ArmadilloCon 33

And now for the daunting task of condensing a truly epic weekend into a few simple paragraphs.

This was my third year at ArmadilloCon. I really debated about whether to go this year. With the plane tickets and not sharing the hotel room this time, the cost was a bit high. But I really didn't want to pass up the opportunity. And I'm so glad I chose to go, because this may have been the best year yet.

The awesomeness of ArmadilloCon comes down to two things: the workshop and the people.

ArmadilloCon consistently attracts some very high quality authors to the workshop. This year the guest of honor was Paolo Bacigalupi, and he participated in the workshop as well. Turns out he's that brilliant sort of person we all wish we could be who is not only a compelling writer but who is also incredibly well-spoken.

Now I personally didn't have him in my workshop group, but that was alright since I had some other pretty high-powered instructors. Scott Lynch was one of them, and not only was he truly funny, but he gave me some really cool ideas to think about for my book. Martin Wagner, who writes reviews over at sfreviews.net, and Stina Leight, whose first novel just came out this past year, were my other instructors, and I learned quite a lot from them as well. And the other students in my group made me feel really good about my work.

So my workshop experience this year was as positive as it's been the past two years. But what made this ArmadilloCon better than the last two was that my relationships with the people have evolved over time.

And honestly, as much as I feel dragged down by the weight of social media sometimes, I think I can attribute a lot of that evolution to the ability to stay connected even from a distance. It means the difference between interacting with people as once-a-year acquaintances and feeling like I both know people and am known.

In particular I want to thank Rosemary Clement-Moore, Patrice Sarath and Marshall Maresca for all their encouragement. I admire all of them, and I really appreciate the individual attention they've given me.

And finally, one of the best parts of ArmadilloCon was, as always, seeing some of the people in my critique group. You guys are so much fun. I'm really excited about the potential new members we picked up this year as well. Long live the Pirates of Moo!

Texas, Here I Come

My head is already in Texas at ArmadilloCon, so I don't have much to blog about this week. I'm really excited about my workshop group and about seeing some of my critique partners and people I've met the past two years. I'll be back next week with recaps and maybe some pictures!

NYC!

Neeeeeeew Yoooooork!!!

That's where I went last week!

I'd never been before. London, Rome, Beijing... yep! I'd seen all those places. But this was my first trip to NYC.

I went with a small group of students as one of their chaperons. We managed to see quite a lot: the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Chinatown, the Empire State Building and Times Square in particular. Also, I got some really good gelato—not quite as good as Italy's but definitely worth the money.

I had an amazing time on the trip. It was great to see all of these places I'd only heard of before. The Statue of Liberty was beautiful. Times Square was a lot bigger than I realized. I didn't feel queasy at the top of the Empire State Building like I thought I would.

And I appreciated seeing Ground Zero and remembering my experiences of September 11^th. I was just starting my freshman year of college. My world had already undergone a drastic change... little did I know just how much more it could change. Seeing the spot ten years later was sobering.

But we had a lot of laughs on the trip as well. The whole group was great about posing for pictures, and I got a lot of shots that I really loved. And though we didn't go on a spending spree, we made some fun purchases.

So all in all I'm really glad I went. And I'm grateful to all of the people who made it such a great experience!

Getting Ready for ArmadilloCon 33!

My ArmadilloCon workshop placement came last week!!!

I'm so very excited about my group. I'm with three instructors this year: Stina Leicht, Scott Lynch and Thomas (Martin) Wagner. All three are excellent. Couldn't ask for better. This year is going to be really great.

There are three other students in my group as well. Normally by this time I would already have read and critiqued their submissions, but I was out of town most of last week and didn't get a chance. I'm really looking forward to digging into the submissions, though, and hopefully I'll be able to get started on that tomorrow.

The panels also look like they'll be fun. Plus I'm pretty stoked to see all the people I've met the past two years. I can hardly wait!

Research Book Recommendation

I'm very behind on my YA reading since most of what I've been reading lately is for research, so unfortunately yet again I don't have a YA book recommendation.

But I will recommend one of the research books I'm in the middle of for anyone who is at all interested in naval history. It's called The War for all the Oceans by Roy Adkins and Lesley Adkins. It's the story of the British naval battles that took place between 1798 and 1812, and it's so exciting that it reads almost like a fiction book. If you enjoy that kind of book, check it out—it's a good one.