Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Appearances on Panels at Necon, Pi-Con

July and August will be busy this year. I'll be attending Necon, a small convention in Bristol, Rhode Island, from July 17-20, and then attending Pi-Con, a new convention (for me) in Springfield, MA from Aug 22-24. At both conventions I'll be participating in panels.

At Necon, on Sunday morning at 10:00, I'll be one of the panelists on SELLING YOUR SOUL: Book promotion in the modern world. (Don't you just love the title?) From bookmarks to book trailers, store signings to podcasts; what really gets you noticed? Nate Kenyon (moderator), P.D. Cacek, Matt Schwartz, Darrell Schweitzer, Morven Westfield, Lynne Hansen

At Pi-Con, I'll be on three panels: -- Oops. That wasn't a finalized schedule yet. So, hold off and I'll post the final one when I see it here. I guess I jumped the gun.




Hope to see some of you there.

Morven

Monday, July 14, 2008

New podcast online

I just posted my third episode of Vampires, Witches, and Geeks, my little podcast about the same.

This one is a big improvement over the other two. I've added theme music and I've actually interviewed someone. I've still got sooooooooo much to learn about this technology, especially when I'm assembling pieces like the podcast intro, the show intro, an interview, the outro (yeah, they call it that!), and the music that fades out at the end. I think I still sound a little stiff, too.

You're probably wondering why you should even bother to listen, huh? ;-O Well, for one thing, it's not that bad, and for another, my guest, writer/publisher/vampire researcher Inanna Arthen says some fascinating things about vampires.

Take a listen, and let me know what you think.

If you'd prefer to give your comments privately, use the contact form on http://www.morvenwestfield.com/contact.shtml.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Closer to book three...

Now I don't have to cower when I go to Necon* at the end of next week and someone asks me, "So, Morven. Whatcha been up to? Working on your next novel yet?"

One of the things that's kept me from getting going with novel number three is that I need to get my head around what already happened in the first two books, what plot threads I left hanging, who's still alive, and so on.

Somewhere I heard/read about the concept of a "story bible" where one keeps all this info. Sure, I had a character/entity database and my notes on plots, and some chapter synopses, but I didn't have it all in one place. And so I embarked on creating a "Story Guide."

Last week I finished entering all the information for DARKSOME THIRST.


Next: Do the same for my second book, THE OLD POWER RETURNS.


Morven

* Necon is a convention I'll be attending. For more on where I'll be this summer, see http://www.morvenwestfield.com/signings.shtml.