I had the good fortune of attending DragonCon this year. For those of you that don’t know, DragonCon is one of – if not the – largest sci-fi fantasy conventions held annually.
In truth, I never planned on going. I’d never been to a convention before and didn’t have any plans on going. However, one of my brothers lives in Atlanta and had the foresight to invite me and our oldest brother over to attend the convention. A bonding experience in the epicenter of all that can be defined as, “Nerd.”
At first, I didn’t know what to expect, but I had a blast. We spent hours each day going to panels and talks, mobbing around through the throngs of costumed convention-goers, and trying to get autographs from some of the celebrity attendees.
A lot of the Battlestar cast was there. I managed to score a signature from Mary McDonnell and Michael Hogan, two of my favorites from the show. They were the first autographs I had ever gotten, I shuffled on my feet like a nervous fan boy and told the actors how much I enjoyed their performances on the show. They were both very gracious.
I also got to meet – however briefly – Jay, Grant, Tango and Steve from TAPS. I told them how much I liked their scientific approach to the paranormal. They were all very nice people. Steve and Tango made a point to shake my hand.
The last event I went to was a talk hosted by Kevin J. and Rebecca Anderson, who spoke about writing. The discussion was titled something like, “Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Writing.” It was a great talk, highlighting a lot of information about the business of writing. Some of it was concepts that other writers had brought up before, like Heinlein’s rules. But most of the information came straight from their personal experiences as writers, which was very refreshing to hear.
One pearl of wisdom I really liked: Kevin and Rebecca made an offer to the aspiring authors in the room. If anyone can produce eighty rejection letters and not have one single published work – not an article, short story or novel – then they offered to buy them dinner. It’s an offer they’ve been making to fellow writers for years, and have never had to cash in.
Rejections are a part of writing, which is common wisdom. But it was the illustration that spoke to me. Eighty rejections. I quickly counted up how many I had – nowhere near that many. Kevin told us that he had more than eighty rejections under his belt after a few years of writing, but he also had several published works. Their point was simple: Just keep writing. If you’re not getting rejected, then you’re not submitting, which means you’re not being a writer.
All in all – a great trip. I got to see family, and I got a dose of writing wisdom.
