I said what I said. Among the MANY things I didn't realize went with being an author was the performance aspect. What I mean by that is the requirement to be ON when in the public eye, whether that's in person at a con, interacting with readers, or on a podcast, where (hopefully) a whole bunch of people are watching. And they're not just listening to what we say, but how we say it. Many of us are naturally inclined to be introverts, having wonderful conversations with all the voices in our heads, but we have to learn how to be extroverted, at least for those public events. It can definitely be a learning curve, but it's usually in good fun. One of the games we like to play is 'Heard at the con' where we share out of context snippets or (unintentionally) funny things we say during those amazingly hectic weekends. I'm not ashamed to admit I usually take first place, though Shady temporarily stole my crown at Marscon back in January (don't worry, I promptly stole it back at Superstars). . . twice.
If you haven't heard me say something utterly ridiculous or embarrassing, give me time. It's a talent LOL. If you see me in person this year, feel free to ask about that one time on a Salvage Title panel at Libertycon. . .
But that's the fun side of it. What do you do when you actually make a mistake? When you say something hurtful, do something that was unprofessional? Because it happens to all of us. We get tired, we get cranky, we say or do something we didn't mean, or forget to do something we promised to do. So what do you do? You act like the dog gone professional you are and admit to your mistake, apologize like a grown ass adult, and make it right. Fun side note, I had typed 'god damned professional' and it autocorrected to 'dog gone professional' so I'm going to go with it because it made me giggle. But seriously, there's a reason the number one rule at CKP is "Don't be a dick." Nobody wants to work with a jerk, so pull on those big girl panties and admit when you're wrong.
The reason I decided to talk about mistakes for this blog post actually has to do with Superstars. At one of the panels, a lovely gentleman mentioned making a mistake and not knowing quite what to do. It was obvious he was embarrassed by what amounted to a tiny misstep, so I jumped in with, dude, let me tell you about the multiple ways I embarrassed myself just in the past few days. If you want to know the full list, that'll be a discussion for the bar LOL. Bottom line, we're going to fuck up, it's how we handle it that matters.
In writing news, I just realized that Salvage Bunny 3, Fallout on Darsaana, comes out NEXT FRIDAY!! Holy crap, where did February go?? I'll post another snippet on FB tomorrow and try not to die from excitement in the meantime. It's not like I don't have plenty to keep me busy though. I've got alpha reading to do for Nick Steverson and Jason Cordova's upcoming Salvage novel, and holy crap guys, you're not going to want to miss out on it. Am I smug that I get to read it first, HECK YES I'm all the smug!! I've also got some alpha reading to do for Casey Moores and his upcoming Blood and Armor series with Bill Fawcett. It's SO freaking good. If you're a fan of near-future military fiction with just the right amount of scifi, this series will be for you. . . and me, because CASEY AND I ARE FINALLY GOING TO GET TO COWRITE A NOVEL. Ehem. Sorry, I'm a little excited to cowrite with my writing mentor. It's going to be awesome. Hoooo buddy. So much to be excited for!! Until next week, folks!!
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