I've already blogged about Readercon 22's programmed events, so here's more about the extracurricular activities. Thursday p.m., after we checked into the hotel and unpacked our bags, we went out to eat at Legal Seafoods. Hadn't been there in four years because the last time we went we hadn't been happy with the place. But since our favorite restaurant, Dandelion Green, had closed, we didn't have a lot of choice. Fortunately, we were pleasantly surprised. Both the food and the service had improved markedly, enough so that I'd have no compunctions about going back.
We depended on Room Service for breakfasts since it's fast and easy. Con events usually get started by ten so there's not a lot of time to waste in the a.m.s. Friday afternoon we had lunch at Johnny Rocket's in the Mall---one of our favorite places. The atmosphere is retro with red leather booths and counter-seating. I love their root beer floats---they bring me right back to my childhood.
Back at the con, we brought a box of my books down to the bookshop and dropped it off at the Broad Universe table, then were promptly kicked out of there because the book shop wasn't open yet---that's a tragedy when you are as addicted to books as hubby and I are. ( Of course we were right back in there as soon as the place officially opened! )
That night we ate dinner at the hotel's Pub---excellent food and drink. We attended the Meet-the-Pros Party for a short time, but it's not really our thing, then back up to the room for a good night's sleep. Saturday was tons of fun with several good panels, lots of book-buying; hubby took a break to visit the local comic book store. He has a vast collection and is a bit of an expert on the subject of comics and graphic novels. In the afternoon we ate lunch at the Pub, then took a side trip to Barnes and Noble to buy yet more books! We topped off the night by attending the Bad Prose Contest, then had a late dinner at the Pub.
Sunday, the last day of the con, was more relaxed. After enjoying a latte and capuccino in the room, we packed up our stuff and checked out by eleven. We wandered around the hotel grounds, exploring, sat on the patio between the indoor and outdoor pools, just people-watching and relaxing. After a spot of lunch in the Pub, we took one last look around the book shop before it closed, then headed for home. Unfortunately, hubby was scheduled to work at the theatre, and it was Harry Potter weekend !
All in all, we had a lovely time and are already looking forward to Readercon 23.
MRTighe
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Shameless Self-promotion!
I'm not at all comfortable promoting my own book---always feels to me as if I'm bragging; however, in the present climate, when publishers large and small don't have the budget to promote the books they publish, what's an author to do? No one's going to buy a book they've never heard of, even at a decent price. And I have an even tougher time than many because Judgment on Tartarus is my first novel, and therefore my name isn't well known.
I rely heavily on my readers, not only for feedback and reviews, but also for word-of-mouth advertising, even lending their copies to others. ( I know, I know! I've learned the hard way that loaned books are seldom returned. Writing your name inside in great BIG letters helps---guilt can work wonders! )
I've donated some copies of Judgment to local libraries in hopes of attracting a few readers and getting my name out there. I'm even considering tucking my postcards into SF books in the library. Don't know if these tactics will succeed or not, but they're worth a try.
Today's authors who are just starting out are a new generation of explorerers; we explore new ways of doing things: e-books, facebook, Twitter, websites, etc. Untried waters for us; probably much more familiar to future generations. Sometimes self-promotion seems like an impossible task. Sometimes it's discouraging.
But I'm trying to stay positive. After all, I'm a published author, something I've wanted most of my life. And my readers ( so far ) love my stories, as do I. I know they're well written to the best of my ability. Book One has been copyrighted and placed in the Library of Congress. My family will own the rights for many years to come. Whether my books will even be relevant fifty years from now, who knows?
For now I'm happy with my lot. I love writing and I'm just glad people enjoy what I write.
There's a lot to be said for doing what you love!
MRTighe
I rely heavily on my readers, not only for feedback and reviews, but also for word-of-mouth advertising, even lending their copies to others. ( I know, I know! I've learned the hard way that loaned books are seldom returned. Writing your name inside in great BIG letters helps---guilt can work wonders! )
I've donated some copies of Judgment to local libraries in hopes of attracting a few readers and getting my name out there. I'm even considering tucking my postcards into SF books in the library. Don't know if these tactics will succeed or not, but they're worth a try.
Today's authors who are just starting out are a new generation of explorerers; we explore new ways of doing things: e-books, facebook, Twitter, websites, etc. Untried waters for us; probably much more familiar to future generations. Sometimes self-promotion seems like an impossible task. Sometimes it's discouraging.
But I'm trying to stay positive. After all, I'm a published author, something I've wanted most of my life. And my readers ( so far ) love my stories, as do I. I know they're well written to the best of my ability. Book One has been copyrighted and placed in the Library of Congress. My family will own the rights for many years to come. Whether my books will even be relevant fifty years from now, who knows?
For now I'm happy with my lot. I love writing and I'm just glad people enjoy what I write.
