Back from LTUE and various updates

I am back from LTUE and I had a great time.  It is one of my favorite annual events and I think this was the 5th year in a row I’ve been a guest. I was on a bunch of panels about a bunch of different topics and had fun on all of them.

My panels were all pretty full. I like to imagine that is because I’ve got a rep as being a nuts and bolts, non-artsy, practical business advice kind of guy. In actuality I think it is because people know that I am silly and entertaining. 🙂

I was on a panel about writing monsters. Rob Wells was sitting next to me and his panic attack issues started acting up because it was standing room only and a bunch of people were standing in front of the exit. Rob asked them to move, and they politely did so, but NOT FAST ENOUGH. So I took the mike and asked if anybody had seen the Bodyguard? Because don’t make me go all Kevin Costner, pick Rob up in my arms, run down the aisle,and kick the door open. Rob said that would be nice. I said I’d only do it if he sang the song. 😀

Yes. This is the kind of hard hitting literature advice you get at LTUE!

The Writing Action panel (i.e. The Larry Show) is just me talking about how to write better action scenes. I had a packed room and when I got the Time’s Up signal at the end, there were still a bunch of people with hands up to ask questions, and it turned out that there was nobody in that room after me for the next hour. So I said I’d stick around. Most of the audience stayed, so I ended up answering questions for an additional 45 minutes until they kicked us all out.

My good deed of the day was on a panel about… Heck… I can’t remember. I was sitting next to Daniel Coleman who is another local writer. (and on that note, it has been awesome over the last 5 years watching several people I’ve met go from brand new aspiring writer to published professionals). Dan’s daughter was selling those charity candy bars for her school and was asking her dad for help before the panel started. I figured we had a few minutes and a hundred people already captive, so being a devout capitalist I decided to help.

So I asked (using my normal, bellowing, former firearm’s instructor voice) the audience for their attention. Then I explained that this adorable child was on a mission of importance (she tried to escape, but I told her to stay in front, because cuteness is a weapon!) then I said that she was selling delicious chocolate (I’m guessing) for a super important cause (then I whispered to her what the cause was) LIBRARY COMPUTERS! So raise those hands and this adorable little capitalist will bring you chocolate! Boom. Done. Sold the box in one minute. If this writing thing doesn’t work out, I am super good at selling candy bars.

The best part of LTUE for me is hanging out with other authors. The Utah writing community is a solid bunch, with some really good folks in it, and LTUE is one of the few times I actually get to see some of these people. So for three days I get to talk with my peers and see people that I don’t get to see very often.

You guys remember this? http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/publisher-cancels-book-contract-because-the-writer-is-gay/ where a publisher cancelled a book contract because they learned one of the authors was gay? (and despite the Social Justice Warriors of SFWA warning you of my cismale hatemongery, I tried to help them out). I bumped into David at LTUE and I was happy to hear that much like I predicted, not only did they get a new, better contract, they got picked up by one of the big dogs, Scholastic, and they are getting a big marketing push. Good for them.

Being a gamer nerd, I got to playtest a new RPG that is coming out called Gallant. Stay tuned, I will plug it when it launches because it was really fun.

So LTUE was great.

In other news I turned in Monster Hunter Nemesis to my editors and Reader Force Alpha. This allowed me to play the SONG OF TRIUMPH. This is the song I play whenever I wrap up a project. Allow me to play you the song of my people! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iijKLHCQw5o

Yes. Because nothing says I’m making a living as a professional author like heavy metal bag pipes.

While I wait for my editor’s feedback on MHN I’m going to work on a couple of smaller projects. I’m doing a Grimnoir short for Tracy Hickman’s Soujorner’s Tales, and this will also be an audiobook on Audible.com.

Then there are soooooo many novels to write. I’ve got like 15 books under contract right now, so that is a good problem to have! The 3rd and final D6 novel is looming, and I need to get with Mike to talk about that. He’s currently deployed again, but it is headquarter’s duty so he’s actually got time to write. He’s sold a space opera to Baen, but last I heard he’s ahead of schedule and doing awesome on that one.

EDIT: forgot to add, of the audibooks that dropped recently I’ve listened to bits of each, and am only now getting a chance to listen to the whole things. Going in random order, I picked Into the Storm first, and finished it last night.

HOLY CRAP. Get it. Listen to it. It was fantastic. I know I’m biased, but I may have shed a single manly tear at the end. It was that good. Ray Porter knocked it out of the park.

Sad Puppies... err... Hugo nominations now open!
SoE now on Audible.com and other updates

21 thoughts on “Back from LTUE and various updates”

  1. You forgot about your knight in shining armor moment when as the room filled for Orson Scott Card, you were nice enough to help clear a path for my wheelchair like a bodyguard and I am forever grateful for the help you, and Peter Orullian and your gaming group gave me.

    You need a badge for protector and entertainment for the masses

  2. I very badly wanted to go to LTUE this year. But just like last year, the Air Force had me off someplace and I couldn’t go.

    (In 2012 I missed LTUE because I was freshly back from Afghanistan and had brought home some kind of Afghan plague. I was every kind of sick, from dizziness to vomiting, for nearly a month. I was all but incapacitated when LTUE came around. I haven’t been to it since 2009.

    I will attend one of these years though, I swear.

    1. As for my space opera, yes, it’ll be finished well ahead of my deadline, I’m confident. I expect to get both it and Project Blue, the conclusion to the Dead Six trilogy, wrapped up and off to the publisher this year.

      Speaking of space, though, check out some of the artwork done for me by the Internet’s own Minimum Wage Historian!

      http://wethearmed.com/r-r/i%27m-writing-a-space-opera/

  3. Eluveite is badass, got to see them live in Seattle a few years back. I can see why you choose this as a song of winning.

  4. I listened to the Song of Your People when you posted it on Facebook. Afterwards, I went downstairs to talk to the wife.

    “Swiss Heavy Metal Bagpipes” I said.

    “Ah,” she replied, without looking away from her computer. “That would be Larry’s Song of Triumph?”

  5. At all the panels, there was a microphone that the authors passed around.

    All but Larry. With his booming voice, it was much easier to hear him straight, than through the amplification.

    LtUE is all about aspiring authors getting practical lessons in how to make a living writing books. It is _not_ a ‘con’, there are a couple of costumes walking around, but the vast majority are dressed normally.

    If you want to write for money, it’s fantastic. I had chatted face to face with quite a few authors who’s books have been on my shelves for many a year.

    And Orson Scott Card told everyone about how he finally figured out the end of his book “Ender’s Game” after 30 years.

  6. “I’ve got like 15 books under contract right now” — don’t such contracts usually have a short deadline, like 6 months to a year? Does this mean you’re going to finish 15 books in a year (which is great, I’ll buy them all if you do)? Or does it mean you have the next 15 years all planned out (also great!)?

  7. About your new Audiobooks, I’ve been travelling across springtime hilly terrain of my county in car and all the while listening to the SoE. It’s awesome. Pure awesome.
    Your audiobooks have grown to the second best thing to listen to, just beneath Harry Dresden’s shennanigens (Skin Games are betting near!) read by THE BEST audiobook narrator James Marsters.
    I am looking forward more audiobooks from you!

  8. “Rob Wells was sitting next to me and his panic attack issues started acting up because it was standing room only and a bunch of people were standing in front of the exit.”

    Wait, which Rob Wells are you referring to? When I read that something like ” I’ve met cats and dogs smarter than Trevor and Cory. In fact, most cats and dogs are smarter than Trevor and Cory.” ran through my head.

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