It was great meeting so many fellow authors at Scotiacon over the weekend and I think our panels were well received.

The Writers’ Social was in a different format to usual as it took place in the Breakout Cafe. This meant that we were in the middle of a corridor and everyone was siloed on different tables. Normally, the Writers’ Social is a chance to chat and discuss writing and influences together, but the layout of the room didn’t make that possible. As most tables were independent of each other, Huskyteer and I floated around to make sure everyone was settled. It was great meeting people in this more one-on-one way, but I think the big discussion group format is the better one. Still, this was a good way to find out about everyone’s individual projects and I did enjoy the more intimate discourse we had. The hot chocolate from the machine was delicious too.

The Historical Fiction Writing panel over at the Hilton adopted a more traditional format, but this time we had microphones to play with. I think mine was too far away from my mouth on occasions, but I hope everyone who attended found the talk useful. We had a healthy turnout despite the event being in the overflow and we were asked some insightful questions. I also rambled a lot about 18th century history and was asked why I wrote about this era of gay persecution in particular. I have written a blog post to this effect which should be published this weekend. These panels are always a little daunting, but Huskyteer and I work quite well together and the audience is always supportive. I hope we gave out some useful insights and answered all of the questions asked of us.

I didn’t get chance to get to Amethyst Mare’s two writing panels on the Sunday, but the two presented by Guest of Honour Todd Aldrington were interesting. I didn’t know too much about his work prior to the convention, and his books are definitely something I am going to have to check out. The readings were engaging and I did leave the talk with some things I hadn’t considered before. This is certainly something to mull over as I look to write my own novels in the coming years. It was great that Scotiacon gave the Guest of Honour slot to a writer and I hope this is a positive sign of things to come. It would be fantastic for authors to get more recognition in the fandom as demand for our stories only seems to be growing.

All in all it has been a successful convention when it comes to writing. There was a wide diversity of panels and the attendance was high. I gave a lot of business cards out, so if you received one, feel free to drop me a message with any queries you may have. In the meantime, my sights are now set on ConFuzzled and some of the panels we may run there.