LibertyCon 2014

So LibertyCon is happening in a couple of weeks.  I debated about going to LibertyCon this year.  I have more time as I’m free for the summer, but in many ways I seem to have less time.  I’m working on my novel (more to come in a following post), I’m working on a short-story that is due at the end of this month (for a contest), I’m revising another short-story that just came back (rejected, but I’ve found another market for it & I’m trying to get it ready), and I really want to contact an artist that I know about seeing if she would be willing to accept commissions to do artwork for some of my stories (I’d really like to showcase her artwork here on the blog as “covers” to my short-stories so that people might be able to get a visual sense of what story might be like before having to plunk down money them to decide if they might like it–sorta’ what covers on books are designed to do).  In addition to this, I’m trying to clean up the house (inside and out), work on prepping for next school year, play games, and yes, rest over the Summer Break.  Last week, I finished four days of intense Personal Development learning how to become a better teacher (considering my school day is 9-4 and the PD was 8:30-3:30, I REALLY and TRULY did put in a full day’s work–I really hope that I can put all the great information to use and really shine this upcoming school year).

I decided that I might be trying to do TOO MUCH and so I wondered if it might not be better to scale back a bit and not go to LibertyCon this year.  After I thought about it, I realized that Chattanooga only has 3 major Sci-Fi/Fantasy conventions: ChattaCon, LibertyCon & Con Nooga.  Of those three, only LibertyCon is a writer/reader focused Con, meaning that while it has costumes, parties, and the like, it is really focused on authors, editors, and artists, the people who create and produce the genre fiction that we love.  Yes, there are actors (rarely) and media-based properties (again, rarely), but this is the one Con to go if you’re into books, authors, and the written word.  All the other Chattanooga Cons are more like traditional cons.  

I don’t like crowds–never have and probably never will.  Therefore, a more specialized con probably fits me more than a larger con would (at this point in my life, at least).  Also, I decided that if I could find one (just 1) workshop each day of the convention that might aid me in my writing, then the con would pay for itself in both information and inspiration.  Friday and Saturday were fine, Sunday, I’m probably going to have “stretch” to find a workshop that fits the bill, but I’m happy enough with the presentations that I went ahead and signed up for it.

Since this will be the first LibertyCon that I’ll attend with a blog, I’ll try to remember to take photos to upload on the blog.  After being somewhat ambivalent about it this year, I’m hoping that it will help me and inspire me.  At least, if nothing else, it will give me three days of SOLID writing time because the short story that is due at the end of the month has 3-5 planned scenes–I’ve only finished scene 1 at the moment.  Looks like I’m going to have to really press and use the downtime during the Con to get words on the page–so maybe I can use it as a mini-writing retreat, if nothing else 😉

Anyone interested can find out more information about LibertyCon by clicking on the link, or you can take a look at some of their pictures on their picture gallery.