Want to break in? Come to Minicon.

A heads up to aspiring writers. If you live in the Twin Cities area, you should really be considering coming to Minicon. I spent hundreds of dollars when I was trying to break in going to conventions, trying to meet editors. Well here, you have a Tor editor (my editor, who I first met at a convention) coming to your town, ready and willing to chat with you.

Meeting Moshe is not going to mean that you'll get published by Tor, or even picked up by him. But during my early years, I found that meeting and talking to editors was invaluable for the advice they gave, for the connections I made, and for the simple change in perspective it gave. I began to see editors as part of the community, rather than fearsome gatekeepers gleefully rejecting manuscripts.

You'll also have the chance to talk to me about writing and ask me questions. Really, this is worth the $60 bucks or so it would cost you to get in. ($30 or so if you decide to pick one day and go.) You visual artists will also have the chance to talk to Dan Dos Santos about how he started doing covers, and listen as he explains the process of painting a cover. (We're bringing the WARBREAKER original art to the convention to show off.)

This is a fantastic opportunity. If you're wanting to break into writing/painting fantasy or sf, and you aren't going to Minicon (which is one of the premier local sf conventions in the country) then you're throwing away one of your best chances to network and learn.