Flash Fiction Advisory

Today, You Will Be With Me in Paradox.

The Goat's post* on Gen Con got me thinking.

Okay, admittedly, it got me thinking about this guy:



But it also got me thinking about lighting out into the world, encountering strange creatures and returning home alive to tell the tale.

And commerce.

Okay, its a jumble, but my point is this - professional (or semiprofessional) writing is a solitary art business for a community of individuals. I count a good number of contradictions in that definition, but it is the only one that makes sense to me, and I've been trying to make sense of this writing game/business for a dorkily** long time.

Speaking of game/business, Gen Con is a great example: it is an entertainment, it is a community, it is a business whose product is Fun, whose market is built on the detail of fantasy.

All this to say, it is important to remember for the lonely writer to at least occasionally (once every dozen years, at least, just to let the troll slaves clean up the cave) make a point of going to events where business, entertainment and end users might be found. I'll be going to the Ragged Edge, a decidedly unconference conference this week, with a report to follow.

Flash Fiction Advisory #14: Walking around a big room with people inside can be pointless or important. Pick the right room.

*Not to be confused with Ghost to the Post.

**Take a geek's time preference, combined with a square's attention to detail and a nerd's clear social calendar and you get a rough estimate of the epoch known as the Dork Ages.