WisCon 2011 Panels

Hi everyone,

Wanted to drop in and provide you my panels for WisCon 2011. This year the guest of honor is Nisi Shawl, a fine author who often gives workshops on writing the other. She also likes to smile. A lot. What’s not to like?

Attendance is capped at 1,000 people, so if you’re thinking about going, I’d register now.

Monica’s Panels at WisCon


Living In The Long Tail: Forging A Path To Your Audience Through The Internet Friday
Time: 4:00–5:15 p.m. Location: Conference 5
Moderator: Heather Whipple.
Panelists: Heather Whipple, Lori Devoti, Jennifer K. Stevenson, Monica Valentinelli

    “The Long Tail” refers to the retailing strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities. Much of Amazon’s success relies on exploting this strategy. What are the possibilities of authors and artists marketing their own works directly to audiences through the Internet? Does the Internet represent a medium of exchange that can bring creators together with audiences who are hungry for works that represent and speak to them? How can we find each other?

Group Reading: 11 Up – Cycles of Life. Salacious, sacrificial, silly, sentimental and severe.
Time: Saturday 2:30–3:45 pm Location: Michelangelo’s Coffee Shop
Liz Argall, Keffy R.M. Kehrli, Margaret Ronald, Monica Valentinelli

Self-Publishing: Should You? Could You?
Time: Sunday 10:00–11:15 am Location: Senate B
Moderator: Susan Ramirez.
Panelists: Susan Ramirez, Anna Black, Alexandra Erin, Neesha Meminger, Monica Valentinelli

    A variety of websites and services make publishing your own e-books and paper books simpler and less expensive than ever. What are some of the best? What are some to avoid? What are the benefits and drawbacks of becoming an indie writer? What tips do you have to help other indie writers self-publish successfully?

Cooperative Promotion
Sunday: 1:00–2:15 pm Location: Room 634
Moderator: Jacqueline Houtman.
Panelists: Jacqueline Houtman, Lori Devoti, Howard Andrew Jones, Alexandra Erin, Monica Valentinelli

    Authors need to do more and more of their own promotion. This panel will focus on ways that authors can work together to help promote their books, whether formally (via 2K Classes, Tenners and Elevensies, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and other organizations) or informally, such as social networking. What about group websites or blogs? Group giveaways? Group presentations, signings, and other events? We will present some ideas and work together to come up with more.

April 15, 2011
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Thank You, OddCon!

A "Cultist" Says Thank YouOver the weekend, I attended OddCon here in Madison, Wisconsin and moderated a bunch of panels. This convention also gave me the chance to sit down and chat with familiar faces and get to know new people, too.

On the industry side, folks included the illustrious and fabulous: Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, Matt Forbeck, Steven H. Silver, Sarah Monette, LaShawn Wanak, Jim Frenkel, Alex Bledsoe, Kenneth Hite, Will Hindmarch, Jason L. Blair, John Kovalic, Bill Bodden, Matt McElroy (DriveThruRPG.com, DriveThruComics.com and FlamesRising.com), Kelly McCullough, Robin Laws, John Jackson Miller, Lori Devoti, Richard Chedwyk and so many more.

I had a really good time this year and felt everyone was incredibly friendly and open. My moderation style was a bit more crazy on Saturday than Sunday, due to an unforeseen impromptu illness that affected my thought-linking connection. This convention was good for me on many levels, and I’d like to give a shout out to Paul Wiesner who did a great job coordinating the events and panel schedule this year.

The panels were really good this year and I felt that John Jackson Miller was an incredible attention to the line-up. Not only is he knowledgeable about comics and the literary process, he’s also a successful tie-in writer, too. (In short, I think John is made out of awesome.) I was happy to have other, very knowledgeable individuals on the panels with me. Robin Laws was an excellent choice for guest-of-honor because yep, he is that smart and yes, he’s a fine author to boot. He read his short story from Stone Skin Press‘s upcoming anthology Shotguns V. Cthulhu.

The three best surprises I had this year were:

    Surprise Number One: My Reading – Having a full room for my reading with LaShawn Wanak. If you may recall, I mentioned I was going to read Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs from The Zombie Feed, Volume 1. Not only did people like my story, they asked me if there was going to be a chance to see more of Officer Francis in either a novel or a continuing tale. How awesome is that? Then LaShawn brought down the house with her reading of She’s All Light, which you can read for free at Daybreak Magazine. It’s a science fiction story set in a believable future. For those of you who follow my blog that love Eclipse Phase, I think you’d really dig this story!!!

    Surprise Number Two: Our Cthulhu Panel – For our Cthulhu panel on Sunday, I brought along some prizes for the audience including an autographed hardcover copy of Shadows Over Filmland and a few Nox Arcana CDs. The best part, though, was that Kenneth Hite crashed the panel. Chicago-based, Ken is extremely knowledgeable about Lovecraft and has written books like Cthulhu 101 and Tour de Lovecraft. So many people in this crowded room were not aware of how this unique American author became so ingrained in our contemporary culture. He was a fine addition to the panel and the audience had a great time.

    Surprise Number Three: BARCON! – The bartender at the Radisson was my kind of guy. He was incredibly entertaining and really made the weekend soooooo much fun. Barcon was a blast. We playtested a new game from John Kovalic — of course Robin won — exchanged stories, had a Final Fantasy moment (Thank you, Laura. You rock!), got to tell a few of my more embarrassing college drinking stories, talked shop and heard the Smelt Festival recap.

Overall, OddCon XII was an absolute blast, which is probably why I’m so tired today. I was really happy to see so much gaming going on this year and was sad I didn’t get the chance to play Midnight Munchkin.

