiring pro, or anywhere in between, this is the year to do Worldcon. Don't wait 'til next year. Don't wait 'til the year after. This one. Why? Because Worldcon is offering new opportunities for registered, participating Worldcon artists and there's zero guarantee these features will be carried on in future years.

Check 'em out:

1. FREE Artist Tables in the Dealers' Room: Worldcon has reserved two free tables in the Dealer's Room for artists to interact with fans and the con at-large. Artists can chat, sign and sell artwork (other than what has been placed in the Art Show), sculpt, sketch, or whatever. This space will be in the section of the Dealers' Room closest to the Art Show, which will be set up as an Artist Alley. Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell and others will have tables there; details here. ONLY Art Show participants are being offered this opportunity to reserve an Artist Alley table for two hours at a time to promote their work - at no cost to the artists (although Nevada sales tax rules apply). Email art@renovationsf.org to schedule a time slot or two at these special tables in Artist Alley.

2. 'Meet the Artist' Events: There will be two Meet The Artist events in the Art Show during the convention. The first is part of Art Night and runs from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM on Thursday. Some artists will be scheduled to do demos and panels at 8:00 PM. The second event will be Saturday morning at 11:00 AM. Should be a lot of fun as it gives Art Show artists and art lovers a chance to visit and hang out.

3. Artist Showcase Booklet: For the first time, Worldcon will print a full-color collectible booklet for sale at the convention, featuring artist info and galleries. Only registered Art Show artists will be featured. Brilliant move by this year's Worldcon art committee folks. I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

4. Illustration Masterclass taught by Richard Hescox: Learn from a Chesley Award-winning painting master. This opportunity is worth the price of admission by itself for aspiring artists. Spread the word about this one. I think this is a very cool opportunity on the part of Richard and Worldcon. Space is limited. Don't miss out!

5. Art Portfolio Reviews: Another invaluable opportunity for all job-seeking artists. Portfolio reviews by Guest of Honor Boris Vallejo and a range of industry Art Directors including Jon Schindehette, Lou Anders and David Palumbo. Again, space is limited. Tell your friends, but if I were you, I'd apply as soon as possible.

6. The Chesley Awards: Of course, the Chesleys are not new to the Worldcon effort. They're a tradition, especially when Worldcon is stateside. And they'll be the highlight of Worldcon's Art Night festivities on Thursday evening. The Chesleys are the awards administered by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists and ASFA will again host the Chesleys this year.

I love what Worldcon is doing this year. Amongst the art stars attending: Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Dave Palumbo, Bob Eggleton, Richard Hescox, Lee Moyer, Vincent Villafranca, Martina Pilcerova, Alan Beck, Anthony Palumbo, Winona Nelson, Irene Gallo, Lou Anders, and Jon Schindehette. And many more besides them. Not too late to join the fun. This is gonna be an amazing show. :)

The Dervish House nominated for the John W. Campbell Best Novel Award

The Center for the Study of Science Fiction have announced the 2011 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Finalists. I am thrilled to share the news that Ian McDonald's novel, The Dervish House, is among the finalists. This honor joins The Dervish House's Hugo nomination, Arthur C. Clarke nomination, Locus Award nomination, and BSFA win. At this point, I don't think it's even biased of me to say that if you haven't read The Dervish House yet, you really should.

2011 Chesley Award Finalists

ASFA, the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists, have announced the 2011 Chesley Award Finalists. I'm thrilled to be nominated for a fourth time in the category of Best Art Director (I won in 2009), and equally happy to see two Pyr cover illustrations make the list. Congratulations to Todd Lockwood for his nomination for the cover for Tom LLoyd's The Ragged Man and to Stephan Martiniere for his nomination for the cover illustration for Ian McDonald's Ares Express. Both are in the category of Best Paperback. And congratulations to all the nominees. Please follow the link above and check out all the amazing work.