In a couple of short weeks – no, long weeks with plenty of time to get everything done… really – in a couple of weeks it’s Can-Con. Are you going to this? You should be going. Can-Con last year was my first time at a convention and it was fantastic. It’s friendly and cozy and filled with awesome. I was on a couple of panels last year (my favourite was discussing AESci-Fi and Ideomancer with their editors, much fun) and will be again this year. I’ll be doing So This Is Your First Con? on the opening night, Critiquing Groups and National Novel Writing Month on Saturday evening and then assisting as demo dummy (a role I am all too familiar with) with my Sensei, Rick Lutes, for his martial arts demonstration geared towards writing good fight scenes. The demonstration should be fun, and if nothing else will involve me being twisted into a pretzle. You can’t miss that! There’s tons of other great panels on the schedule, plus Can-Con is hosting the Aurora Awards ceremony. Guests of honour this year are Robert J. Sawyer, Ottawa’s own Hayden Trenholm from Bundoran Press, and storm hunter Mark Robinson as the science guest of honour. Scheduling info is up on the website now, here: http://www.can-con.org/2013/schedule/. That’s been my side project for the last month or so, updating the website and collecting all the panelists bios.
And right after Can-Con will be the third ChiSeries reading in Ottawa. Stay tuned for more info about that. It’s moved over to Maxwell’s on Elgin St, which is a fantastic location. So much fun. Be sure to check it out.
I suppose this is also a good time to officially announce that I will be co-Municipal Liaison for National Novel Writing Month in Ottawa again this year. For those not up on the NaNo lingo that makes me a local coordinator and host of Kick Off and Thank Goodness It’s Over Parties as well as write-ins all month long. Start flexing your fingers and stocking up on duct tape for your internal editor…. NaNo is coming.
Nicole Lavigne 