Quick thoughts from OSFest8

Well, I survived my first Monday back to the day job after a great weekend of panels at OSFest8. I had the privilege of participating in panels with the likes of Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Travis Heerman, Tamara Jones, W.J. Cherf, Matthew S. Rotundo, and Lou J. Berger.

I have to admit, it was a little intimidating at first. Part of me was sitting there thinking, “What am I doing here on a table with these real authors? Like, people with real talent? Who do I think I am?”

But then the smarter part of my brain took over: “Shut up, you idiot. Of course you’re qualified. Just don’t say anything stupid and you’ll be fine.”

And you know what? It was fine. I know I need to improve my public speaking skills a bit, but that will come with practice. Everything else was great. It was such a good way to gain some experience, meet some people, hand out some business cards, and hopefully make some lasting connections.

I also learned a lot. No writer–not even the big names–ever stops learning about the craft. There will be plenty of time to cover that stuff in future posts, but one of the most important things I took away from the con was that I must finish editing this second novel I’ve been working on as soon as humanly possible.

Every day, it seems, I take another baby-step toward the success I’m looking for, but the business doesn’t wait for anyone and the longer I take to get that novel query-reader, the longer I have to delay my dreams.

So to close out this post, let me say I really enjoyed meeting everyone on the panels, as well as talking to a few of the other writers at the con, including a young writer with a promising future out of Omaha named Brandon Bauer.

I’d also like to thank The Omaha Science Fiction Education Society for having me, and hope to participate again.