2009 Plans for Nano

First, rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Rumors of my laziness and general state of overworked-ness are /NOT/ exaggerated.

Anyway, I am planning on taking on the job of Springville / Elsewhere ML again this year, and I thought I'd get an earlier start with my planning this year, and tease you all with a few of my plans for the month.

Those of you who came to the Provo write-ins will remember that we had a couple guests this last November. First was Brandon Sanderson, an epic fantasy author who has several excellent books out now. He gave a talk on the business of wriing, then answered random questions, and did a signing. Then, in a complete surprise visit, Dave Wolverton dropped in on our TGIO party, and chatted with us for a while. Both events were a lot of fun, and I decided it would be good to follow up on them this year.

So, my first plan for the year is to have at least two, and preferably three or four presentations by local authors, scheduled every week or two, maybe with one before November actually starts, and maybe one for the TGIO party. I don't have confirmed guests yet, but Brandon said he would be glad to come talk again, and I think I can get Dave back. I have my eyes on a few other locals, including Obert Skye, but I haven't approached them yet. I'll be doing that over the next month or two.

If anyone has any suggestions for other fun things to do for November, I'd be glad to hear them. In particular, I'd like to find someone to run an alternate set of writeins, for those who can't make the ones I run (Probably on Tuesday night again, at Dragon's Den, since that worked well the last two years.)

I've sent off an email to Brandon Sanderson about coming to speak with us again this year, and I'm fairly certain he will accept. Also, I was given Jaleta Clegg's name as a new local author whose first book is coming out in October, and she's agreed to come give a talk as well. I'll be pursuing other leads over the coming weeks and months. Looking forward to seeing you all again in November.

Great job!  I'm still kicking myself for not braving the drive down to Provo during rush hour to see Brandon last November.  Of course, at the time I hadn't read any of his works, but now I've read Elantris, the Mistborn trilogy, and Warbreaker.  I went to a signing of his at the Sugarhouse B&N this past June for the Warbreaker release.  I'll definitely brave the traffic to head down your way if you can wrangle him into another appearance.

Can you give us any updates on what we should expect (since it's only a month away!)

Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck getting in touch with anyone. I'm going to keep trying, but at this point I can't guarantee anything.

I am going to go ahead with my plans for a donation jar, and I have some other plans in place for little prizes and mini-contests.

Keep in mind Wheel of Time book 12 is going to be released soon, and Brandon is scheduled to be on tour for much of November. It may be difficult for him to schedule a time.

http://brandonsanderson.com/events

Keep in mind Wheel of Time book 12 is going to be released soon, and Brandon is scheduled to be on tour for much of November. It may be difficult for him to schedule a time.

http://brandonsanderson.com/events

Ooh. I hadn't even made that connection. Dang. Yeah, we won't get Brandon this year.

What about the other authors? Anything from them yet? I know Dave Wolverton is doing that NaNoWriMo camp thing at the beginning of the month so I'd assume he'd more than likely be willing to come again.

I don't know if I have bad karma or what, but I have terrible luck getting people to respond to me. :/ If any of you happen to know a popular local author personally, it would be greatly appreciated if you would approach them about making an appearance.

Why not try Dan Wells?  He's book isn't out over here, but he knows the industry and he's intresting to listen to.

I know a couple of Tracy Hickman's children, but that could be a little awkward. I'll see what I can do regardless.

Has anyone heard of the Far World series J. Scott Savage?  It's a YA fantasy series about parallel worlds and discovering your own brand of magic.  Land Keep (Book 2) was just released this month, and Water Keep (Book 1) was very, very good.  We already have Land Keep, and I plan to read it after I finish the book I'm on now.  Anyway, I have a connection to the author, and I bet I could get him to do some kind of discussion or presentation.

Someone else I just thought of, that I'm not sure if he's going to be on tour all nov., but James Dashner just came out with a new book which is absolutely amazing!  And he has a couple of nice horror stories about what not to do, but he's still published.  (and intresting to listen to)