There's a lot to be said for doing what you love!
MRTighe
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Readercon 22
Besides the book dealers' room which I previously mentioned, Readercon 22 consisted of program items such as readings by authors, kaffeeklatches, panels, a meet-the-pros party, and the Bad Prose Contest. The latter is the highpoint of the con for me. The audience laughed themselves sick as they tried to figure out which reading was the actual ending to an epic of really bad fiction instead of endings made up by the panel members.
I enjoyed another good laugh at a "panel" which used improv to help writers with characterization, dialog, etc. It was a fresh approach to the subject and very well done. I also attended a rapid-fire reading done by several members of Broad Universe, an organization of which I'm a member, dedicated to promoting genre fiction written by women.
Another such panel was dedicated to helping authors write fight scenes. The female presenter was an expert in theatrical combat and demonstrated several types of fighting techniques. If you've never tried writing a fight scene, let me tell you it isn't easy! Many such scenes end up so laughable that they become fodder for the bad prose contest.
In yet another panel, we discussed the tendency in fantasy to feature romances between human females and "otherworldly" men: vampires, werewolves, beasts, elves, etc. Topics covered ranged from Twilight to Beauty and the Beast.
This is just a tiny sample of what went on at Readercon, and that was only the programmed features!
Maybe more later on.
MRTighe
I enjoyed another good laugh at a "panel" which used improv to help writers with characterization, dialog, etc. It was a fresh approach to the subject and very well done. I also attended a rapid-fire reading done by several members of Broad Universe, an organization of which I'm a member, dedicated to promoting genre fiction written by women.
Another such panel was dedicated to helping authors write fight scenes. The female presenter was an expert in theatrical combat and demonstrated several types of fighting techniques. If you've never tried writing a fight scene, let me tell you it isn't easy! Many such scenes end up so laughable that they become fodder for the bad prose contest.
In yet another panel, we discussed the tendency in fantasy to feature romances between human females and "otherworldly" men: vampires, werewolves, beasts, elves, etc. Topics covered ranged from Twilight to Beauty and the Beast.
This is just a tiny sample of what went on at Readercon, and that was only the programmed features!
Maybe more later on.
MRTighe
Monday, July 18, 2011
Home Again
Readercon 22 was a very low-key, enjoyable con. We met readers and writers from Canada to California. Lots of new faces; obviously the younger generation still reads. And there were quite a few little ones in tow who will hopefully grow up to be avid readers. The future looks promising in that regard.
The book dealers room was wall-to-wall books, as was most of the space in between. We bought a good many books, ranging from Charlaine Harris to new, unknown authors. We met some of my fellow authors, spent time talking with several of the book dealers. The down side was that, unfortunately, we never managed to sell one of my own books. Competition was fierce; many people were advertising that their e-books were for sale at 99 cents! Now maybe those books are good, maybe not. I can't say without reading them. But I thought Judgment on Tartarus was a steal for $20!
I did manage to get quite a few of my business cards out there; they really did come out nice. But the postcards didn't go over as well as I'd hoped. Hubby's T-shirt, however, which was imprinted with the cover art for Judgment was a real hit. People going by kept staring at it, stopping to ask him what it represented, etc. Have to get ME one!
He also picked up a nice volume of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles during a side trip to Barnes and Noble. I bought the second book in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series: City of Ashes. I'll post a more in depth report on Readercon after I've had some time to think and mull it over.
Til then,
MRTighe
The book dealers room was wall-to-wall books, as was most of the space in between. We bought a good many books, ranging from Charlaine Harris to new, unknown authors. We met some of my fellow authors, spent time talking with several of the book dealers. The down side was that, unfortunately, we never managed to sell one of my own books. Competition was fierce; many people were advertising that their e-books were for sale at 99 cents! Now maybe those books are good, maybe not. I can't say without reading them. But I thought Judgment on Tartarus was a steal for $20!
I did manage to get quite a few of my business cards out there; they really did come out nice. But the postcards didn't go over as well as I'd hoped. Hubby's T-shirt, however, which was imprinted with the cover art for Judgment was a real hit. People going by kept staring at it, stopping to ask him what it represented, etc. Have to get ME one!
He also picked up a nice volume of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles during a side trip to Barnes and Noble. I bought the second book in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series: City of Ashes. I'll post a more in depth report on Readercon after I've had some time to think and mull it over.
Til then,
MRTighe
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The Power of Books
As I've been reading "Clockwork Angel" by Cassandra Clare, one passage struck me quite forcibly, and I quote: "One must always be careful of books...and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us." Amen! I would add to that: be careful which books you read. Some books can lift you to the heights, empower you; others can drag you down to the depths. To quote an old computer programmer's adage: "Garbage in, garbage out!"
