Hey all, Sam here.
Well, I guess it’s time to talk about what I’m getting up to at Gen Con this year…and the answer is a whole bunch of panels (mostly at the Gen Con Writers Symposium).
For those who don’t know, Gen Con is a tabletop game convention. This year it is taking place August 1-4 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and this is a convention that David and I have been attending together since 2017. It’s usually a pretty great time.
Outside of attending the convention, we also look forward to going to one of the local comic book stores, as well as a few restaurants and novelty shops. It’s usually a pretty great time, and it’s honestly my “birthday present” to myself each year.
Most of my time is spent at the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium, and I have a whole bunch of panels planned for this year. Whenever I get a break in my panel schedule, I am usually either grabbing a quick bite to eat, or I’m wandering the exhibitor’s hall looking for more tabletop games and accessories to add to the collection.
I love attending the Writer’s Symposium. It’s a great place to meet and converse with authors (both published and aspiring), editors, agents, and other folks connected with the writing and publishing industries…and this applies to both standard fantasy/sci-fi and to video game tie-in and TTRPG industries as well. I just love being around so many other awesome and creative individuals, and I always feel like I learn a lot while I’m attending all of the panels. Usually I take around 30 pages or so of notes; it’s pretty great.
Anyway, here’s what my schedule is looking like…
Thursday
10 am – Signing with Michael R Underwood
Noon – Query Questions & Answers
1 pm – Signing with Erin M Evans
2 pm – Rediscovering the Magic in Magic
And then depending on how we’re feeling from day 1 of the convention, we might go to the Meet the Writers event, which starts at 6 pm.
But Thursday is also the airing of the next episode of Critical Role, and considering how many attendees are Critters, we don’t want to be behind and get accidentally spoiled while at the convention.
Honestly, this seems like a perfect way to spend my birthday. I love it.
Friday
10 am – Ageism in SFF: Broadening the Ages of Protagonists
Noon – Embracing Your Weirdness
1 pm – Worldbuilding for TTRPG Systems
2 pm – Breaking the Rules! Breaking the Rules!
3 pm – Story Arcs & Character Development with Your Sweet Murderhobos
4 pm – Write What You DON’T Know: Working Across Cultural Lines
Friday is also the day we meet up with our “Nerdparents” for a dinner of appetizers at a nearby eatery, so that’s going to be a fun day.
Saturday
10 am – Beat Writer’s Block
11 am – Fall in Love With Your Writing
3 pm – POV Pandemonium
4 pm – Sharpen Your Story
5 pm – Strategies to Avoid Infodumps
6 pm – Emotional Self-Care for Writers
A bit of a longer day on Satuday, but a few of these Symposium panels are paid ones, so I have a feeling I’m really going to get a wealth of information from them. The paid panels are: Beat Writer’s Block, Sharpen Your Story, and Emotional Self-Care for Writers.
Sunday
9 am – Hacking Your Habitat (So You Can Write)
10 am – Reading & Writing in a Neurodiverse Universe
11 am – Writing with Kindness
Noon – Carving Your Own Niche in TTRPG Content
My final panel of the convention is my only non-Writer’s Symposium event, and I’m attending it with David. We’ve thought about possibly starting up a YouTube channel or something focused on all of our geeky hobbies as a couple, so we’ll see if this panel helps give us that motivation to finally get started.
Aside from this, there’s obviously a number of exhibitors I’m excited to visit during my downtime. These include: 1985 Games, Chessex, Die Hard Dice, Dryad Tea, Elderwood Academy, FanRoll by Metallic Dice Games, Foam Brain Games, Gale Force Nine, Gaming Paper LLC, Ginny Di, Green Ronin Publishing, Japanime Games, Kobold Press, Margaret Weis, Misty Mountain Gaiming, Paizo, R. Talsorian Games Inc, Syrinscape, TeeTurtle
And, of course, I’ll be wandering through Artists Alley and Author Avenue to see what goodies I can find there.
Because I’m working on a novel where D&D is a central aspect of the story, my goal is to grab a couple dice sets related to each player/character at the table in my story, so that’s going to be a fun little goal for my convention time. I’d like to get back to really working on this story, and maybe even have it ready for pitching/publishing this time next year, so hopefully Gen Con will be the inspirational kick in the pants I need to truly get back to writing.
Oh, and don’t worry….there will be a Gen Con Wrap Up post, where I show off our haul and talk about the whole experience, so expect that…maybe next Tuesday? If not then the one after that. It depends on how tired I am after the convention and adjusting back to the work schedule again.
All right, well that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 