GenCon and into the Future

GenCon 2016 is this week. Wait. That needed an exclamation point. GenCon 2016 is this week! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to attend a convention nor have I been so nervous. This year’s GenCon marks the two year anniversary of my start as a freelance writer. After jumping in head first into untested waters when Onyx Path Publishing offered me a job writing Shattered Dreams for Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20^th Anniversary Edition, I have published over a dozen articles. Although Shattered Dreams’ release is still forthcoming and I eagerly await its release—as I am sure you do as well—I am just as proud of the smaller work that I’ve done that’s been published by Raging Swan Press, EnWorld En5ider, and EnWorld TRAILseeker Magazine and others.

The reason that GenCon is so important (and nerve-wracking) this year is that rather than attending as a congoer or as a writer with a single, forthcoming credit to my name, I am attending with a dozen plus credits on my CV. And that means that I’m looking for more work from more and more publishers. I have some pretty big (for me) announcements that I will be making as the year progresses. Contract negotiations are in progress. I have meetings with publishers and other writers. I get to have lunch with Richard Lee Byers! Lunch with an author of Forgotten Realms novels! That’s unbelievable but real!

In Other News:

I’m in the process of redesigning my blog for a more professional look. Writing has become my career. I want to have every advantage that I can going forward, so my blog will be going through iterations and changes to make it sharper, cleaner, and generally better. As you can already see, I’ve added links to my resume and writing credits. I’ll also be adding some writing samples as well.

If you’re wondering why my output on my blog has been nonexistent, it’s because I’ve been busy writing articles and getting paid to do it. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you know that my fiancé was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and has since had chemo, surgery, and she’s about to start radiation therapy. She’s cancer free! We’re not quite finished with treatments yet, but we’ve turned the corner.

Like the Joker said, “If you’re good at something, never do it for free.” While I’m not as mercenary as the Joker, I have the same 24 hours in the day as you do. I split those between work, writing, being with my fiancé, and the sundry tasks that we all must do to get by (cooking, cleaning, bathing, paying bills). And unfortunately, that means that I focus my writing time on articles and short stories rather than reviews of my favorite Vampire: The Masquerade supplements.

That doesn’t mean that I won’t be updating this blog. It just means that my updates will be more sporadic than I’d like and less focused on the Classic World of Darkness. And the blog will be changing as I go forward. I’ll focus a bit more on hyping the articles and books that are being published or Kickstarted and just generally a less stressful experience for me.

If I get a chance, I will review a few things, but I try to be as in depth as I can with a review. That takes time, reading & re-reading, and a lot of writing and rewriting. So, I may limit reviews to books that I’m reading for other reasons. 

So, the future of Read the Damn Book is evolving. I hope that all of you come on this ride with me.