Updates:

What’s up, my nugs? I hope everyone’s February went well, and you reached your goals for the month. I didn’t write as many short stories as I expected this month, but I’ve been working on a mythology storyline that I feel is turning out great! The goal for March is to continue to bolster my short story collection before I work to clean up stories and send them for publication. I figure that if I have a vault of stories to choose from, it will be easier to find literary magazines that fit my works.

I’ve made some good progress on the Wands and Wandless storyline with some dream fed revelations and recent inspirations from the LTUE (Life the Universe and Everything) 41st Symposium. I’ll give you more on that below! But I’ve just reached 35,000 words and am at about, or just past, the quarter mark of the first book. I plan to spend a week after finishing the first 25% reviewing the material I’ve already written and moving on to the halfway point from there. It’s been really exciting to work on a new project. As I work on the new ideas, my mind wanders to old storylines and where I might have gone wrong with them. But my goal is to finish the first draft before I go back to Extoria, or any of my other completed first draft novels.

My Please Subscribe storyline has been a crazy ride, that I think will be fun for many who enjoyed Black Mirror. I just finished episode 16 (Working title: Resubscribe?) and I think I’m nearing the climax of the story. Right now it’s rough, really rough, but after I finish and give it a few rounds of editing, I think it’s going to be a great storyline. This is turning out to be a more adult storyline, in the sense that it faces with the realities, and possible ones, that I hope no kid ever has to face in this crazy world. I’ll keep you updated, and hope to have an new serial storyline for you before too long.

What to Expect:

March is the month of madness in sports, as it is in writing. We’re going to go over the Elements of Plot: Rising Action, Climax, and Resolution. While the pace of these posts may seem to come at a slow clip, I hope it helps you realize how many writers are thinking about as they write, even without knowing it. I see mastering your craft as learning how to breathe all over again. Because there are so many micro-movements to breathing that we don’t even think about. That’s the goal of studying writing. First you learn, then you practice, then you forget, then you execute unconsciously.

I’m hoping to get another book review in this month, but my reading schedule has been a little bogged down as of late.

LTUE Writing Symposium Review:

The LTUE 41st Writing Symposium was my first in person even I’ve attended, and it was awesome. I don’t know if every writing symposium is that good, but I would highly recommend the in person events. It’s not only the networking opportunities, or the ability to be surrounded by fellow writers like yourself, but also the sheer excitement from the panelists that doesn’t always transfer via Wi-Fi.

For those of you who have yet to enter the world of writing symposiums, let me break it down for you. Think of a writing symposium as a series of classes on a broad range of topics throughout the course of 3-5 days. Most topics are a conversation, or discussion, with 3-5 Panelists who have been identified as experts, or well established in their fields. Some topics are so specialized to an individual that only one person will present. For the online symposiums I’ve attended, they usually have 5 courses in a day, and a break in the middle for lunch. But LTUE is so jam-packed with panels that it’s kind of up to you to figure out how you want to pace out your day. Outside of panels, there can be writer meet-ups, and at LTUE they bring in gaming and art as well. Then don’t forget the events outside of the main symposium that can vary per event.

Now, I just wanted to share some of my highlights from LTUE.

Though every panelist was amazing, a few stood out to me. M. Todd Gallowglass is a loud personality, and contrasts to many writers, but that contrast and his ability to share his knowledge with other writers made him one of my favorites to listen to. He even stepped in to help a friend who wasn’t able to make their panel, and taught a bunch of introverted writers that we were overthinking our interactions with people, especially at writer’s conferences.

One of my favorite panels was by far the very first one I went to, Twisted Science. The panelists for this topic addressed science elements, its believability, and closed with some titles where science is used in a way that most readers could understand. The best advice given was to remember that there was always a tradeoff for everything. This comes into play with another piece of advice that many hear across genres: establish and stick to your rules. If you think about it, it couldn’t be better advice. Every invention that makes our life more functional, adds safety, or creates more comfort has its inverse effect. They also talked about the difference between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Science Fiction uses technologies we can explain, and Fantasy uses technologies we can’t explain. Many works of what used to be fantasy are now science fiction as our understanding and ability with technology has grown.

One of the hardest parts for me was that it was my first time at an in person writing event. If they had a section of their site for beginners, or for what to expect from the conference, I could not find it. Maybe I’m a worrywart, but I like to think of myself as just being prepared for new situations. I think it wouldn’t hurt to have a fifteen to thirty-minute opening segment offered for first timers so they could understand the LTUE event, or even a page on their website for first-time attendees. I took a laptop bag with a notebook, pen, and some snacks. Luckily, that was all I really needed. So if your conference you attend doesn’t have any of basic information available, take the basics, and have backups in your car. Other than that, I only had a one hour slot on Saturday that I wasn’t able to get into any of the panels I wanted, so I took lunch then.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend everyone attend an in person writing event if you can. The prices all depend on where it’s happening, and what you’re wanting to experience at the conference, symposium, or other levels. And when you go, get ready for a fire hose of information. I haven’t been so brain tired in a long time. Take notes, meet new people, and try to rub some shoulders with the panelists.

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