The night before Anomaly Con

I'm so excited!  I've been doing a little packing this evening, getting things ready for Anomaly Con this weekend.  My friends and I are staying at the hotel, so we'll be checking in tomorrow afternoon.

There are going to be a lot of great things for writers going on at the con.  Several of the authors whose panels I enjoyed last year will be there again, and there will be some repeats of panels, too (several of which I plan on attending anyway -- you never know what new material might come up).

Some of the things I am most interested in:

• Converting to eBooks and ePublishing - since e-publishing is my goal, I am interested in hearing what tips they might have
• The Secret Love Lives of Zombies - simply because it sounds fun
• Writer Beware: Scams and Schemes - I like to stay informed on this kind of stuff, but this is good information for my friends as well, who don't have the freelancing experience I have (and therefore the nose for such things)
• Self Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing - I went to this panel last year, and learned a lot from authors on both sides of the coin, so I plan on going again this year and seeing if they have anything new to say
• History of Weaponry and Warfare - a variation on something I missed part of last year, so this is a priority this year
• Series Building - to see if they have any tips that might help me with Ruby Ransome
• Writing Women of Impact - because it seems valuable

There are also tons of writing workshops, but I am less interested in those.  One of my friends asked me why, and I guess there are lots of reasons.  Especially in a mentally exhausting environment such as a con, I prefer being able to take notes and mull over what I've learned, putting it into action later on.  I also really like the social -- and often humorous -- format of the panels, as opposed to sitting down and writing what someone else tells me to write.  I could write any time I wanted, for one thing, and I object somewhat to writing what someone else says, when they say it.  I did, however, use some of the writing exercises my friends told me about last year (and some that I heard the end of when I met up with them in the writing room after my panels ended) to motivate me during Camp NaNoWriMo in April.

I'm really looking forward to spending an entire weekend talking and thinking about writing, and just plain geeking out with my friends!