Today was the last day. 6 AM my GI tract decided to play up. Fantastic. I still have 2 hours to go back to sleep. My body is like yeah nope. At 730 I gave up, took the suitcases out to the car and went to breakfast. After coming back, dressing and emptying out the car, I went to the first talk: page to stage. I thought it was about play writing. Nope. Costume design and making by two people, husband and wife team who does it for the Atlanta theater, the glimmerglass theater and several around D.C. It was the first time I've seen two pros presenting that topic. Absolutely gorgeous stuff, even if it's something outside my skill set. He did designs for The Cunning LIttle Vixen and I will say the costuming was SO good I knew what animals they were before he even said (and told him so. He was pleased).
From there I went to the 'radio show' production which was silly fun and funnier to the Gen X crowd than the younger I would guess. (written by Gen Xers)
And I went to the food truck...regret. Well I had wanted to go to Dobbin House for food but dismissed it last night as going out of my way too late in the day. However after food, it's not even 1 pm and I realize that the only thing left I want to see is at 2:30. Almost two hours away. And that was the broom making thing but since it had no price tag I realize it's not US making it (because those have $ value for the supplies of course) so I thought meh, I could look up how to do it on YT if I really wanted that. The other two I would have liked are people I know and have seen plenty so I'm like you had 4 hours sleep. You're tired. Go. Home.
So for the price of what the food would have been at Dobbin I do regret the food truck. I should have just packed it in gone to Dobbin, over to the tourist trap 'tourist info center' to get some postcards and then go home. Oh well. It's no big deal. And going home WAS the right thing. I was so tired at the beginning I knew it would have been bad if I had waited 2 hours. I have NO idea what was going on on the turnpike, high traffic and SO MANY people going 50 in the passing lane (It's a 70 mph highway) took a half hour off my trip and several of us nearly crashed into their slow asses. And then the last oasis on the turnpike where I planned to eat had closed all the food except burger king. Ew.
In the future, especially if I realize that the friday events don't start until the afternoon, I might just arrive friday and then stay til Monday so I don't have to drive exhausted and I don't have to do the check out day elevator fight. I'm getting old for this.
And oh, how did I forget? There was a vaudeville show last night. A woman singing in Italian, a juggler and a strong woman who nailed a nail into her nose with a bedazzled hammer and she bent three skillets into juggling pins for him.
And since I'm too lazy for a separate Writerly Ways let me just give you the links here
Open Call
Coffee Stories Volume 2 royalities
Brave Knights: Heroic Courage royalities
Dark Age Press is open to Fantasy and Science Fiction Novels Five Paying Literary Magazines to Submit to in August 2024 The Brussels Review: Now Accepting Submissions 31 Themed Submission Calls and Contests for August 2024 From Around the Web
Dealing with Problematic Authors This had points for both authors and readers/fans
Amazon’s KDP Identity Verification and NO FAKES Act Protect Creators: Self-Publishing News with Dan Holloway Who Cares? Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn: How We Respond to Threats I Fell For a Vanity Publishing Scam. Here’s What I Learned. Book Cover Design Ideas: Before And After What is a Character Arc? Writing Is an Ageless Pursuit From Betty
Defeating the Contrivance Bogeyman Eight Natural Phenomena to Use in Your Stories Three Things That Will Make Your Characters Deeper 40 Books Later: 10 Essential Writing Insights Accountability Can Be a Writer’s Best Tool 4 Ways to Avoid a Saggy Middle in Your Novel Plotting Words of Wisdom Life Lessons from Geese to Writers Using Your Setting to Characterize Story Structure as a Fractal Another Way To Think About "Conflict" and "Stakes" In Your Fiction Conflict is just a type of obstacle What Risk Do You Need to Take with Your Writing Today? A Willingness to Let Our Writing Take Us New Places How Writers Can Tap into the Emotional Heartbeat and Connect with Readers Point of View for Writers: First Person Epistolary