MikeH
Senior Member
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I'm a writer, I'm a poet, I'm a dweeb.
Posts: 106
New Jersey
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Arthur:
I love your vision.
And I'm more than willing to embrace it.
I'm also someone who has found the limits of his own mortality (and pocket book) in the time and hassles it has taken to make SHA'DAA a reality, and to get The Fictioneers to its current state (where I will soon be mailing out the Badges, Cards, and Certificates)...both efforts that from an objective viewpoint have taken a lot longer (years) to manifest than I ever imagined when I conceived them...
With that said, if we can get a core group of Fictioneers to commit to setting something like this up, as well as enough Fictioneers to commit to forking out travel fees, hotel fees, and Convention-Attendee fees to actually attend this event, then it could certainly be worthwhile.
The immediate problems that I see are logistics.
I personally don't want to RUSH any of these proposals. That is the perfect recipe for disaster.
1) Pick a Convention, one far enough into the future so that people can plan towards it and save up money for it (definitely not one that is six months or less away). One that is 10 to 12+ months away has the best chance of success. Time flies REALLY quickly for big events (weddings, birthdays, Bar Mitzvahs, etc.). Pick a Convention that has a centralized geographic location most accessible by the largest number of Fictioneers possible.
2) Pick a Convention that will give us enough time to fully conceive, outline, write, and edit a Fictioneers Anthology, that we can start promoting three months before the convention, BUT, will not go on sale until no more than a week before said convention (note: we'll need hardcopies of said book as part of the 3-month promotional effort).
3) Once the Convention Event has been picked, this will lay out the timeline for when things need to start rolling on the book, how long we'll have to pick a theme, create a outline, give a cut-off date for submissions, give a cut off date for rewrites, finalizing the cover, and locking down a contract with Whortleberry Press that addresses compensation.
4) To reiterate, this will take a dedicated committee, folks working on the Book, folks working on all those elements of the Convention that Arthur mentioned above...a lot more than just the three of us...
I don't know if we can get a free room at a convention...I don't know how those things work. I suppose it is possible to get a big named Guest or two to say a few words at our meeting...if we know they are attending, and we give them enough notice...also, I've discussed an idea recently with our Badge Artisan, who will make special "Honorary Badges" if needed, if we decide to create a Hall of Fame at the website and make well-known authors "Honorary Members," say, one or two a year. Thus, the Fictioneers meeting at the Convention could be used as an excuse to celebrate the first two inductees in The Fictioneers Hall of Fame....
Ideas, ideas, ideas...
Do we have the TIME? Do we have enough PEOPLE to do the research, phone calls, etc.? Do we have the facts needed to convince the Convention to do anything for us at this early date (we cannot quote numbers to the folks running a convention if we do not know EXACTLY how many people are actually going to attend). If we pick some convention a mere 7 months or less away, I have a strong feeling a lot of folks who could afford it are going to say their travel plans are already locked down, or, it is not enough time to save up money etc.
Will setting up these logistics cost money? I'm neither rich nor wealthy, and promoting Sha'Daa and getting the Fictioneers Honors produced is wiping out my account. I do not have funds to make down payments on anything at the moment...and The Fictioneers is, after all, a non profit organization with no War Chest whatsoever.
Well, thats my rant and rave.
I really do think a Fictioneers enclave at a major Convention would be a TON of fun. What are your thoughts?
Mike
p.s. Anyone know Jeff Lyons and Gary Markette's "current" e-mail addresses?
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