So, I'm currently at Gen Con, and, just like last year, I... kind of ended up registering for way too many workshops and seminars and am not going to have much time to explore the exhibit hall. (I did manage last year to see everything in the exhibit hall by the end of the convention, but just barely.)

Although Gen Con is a game convention, not all the worshops and seminars relate directly to games. Among other things, there is a "Gen Con Writers' Symposium" and a "Gen Con Puppetry Program", of both of which I've attended multiple panels. (Warning: the link to the latter is to a Facebook page because unfortunately that seems to be the only site the program has.) Well, okay, I guess this year I didn't sign up for any of the puppetry panels, but that's not because I wasn't interested; there's only so much time and there were multiple panels that I was interested in taking place at the same time and I had to make some hard decisions. I did register for a lot of the Writers Symposium workshops, though. In fact, this year I registered for a total of... let's see... nine hours of workshops and seminars from the Gen Con Writers' Symposium.

Which, of course, isn't what Gen Con is mainly about, and not what I'm mainly here for. Still, though, I guess those panels interested me, because I guess I've always been interested in writing. I mean, okay, I guess writing articles on the Wongery is technically writing, and I guess technically I'm writing this blog post, but I mean I've always been interested in narrative writing. Stories. I mentioned this a bit before in a previous blog post; I haven't published anything, but I've written a lot, including seven novels, and I do kind of hope to eventually get my latest novel published, after I finally get around to doing a few rounds of badly-needed rewrites, even though I realize realistically that's unlikely to ever happen. (The getting it published, I mean. Not the rewrites. Though given my execrable tendencies toward procrastination I'm not totally sure how likely that part is either.)

But really, if I'm going to get serious about writing (NB I am not actually sure I am psychologically capable of getting serious about anything), instead of attending writing seminars at a game convention, maybe I should try going to a convention more dedicated to writing. (And then maybe I wouldn't feel compelled to attend the writing seminars at Gen Con, and that would free up my time there for other things.) As far as I know, the two biggest speculative fiction writing conventions are Worldcon and the World Fantasy Convention, both of which I've considered attending or at least kind of wished to attend in the past, but neither of which I've ever attended. I'm certainly not going to be able to make it to either of them this year; this year's Worldcon is in Glasgow next week, and yeah, even if there are still tickets available, there's no way I'd be able to afford to travel to Scotland for five days on such short notice. As I said in the post where I mentioned Gen Con last year, Gen Con is basically my one big annual extravagance; I can't afford another extended trip, especially the very next week. (Although looking at their Membership and Tickets page, I do notice that there are some online options... hmm...) The next WOrld Fantasy Convention is in October in New York in the U.S., which I suppose would a little more feasible because of the extra two months to save money, but is still not going to happen unless I have a sudden unexpected windfall (which I very much do not expect to happen). Next year, though... well, we'll see. Maybe I'll be in a better financial situation then. Most likely not, but maybe.

Okay, actually, if I'm going to get serious about writing (narratively), what I really need to do is, well, write. Okay, I mean, I have been doing some (narrative) writing, but... not really as much as I should be doing if I want to get anything significant done. The thing is, of course, that there are lots of other things I also want to do, and as usual, it all comes down to there being... not enough time. Spending more time on writing means spending less time on something else. Though hopefully it'll mean less time wasted idly browsing the web. I don't know. We'll see.

(Still planning on writing a novel based on a world of the Wongery during NaNoWriMo, and (after some post-NaNoWriMo rewrites and editing) self-publishing it to help publicize the Wongery. But that's separate from the other writing I want to get done.)

I've mentioned in at least one previous post that I'm not a published author (though this probably would have been obvious anyway from my unskilled writing). That's still true. But I'd like it not to be. Since my youth, I've always enjoyed writing (whether or not I was ever any good at it), and I always wanted to be a published author someday. I think I sent my first novel to an agent when I was sixteen or seventeen years old. (It was rejected. Obviously. As it should have been.) I haven't been doing much to pursue publication lately, but I've never entirely given up on it. Once I set a major goal, I don't give up on it. I may keep putting off pursuing it to the point that it ends up being functionally indistinguishable from giving up, but I don't technically give up on it.

This will not, of course, take time away from my working on the Wongery (which of course I also haven't been putting as much time on as much as I'd like). As I said, I hope it'll take time away from... being wasted. I've been working on a Wongery article while I'm here at Gen Con, and I hope to get a few more articles up when I get home. But again, while the Wongery remains my biggest priority and the project dearest to my heart, it's not my only project... and I need to find some more time for some of my other projects as well. Somehow. I don't know. I'll try.