WorldCon in New Zealand

I must admit I was only vaguely familiar with WorldCon before now. It was that thing I would never go to so why bother finding out about it because it will never come to a place near me. Well, now it is in a place near me and I am preparing to go the 78th World Convention.

Unlike other conventions I've gone to before this is run by the fans for the fans. As a writer I am always a fan first then a writer. So that alone is exciting but I'm more focusing on what the Con can do for me as a writer.

My writer's association SpecFicNz is part of the planning and participating in the Con so they have also organised opportunities for us authors to get involved. Volunteering, parties, giveaways, critique groups, panels... you name it. I've been waving my hand vigourously like a nerd who knows the answer in class.

Besides that I've been doing some work on my brand and so forth. I've taken down my series that need some work and I'm revamping covers where I can. Here is the latest one I've freshened up.

I've been making swag to give away. Yeah, I can be predictable and make bookmarks which would be cost effective and easy. I still might but I also know when I go to Cons the things I keep are the interesting things. Like the metal dog tags where I could write my own name. So I'm making jewellery and key rings made out of my book covers. That is after spending half a day making sure the different images I've used all have a license that covers things like that. Not all stock photos are made equal. Some you can use for an ebook but not for advertisement etc. I must say I love Depositphoto. Not only are they best value for money (if you grab their deals) but they have an easy to understand license. Yes, the legalese is there but then they repeat it in graphics and then clarify the graphics. Great communicators.

I've also been doing podcasts with some of the people involved in the planning. You can hear me here.

But far the scariest and most fun of my plans is what am I going to wear? I'll get back to you with outfits as I get them sorted out. That is four days and I want the outfit to speak for me as I'm an introvert and this is definitely outside of my comfort zone.