Tag Archives: World Con Dublin

blog, Book planning, Convention Report, NaNoWriMo, Research

In the throes of NaNo & other news

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First off, I can’t believe I haven’t blogged since August before I went to the World Science Fiction Convention! Well, I have been busy, but most of it has been catching up after that incredible trip.

Photo: Lily on bus tour
My first day in Dublin included a High Tea Bus Tour of the city. Isn’t this a clever idea?

World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin

Photo: Dublin Liffey riverside
The tilted building is the Dublin Exposition Hall where the main convention was held. My hotel room was about six blocks away on the east side of the Liffey River.

The convention was great although somewhat exhausting. So many panels and things to do. I loved the concert featuring music from various science fiction films. Awesome musicians. Costume contest was amazing. Dublin fandom outdid themselves to make this a fantastic convention. The biggest drawback was that the art show and a few other things, including George R.R. Martin signing autographs, were in a different building several blocks away. I never made it down there. With so many people and multiple panels at the same time, you had to choose wisely.

Photo: Poulnabrone portal tomb in the Burren of Ireland.
Poulnabrone is an amazing Neolithic portal tomb situated on the Burren in western Ireland. It is smaller than I imagined it as the location makes it look huge in photographs. Still very impressive.

I spent an additional two weeks  in Ireland, rented a car – will not do that again – and drove to the west coast where I did a little research and enjoyed the beauty of the country. This was my fourth trip to Eire over the past forty years. The last time I’d been over was in 1989, and I can say the place has changed considerably. Many more people, cities growing bigger, but at the heart of the towns, it is still the same Ireland.  Unfortunately, it was also the wettest August they’d experienced in many years, or so the locals told me.  I was rained on most every day and the Galway area experienced heavy rains. And cold… it was cold!

An amazing experience over all and I had a grand time. I enjoyed the welcome of several bed and breakfast places and renewed my spirit while I was there.

NaNoWriMo Begins

Starting in late October, I attempted to plot the second book in my Time Threads series with an eye to having it out in late Spring. It didn’t go as smoothly as I hoped, so I leaped into NaNoWriMo with a poor plan. In spite of that, I did complete the challenge of 50 thousand words on November 15th, so that is true to form for the past few years I’ve been doing it. I am still working on the book and hope to complete the first draft by the end of the month.

I have three other novels that are drafts that I need to either rewrite or edit before I can publish them, so I hope to focus on one of them over the next couple of months before I begin editing the book I’m working on now. I will be busy, busy.

Book Giveaway

I am thrilled to be part of another great Science Fiction and Fantasy Giveaway on Prolific Works that will begin on November 21st and run through January 22nd. This is a great opportunity to pick up some terrific science fiction and fantasy novels, including Time Walker, the first book of my Time Threads trilogy.  I’ll send out a blast when the giveaway goes live so you can go check out the 40+ books available.  I also have my short story, The Wizard’s Gift in the giveaway, so if you haven’t read it yet, you can grab it then.

I’m looking forward to the holidays and I’ll tell you all about my Game of Thrones tour that I did in Ireland. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you celebrate, and a very merry holiday season. Winter is definitely coming.

 

blog, Convention Report

Off to the World Science Fiction Convention

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Map highlighting interesting places in Ireland. Think I got it from the Tourist Bureau.

Back in the previous century, 1979 to be precise, my friend Patricia and I flew to the UK to attend the World Science Fiction Convention in Brighton, England. This was my first time at the world level as well as the first time in the UK. Both proved to be great fun although quite a bit different from the American conventions we’d been to before that. World Con isn’t a media con like WesterCon or ComicCon, but focuses more on books, the writers, and illustrators. While there was a bit of movie promotion, it wasn’t something supported by the film studios or as likely to have an actor appearing.

While I went to a couple of more World Cons over the years, this August I am going to the one in Dublin, Ireland … 40 years after that first convention in 1979. So many panels on the schedule and so many of them in the same time slots. I fear many more attendees as well, so I don’t know how many I might actually see, but I am excited to be going.

If I have access to the internet from my little computer, I will send back a con report or two, especially if I hear any interesting news. And I am going on a Game of Thrones tour of filming locations so I will have some photos from that also.

Since I am at World Con, I sent over a stack of postcards for my latest book, Time Walker, offering a free download e-book to the convention attendees. Not wanting to shortchange my followers, you, too, can download a free copy by clicking on the link below and then clicking on the link for Prolific Works. The link will take you to the book download page. This will be free until the end of August, so be sure to grab your copy before then.

http://lillianwolfe.me/time-walker-free-book/

Look for my reports from Ireland along with pictures. I expect to be taking tons of them as I tour western Ireland after the convention.

If any of you will be at the Dublin World Con and spot me there, please say hello and introduce yourself. I’d like to meet you.