(for those of you who haven’t read these yet, the first two instalments of my WOTF retrospective can be found here http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=136 and here http://jasonfischer.com.au/?p=155)

Immediately after the awards ceremony, we writers and illustrators made our way back into the hotel lobby.  Before the ceremony, this had been the venue for our swanky dinner, now we found that we were at the site of our first book signing.  The organisers of this event are nothing if not awesome, and it makes my head spin to think how quickly they effected this change!

The lobby of the Roosevelt, shortly after its transformation from a dining hall into a book launch/signing.  Big stacks of the anthology can be seen in the middle of the room, and along the outside of the room the illustrators wait next to their framed illustrations.  Most of the writers can be seen in the middle of the pic, madly signing away. 

It was great to chat to folks at the signing, and there were a surprising number of WOTF aspirants who’d come along to the ceremony.  It was great to chat to these new and not-so-new writers, many of whom would say something along the lines of “I’ve been entering the Contest for X amount of years, I’ve gotten Honorable Mention/Semi-Finalist/Finalist”.  To which I said (and still say) rock on, keep at it and you’ll eventually get there.  Each of these folks was keen, enthusiastic and persistent (and regular readers of the yearly anthology – research of your target market is a Good Thing).  With such a great attitude they can only go far, and even if they don’t crack this Contest, they’ll have a growing stockpile of stories to sell elsewhere 🙂  And that there is the entire secret to winning Writers of the Future!

Both Nina Kiriki Hoffmann and Jordan Lapp provided us with advice for book-signings, which I will repeat for the wisdom of the ages:

a) Beforehand, figure out a cool short phrase that you will write (on the title-page if it’s your book, or on the first page of your story if in a shared antho).  It helps if it’s something to do with your work – if people end up collecting a whole bunch of your books and get each one signed, ten instances of “best wishes” looks a bit thoughtless.  For example, my story was called “The House of Nameless”, so I wrote “Welcome to my House!”

b) Ask folks if they want the book made out to anybody.  Some people will just want your signature, or are intending it as a gift for somebody else.   

c) Always get the spelling of a person’s name right, and always check, even if you think a name is straight forward.  There are a million different ways to spell most ordinary sounding names, and you don’t wanna muck this up.  A person’s name is their most important possession and it’s respectful to take the time to get it right.

here are some of my own addendums to this:

d) If you are left-handed like me, don’t use a smudgy pen.  Thin-tipped sharpies seem to be really good, and you can’t go wrong with the old ballpoint.  Also, be careful not to bugger up the spine of the book by pressing too hard.  You will most likely be signing on a right-handed page, so if you are a lefty you may have to write at a bit of an angle.  You’ll get the hang of it.

e) You shouldn’t use the signature you use for your credit card.  Practice at home beforehand till you have something that you really like and can whip out quickly (and repeatedly).  At my first ever book-signing (for the official “Dreaming Again” book-launch) I repeatedly scribbled out my usual scrawl, which earnt me the nickname of Mister Squiggle amongst the other contributors further down the table from me.  I get the respect that I deserve 🙂

After the book signing (many many hours later), the writers and illustrators went up to a cool little room party, where the wonderful Joni Labaqui put on a swag of yummy food for us – after all the excitement of the evening I know I was ravenous!  Most folks had opted to change out of their monkey suits and fancy frocks, but I stubbornly continued to wear mine, on the theory that a) it’s cool to pretend you’re James Bond b) it’s The Aussie Way to get maximum value for money from something that you’ve rented.  Thankfully I did not dribble ketchup all over my rented duds, and once more I enjoyed American Coca-Cola (knowing that my love affair with its addictive sweetness was soon to come to an end).

The next day we were roused (thankfully at a reasonable hour) and ferried via bus to a large book-signing at the Borders store in Pasadena.  By Jupiter’s Hammer, this book store was HUGE.  I’m used to the shops back home, where everything is ridiculously expensive and most of the cool stuff needs to be ordered in (and many of us forgo bricks-n-mortar stores for Amazon, Book Depository etc).  I’m not one for exaggerating or speaking in hyperbole, but the moment I walked into Pasadena Borders, it was like I had walked into VALHALLA.

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, Tim Powers, and contest winners Paula Stiles, Jeff Young, and illustrator Rachel Sweeney.  I’m sitting about two people to the right of this photo.

We were set up in a huge horseshoe table, which included all of the writers, illustrators, attending judges and returning contest winners.  It was awesome to sit next to Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J Anderson, knowing that a few seats away Jerry Pournelle and Tim Powers were busy signing away (and in Tim’s case usually adding cool pirate pictures).  We were deluged with folks and it was a great event.  Even cooler, I picked up a copy of John Joseph Adam’s “The Living Dead” for $15, knowing that back home (if I could even *find* a store stocking it) it would cost me upwards of $40.

Here are a bunch of other photos from the signing: http://site.williamwubooks.com/blog/2010/09/05/writers-of-the-future-in-pasadena-august-29-2010/

Here I am, in book signing mode.  Note the sharpies, an author’s best friend!

Later that night, we were treated to a night of theatre at the Author Services building – apparently every week they put on a play or a live reading of a story from the pulp era.  Three folks did a reading of L Ron Hubbard’s “Tough Old Man” and it was great fun.  We hung around afterwards for nibblies and drinks, and suddenly it was the beginning of the end.  The week-long event had officially come to a close.  Over the course of the evening and the next day, folks began to dribble homewards.  We’d only had a week together but it was a little sad, I feel like I’d made some great friends at this workshop and it was a shame that we had to go our separate ways, return to our everyday lives.

(Thankfully, we’re all still in contact via the intarwebz, and it looks like the beginning of great things for our group – we’ve already collectively reported a few pro-sales and it’s not even been a month.  Look out world, WOTF 26 IS COMING!)

On my last day I attempted to squeeze in a little bit of touristy stuff, but only managed a brief bit of gift shopping for the family, a quick look around the place, and a trip on a tourist bus.  I have several photos with a little smudge on a hill that, if you squint, looks a little like the famous Hollywood sign.  I’m really going to have to come back and do it all properly, with our cram-packed schedule  there just wasn’t the time to play tourist.

So what did I get out of my epic trip, and what did I learn?  I spent a week with some of the luminaries of my field, got to pick their brains about all things writing related, met several awesome folks, learned how to talk to the media (and then did so), experienced an awards gala, a book launch, did signings, got an amazing illustration for my story, and generally got treated like a rock star.  Wow.  Even now I’m still absorbing it all.

Seriously, if you’re an aspiring genre writer or an illustrator, you should be entering this Contest 🙂 You won’t regret it!

Marisol Nichols, Jason Fischer and Tim Powers: “What happens in Hollywood, stays in Hollywood”