Introduction
Greetings everyone! I hope that the summer months are treating you kindly. Last weekend, from June 20th to 22nd, I traveled all the way to Missoula, Montana for MisCon 39. This is my first convention outside of Wyoming or Colorado. It’s part of my plan to explore more of geekdom. I was both excited and trepidatious to visit so far from home, but the results proved a net positive. I did so much that I need to split the experience into two parts. Tally-ho into a hive of scum and villainy!
Day 0
I left for Missoula on Thursday the 19th, around 6:00 a.m. Google Maps informed me that the drive would be about 10 1/2 hours long. My arrival route took me along I-25 north through Wyoming and then I-90 west through Montana with a 15-minute stop in Billings for lunch at McDonald’s. I arrived at my hotel around 4:15 p.m. My roadtrip required a total of five refueling stops and added about 1,500 miles on the engine.
I cannot emphasize how beautiful Montana’s landscapes and panoramas are. The epithet of “Big Sky Country” is justly earned. The vistas of rolling hills at and surrounding the state borders were inspiring, and the winding hills further west also evoked a sense of natural awe. Next time I go, I need to dedicate more time for proper sightseeing.
Day 1
MisCon was chock-full of things to do, and my schedule was no exception for the whole convention. Admittedly, I started it off badly. MisCon was hosted at the Missoula County Fairgrounds this year–the first time it has done so. I misread the schedule and arrived at 10:00 in the morning, two hours before the vendor hall opened and four hours before my first panel. Thankfully, I was able to whittle away the unintended time bank by helping with some minor preparations and having a pleasant and insightful conversation with Mr. Brooke Stanley, a published author.
Once the vendor hall opened for business, I wandered and looked at the wares for sale. Going to different conventions really illustrates the creative variety of an area. Strolling through the commercial building, I saw kimonos, chai tea, comics, hardcovers, and artwork a-plenty. But the first vendor to earn some of my cash was JAK of Trades. Janine and Max had a great selection of dice types. I initially picked up a set of death markers and a set of DM dice. I returned on Sunday for a sampling of individual dice and an interview.
After successfully killing enough time, I went and sat through my first panel of the convention. It was titled “Pacing in Fiction” featuring Tod McCoy and Frog Jones. It covered ideas and suggestions about how to keep good pacing in stories. The most interesting takeaway for me was using longer words and paragraphs to slow down, while using shorter ones to give the appearance of speeding up. This works because shorter words and sentences are read more quickly. I cannot wait to try this in my own writing.
My second panel was “Short Story Markets 101” with J.E. Schleicher. He enlightened me and the audience about navigating the short stories markets, which markets to focus on for publication, the hardships of rejection, and tips on how to continue writing and not give up. My biggest exposure from this panel was Robert Heinlein’s Rules of Writing. What great advice from an old master!
My third panel was the quartet of Frog Jones, Patrick Swenson, Clare Wood, and Ann Marie (A.M.) Scott for “Publishing Today.” There were several informative tidbits from this panel that surprised me. Such information included how unpredictable and spontaneous the industry can be; that bigger, traditional publishers are more hesitant to buy manuscripts; and how expensive costs can be through marketing and advertising. Something to keep in mind if I decide to pursue self-publishing.
James Meyer 