I'm afraid that too many people these days spend way too much of their precious time reading sheer drivel. By that I mean books that have no intrinsic value, no true meaning: books that do not instruct truthfully, do not lift the spirit, that aren't memorable, that do not spark the reader's imagination and inspire them. These books offer nothing of value save some brief entertainment, if that.
But this is a free country; no one is forcing you to read, and your idea of what makes a good book may be totally different from my idea. That's why so many books are published, and in such a wide variety of genres. You can afford to be selective in your reading.
There are few books that I've abandoned in mid-read and those usually because I realized that my time was much more valuable than anything I was getting out of that particular book, that I didn't wish to be "changed" in any way by what I had read thus far---or what was likely to come!
And so I moved on. All for now,
MRTighe
I'm afraid that too many people these days spend way too much of their precious time reading sheer drivel. By that I mean books that have no intrinsic value, no true meaning: books that do not instruct truthfully, do not lift the spirit, that aren't memorable, that do not spark the reader's imagination and inspire them. These books offer nothing of value save some brief entertainment, if that.
But this is a free country; no one is forcing you to read, and your idea of what makes a good book may be totally different from my idea. That's why so many books are published, and in such a wide variety of genres. You can afford to be selective in your reading.
There are few books that I've abandoned in mid-read and those usually because I realized that my time was much more valuable than anything I was getting out of that particular book, that I didn't wish to be "changed" in any way by what I had read thus far---or what was likely to come!
And so I moved on. All for now,
MRTighe
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
What's In A Name?
Mispronunciations of my name tend to drive me absolutely nuts. Yeah, I realize that Tighe isn't a common name and few people recognize that it's Irish ( and therefore the gh is silent, as in "sigh".) But we get some of the most bizarre pronunciations you can imagine! "Tig-hee", "Teeje", "Tig", even "Thigh". How the heck do they get that out of Tighe??
Well, by now I'm used to all the usual mispronunciations and try hard not to laugh out loud at the new ones people come up with. But I do politely correct people, figuring that I'm doing future generations of Tighes a favor. When one of my daughters got married, she hyphenated her name; the other kept her maiden name. My son, of course is a Tighe, as are his wife and kids.
I'm sure if you have a name that's at all unusual or hard to pronounce you've had similar experiences. There are bound to be days when you're severely tempted to change your name to Smith or Day or something simple to pronounce---and that would be such a shame! We have friends from around the world, and many of their names are difficult for US to pronounce. But they are our friends and we love them as they are, names and all! In truth, variety is the spice of life.
Can you begin to imagine what fun we would be in for someday in the future if aliens from another planet showed up on our doorstep with some REALLY weird names? I'm laughing already just thinking about it!
MRTighe
Well, by now I'm used to all the usual mispronunciations and try hard not to laugh out loud at the new ones people come up with. But I do politely correct people, figuring that I'm doing future generations of Tighes a favor. When one of my daughters got married, she hyphenated her name; the other kept her maiden name. My son, of course is a Tighe, as are his wife and kids.
I'm sure if you have a name that's at all unusual or hard to pronounce you've had similar experiences. There are bound to be days when you're severely tempted to change your name to Smith or Day or something simple to pronounce---and that would be such a shame! We have friends from around the world, and many of their names are difficult for US to pronounce. But they are our friends and we love them as they are, names and all! In truth, variety is the spice of life.
Can you begin to imagine what fun we would be in for someday in the future if aliens from another planet showed up on our doorstep with some REALLY weird names? I'm laughing already just thinking about it!
MRTighe
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Back to Business
Although I'm really looking forward to Readercon 22, this year it's more of a business trip, I guess you'd say. I go armed with business cards and postcards imprinted with an image of the cover of Judgment on Tartarus on one side and the back cover blurb on the reverse. I'm hoping to sell a few copies of my book at the Broad Universe table. The book dealers' room is one of the highlights of the con.
Even more than selling books, I look forward to promoting my books, maybe meeting a fan or two---and making a few more. Hey, the best book in the world won't sell unless people hear about it. So in addition to being a writer I now have to be a marketer and PR person!
The folks who attend this convention are authors, editors, publishers, booksellers, and collectors. We have the love of books in common, and in particular we love genre books such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the increasing number of cross-genre books now coming out. If you can't get to a con near you, the next best place is a bookstore.
Keep on reading,
MRTighe
Even more than selling books, I look forward to promoting my books, maybe meeting a fan or two---and making a few more. Hey, the best book in the world won't sell unless people hear about it. So in addition to being a writer I now have to be a marketer and PR person!
The folks who attend this convention are authors, editors, publishers, booksellers, and collectors. We have the love of books in common, and in particular we love genre books such as science fiction, fantasy, horror, and the increasing number of cross-genre books now coming out. If you can't get to a con near you, the next best place is a bookstore.
Keep on reading,
MRTighe
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