I got to hang out with all of my friends from Ars Technica, too. We cooked out on the grill and played poker Thursday night. I doubled my money. I ate way too much (which was probably a good thing considering how poorly I ate through the weekend).

Writers Workshop

The first workshop event was a meet-and-greet. We were given a bound copy of our submitted stories, formatted and printed through Lulu. The idea is to give us a taste of what seeing our name in print is like.

We were given access to the green room, a smaller room for staff and guests of the con. It gave us a quieter place to congregate, discuss writing and get critiques of our stories.

I received some good feedback on the story I workshopped, “Recycled Dreams”. After the next round of edits it will go out as my first submission in more years than I care to admit.

My very first workshop. Wish me luck.

I was a little apprehensive about applying to the workshop. I have never participated in a workshop at a convention. I’m familiar with the workshop setting but this is a group of people I’ve never met before and there is a mention that readings may follow the weekend rewrites.

It may come as a surprise to people that know me but I have a fear of public speaking. I had a speech impediment as a child, which may be a contributing factor. I’ve taken classes on public speaking and was once a member of a Toastmasters group. I am not unfamiliar with standing up in front of a group of people and speaking.

I find it easier to speak to a subject in which I am confident of my skills. I can talk your ear off when it comes to hacking, programming, or anything related to computers and technology. Reading a story that I have written in front of a group of strangers is something completely different. A proper reading would, I imagine, require some dramatic oration. I’m afraid I will flounder in that kind of situation. It won’t stop me from trying, however.

Some of the programming for Penguicon is disappointing this year (okay, more than some). As such, we decided to have some of our own panels, tapping on the resources from #linux. Here comes ArsLinuxCon2005. We’ve got a really talented little community, so it should be a fairly educational weekend.