Special thanks to Richard Russell, Brian Curley, Paul Wiesner, Sean McConkey and so many others for your enthusiasm and your smiles. Happy people makes for some great convention time and you really highlighted my weekend.

So thank you, OddCon!

April 11, 2011
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[Convention Appearance] OddCon in Madison, Wisconsin

In just a few weeks, I’ll be attending OddCon in Madison, Wisconsin as a panelist and moderator. Guests include J.V. Jones, Robin Laws and Sarah Monette.

I’ll also be reading my new story, “Tomorrow’s Precious Lambs” from The Zombie Feed, Volume 1.

My OddCon Panels

The preliminary schedule was released earlier this week. So here’s what panels I’ll be attending!

Friday, April 8th

    5:30 p.m. in Oakbrook III – Explore Small and Indie Presses – M. Valentinelli as Moderator, J. Watson, Nix and Robin Laws

Saturday, April 9th

    11:30 a.m. in Mooschenko’s – Author Reading – M. Valentinelli and LaShawn M. Wanak

    1:00 p.m. in Oakbrook I & II – Worldbuilding 101 – M. Valentinelli as Moderator, T. Voros, L. Schneider, R. S. Russell, S. Monette

    2:30 p.m. in Oakbrook III – What Makes a “Good” Game? – M. Valentinelli as Moderator, T. Voros, M. Forbeck, A. Myrnnyx

Sunday, April 10th

    11:30 a.m. in Oakbrook I & II – Ins and Outs of Tie-In Fiction – M. Valentinelli as Moderator, M. Forbeck (Tentative), J. Frenkel, J. J. Miller

    1:30 p.m. in Mooschenko – Cthulhu! Ia! Ia! Games, books and more! M. Valentinelli as Moderator, R. Laws, L. Laasko

March 23, 2011
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Listen to My Interview with Darker Days Podcast

If you’ve been following my work, you probably recall White Wolf Publishing released Scenes of the Embrace earlier this month. Just recently, Mike Andryuk interviewed me for the sixteenth episode of his podcast called Darker Days.

One of the things we talked about, was how Scenes of the Embrace, which was geared toward Vampire: the Requiem, differed from the 2005 release of The Giovanni Chronicles I: The Last Supper for Vampire: the Masquerade. Admittedly, the question threw me for a loop because I wasn’t sure how the two related. In my product, we developed a toolkit for Storytellers where an Embrace may or may not occur. It’s not an adventure, but a collection of scenes. Last Supper was a very specific storyline which fit within Vampire: the Masquerade, a game more heavily focused on metaplot than Vampire: the Requiem.

Mind you, I thought his questions about Vampire: the Masquerade were interesting. From my perspective, the two game lines are very different. Not only do they have separate themes, but they’re also developed and managed in unique ways. After talking to Mike I can see how a fan might be interested in exploring both lines. I’m just happy to help promote the product, because I enjoyed writing about so many different types of embraces; the transformation from human to vampire is a very powerful moment indeed.

Mike also brought up Devil’s Night, which is a free download on FlamesRising.com. One of the things I like about the new World of Darkness, is the ability to play a mortal character who doesn’t understand all the horrors around her. I thought it was really neat to hear Mike talk about the main character, Gabriella, the way I hoped players and fans would.

If you get the chance, you can listen to the episode via the embedded player below or by visiting this link. To discuss it, hop on over to the Darker Days Facebook page.

Enjoy!

January 31, 2011
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Liz Danforth and Neoncon

Last year I virtually met Liz Danforth through Facebook and we had exchanged a couple of e-mails. We ended up being not-so-secret santas, primarily because we both thought it’d be something fun and geeky to do. I had given Liz what all women normally want (A chocolate care package… Hah!) and she had been kind enough to provide me with a few prints of her artwork which now adorn my walls.

Liz’s artwork is a study in line art perfection. No, I’m really not just saying that, because it really and truly is. I knew Liz was a professional illustrator, but I was not aware of the breadth and depth of her abilities. She’s brilliant and I’m happy that she’s decided to step back into freelancing.

Well, a year passed by and Liz and I had chatted online a bit about how she wanted to get back into illustrations. (You can imagine I was cheering her on.) Then, we happened to meet up at Neoncon in Las Vegas and we were able to chat about her new beginnings.

Neoncon is a convention held in Las Vegas that has, at its core, a vision that isn’t just about gaming. It’s also to connect creative professionals with others to help them in their quest to develop their careers and find new opportunities. This year, I hosted a few panels to share my knowledge and see how people might respond to my style of speaking. I was happy to finally meet Liz for the first time; we had a great conversation and she seemed really excited about new possibilities.

Well, a few weeks ago Liz had posted Gearing up in the Next Expansion at LizDanforth.com. Earlier, I had asked her to provide some insight about my talk, because that feedback helps me grow.

I’ve met plenty of razor-sharp women and men over the years, many of them willing to share their knowledge. Monica is particularly good at what she does, in my opinion, pragmatic without being dogmatic. –SOURCE: Gearing up in the Next Expansion at LizDanforth.com

As you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve tried to adhere to a simple philosophy: There are six billion people on the planet. Everyone has a different way of doing things. That way is not my way. Instead, I want to listen to their stories. Sometimes it’s challenging to balance the listening part with the advising part, but that’s an area that I’m growing in. It was nice to hear that I’m achieving that goal.

I’m hoping to make it out to Neoncon next year, too, though I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. Such is the life of a creative professional, but one that is a lot of fun. After all, I probably wouldn’t have been able to meet Liz otherwise.

December 30, 2010
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