Story Ideas Are Not Something I Lack

I went to the program activity, "Write Here!" which had some writing exercises (character-creation, round robin writing, and all starting from the same story idea) etc that resulted in not one, but two story germs that had expanded a bit beyond what a usual germ is allowed--about a page in each case.

I really should have remembered that I am pathologically incapable of leaving a story unfinished.*

I don't have this problem with the story seeds I create, so maybe I'll try to categorize them like that in my mind. I don't know, though--they took on a little more life than I usually let my story seeds get. But I don't really need to write an alien-invasion story, or a humorous fantasy about a way-too-easygoing dragon.

* No, really. I have one unfinished story that I gave up on because I decided it was fatally flawed. It sits in a file in my filing cabinet, and it still bothers me. Someday, I'll go back and finish it. I know this. Note that this doesn't mean I finish things soon, just that someday, they will eventually be done.

Facepalm Moments, Take One

Facepalm Moment #1: Waking up and realizing I turned off the alarm in my sleep and so missed all the morning panels.

Facepalm Moment #2: It finally occuring to me that there are these freebie tables, and I have this free SF/F market listing thing, so maybe I should have printed out some copies of the spreadsheet, with the latest newsletter.* For a promotional thingie, the sort that writers should have.

Facepalm Moment #3: Looking at a small press book table in the dealer room and immediately identifying 3 short story anthologies (steampunk, post-cyberpunk, and--I forget what the 3rd one was, but it also hit the sweet spot) I really want to own, then realizing the dealer room closes in 15 minutes and my credit card is back at the hotel. Fortunately, this is remediable tomorrow morning, when the anthologies shall be mine (and to heck with my no-new-books-until-I-have-bookshelf-space policy).

* This is also an Aha! moment, since I'm going to 2 more cons this year, and presumably they will have freebie tables.

4th Street Fantasy Convention

Boosting the signal! 4th Street Fantasy is a really good, small con for SF/F writers--so far I've attended 4th Street, CONvergence, and Wiscon, and 4th Street was the most useful of the lot for sparking story/technique ideas. My brain fizzed for weeks afterward.

Reposting:
Today is the deadline for registration for Fourth Street Fantasy Convention, though [the webmaster will] probably leave online registration open through Memorial Day and 'til Noon or so on Tuesday. The deadline for room reservations is Tuesday, May 27th.

Fourth Street is a small convention for people who are serious about good fantasy and good books– serious about reading them, serious about writing them, serious about appreciating them in all their various forms. It’s also for people who are serious about having a good time. It’s a weekend of high-quality, high-intensity, mind-stretching fun, focused on books– there’s a single track of programming that is at the heart of it all. When everyone sees the same panels, it leads to fascinating conversations in the consuite, hotel bar, and corridors. Jane Yolen's written a poem about Fourth Street, Neil Gaiman has said nice things about the con in his online journal.

Fourth Street Fantasy Convention was held in the Twin Cities from 1986 through 1995, then went on an extended break. Lydia Nickerson decided to revive the convention so it returned last June and was great fun. Elise Matthesen is chairing the con this year; Steven Brust & Beth Meacham are putting together programming for the convention and lots of other fine folks are working on it. (Me? I'm just the webmaster.)

This year Fourth Street Fantasy Convention will be held on the weekend of June 19th through 21st at the Doubletree Park Place in St. Louis Park, Minnesota which is a suburb near Minneapolis. (Years ago, Fourth Street was held in the same hotel when it was a Sheraton).

Memberships cost $70 in advance-- this membership fee includes a Sunday brunch that should be really nice. We have a membership cap of 250 members; if we have memberships available at the door, they'll cost $100.

We don't have a guest of honor this year, but there are lots of cool professionals in the field who have already registered who will be part of the conversation at the convention including Dana Baird, Steven Brust, Lois McMaster Bujold, Pamela Dean, Marissa Lingen, Beth Meacham, Michael Merriam, Sarah Monette, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Sharyn November, Kathryn Sullivan, Jo Walton, Patricia C. Wrede, and plenty of others.

You can find out more on the convention website and in the LJ community 4th_st_fantasy. If you still have questions or want to volunteer, get in touch with someone on the committee.

Points of Interest: Weakness--Shirts.

• 00:21 Must...stop...looking...at...Woot...shirts. That shirt, not mine. Even if it *is* Pandora.

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Of course, then the next day the shirt they were offering was random, and I was lost.