A lot happened at ReaderCon33 this year. Okay, yes, a lot always happens at ReaderCon (read about some of my other experiences here), but specifically a lot happened for me at ReaderCon this year. So much so that I want to make sure I write about it here so I don’t forget it all (I have the memory of a fruit fly). This is the first of a two part ReaderCon wrap-up. There’s that much for me to talk about. [ReaderCon33 Experiences]
Attending as an Official Participant [SFF Community, Writing Conferences]
 ReaderCon33 is the first one I attended as an actual program participant. Last year, I volunteered and had a blast doing so. If you’re looking for a great way to meet new people and make connections all while feeling good about giving back and helping the convention continue to thrive, I strongly recommend volunteering. I did end up on a panel last year, but that wasn’t planned. Someone who was supposed to be on a panel about writing during the pandemic got sick at the last minute (ironic, right?). A good writing friend of mine, Anatoly Belalovsky, who was also on that panel suggested I step in and fill the empty spot. The ReaderCon folks decided that would work, and it did. I mean, I assume it worked out because when I applied to participate in this year’s Con in a more official capacity, they approved my application and put me on four panels. And approved me for a solo reading slot (more on that later).
ReaderCon33 is the first one I attended as an actual program participant. Last year, I volunteered and had a blast doing so. If you’re looking for a great way to meet new people and make connections all while feeling good about giving back and helping the convention continue to thrive, I strongly recommend volunteering. I did end up on a panel last year, but that wasn’t planned. Someone who was supposed to be on a panel about writing during the pandemic got sick at the last minute (ironic, right?). A good writing friend of mine, Anatoly Belalovsky, who was also on that panel suggested I step in and fill the empty spot. The ReaderCon folks decided that would work, and it did. I mean, I assume it worked out because when I applied to participate in this year’s Con in a more official capacity, they approved my application and put me on four panels. And approved me for a solo reading slot (more on that later). 
So, yeah, fame comes in all shapes and sizes. This is my little moment of “oh my gosh, I’ve made it! I was a program participant at ReaderCon! My name was on their list and everything. Squeeee!! P.S. The SFF community is pretty small, so it truly is silly for me to feel so stupidly excited about all this, but I’m a low key hedonist, so I find pleasure wherever I can, including in the small things. [ReaderCon33 Experiences]
From Volunteer to Program Participant [Moderating Panels, Networking at Conventions, Writing Events]. Readercon33 Experiences
 Like I said, I was on four panels this year. For three of them, they put me on as the moderator. Which is fine by me. That’s basically what I do all day everyday as a teacher. I moderate rowdy hoards of teenagers in a classroom full of glassware and biohazardous materials. Pshaw, I got this.
Like I said, I was on four panels this year. For three of them, they put me on as the moderator. Which is fine by me. That’s basically what I do all day everyday as a teacher. I moderate rowdy hoards of teenagers in a classroom full of glassware and biohazardous materials. Pshaw, I got this. 
Thanks to my role as moderator, the fun started weeks before the convention. Teacher that I am, I like to plan ahead. I reached out via email to all the other panelists for all three panels I was slated to moderate. I introduced myself, encouraged them to do the same via email, and then solicited ideas on what everyone wanted to talk about during the actual convention. This, I will admit, felt like basic due diligence on my part. However, multiple folks from all three panels made a point to thank me for being proactive and said I was the only moderator to do so. That’s not to say that no other panel moderators contacted their panelists ahead of time. I’m sure many did. Just not the moderators of the other panels my people were on.
The pre-con preparations paid off, too, because by the time we actually sat down together in person, we all had a working rapport established and were primed to talk shop on all the various cool topics. Who were those folks and what were those cool topics? Glad you asked. [R
eaderCon33 Experiences]
My ReaderCon33 Schedule [Moderating Panels, Networking at Conventions, Writing Events] Readercon33 Experiences
 Starting at 12:00PM on Friday, I moderated the panel, “What Separates Adult and YA SFF” which meant I got to toss questions to authors LJ Cohen, Mark Painter, Melissa Caruso, and Sarena Straus for forty-five minutes and listen to them share their thoughts.
Starting at 12:00PM on Friday, I moderated the panel, “What Separates Adult and YA SFF” which meant I got to toss questions to authors LJ Cohen, Mark Painter, Melissa Caruso, and Sarena Straus for forty-five minutes and listen to them share their thoughts. 
Both SFF sold as adult and as YA may contain protagonists who are teens or young adults, as well as sex, drugs, and violence. What, then, puts a story in one category or the other? Panelists will examine what tropes, themes, sensibilities, pacing, and narrative voices may genuinely distinguish the categories.
Then, at 5:00PM, I moderated my second panel, “Writing For, With, About, and Around Children.” This was a truly excellent panel. Not only was the topic itself interesting, but so too were the panelists (authors Caitlin Rozakis, Carlos Hernandez, Noah Beit-Aharon, and Rob Cameron)!
Many authors have to navigate their writing careers around the needs of their offspring, not least those who write books for children. How does parenting inform or transform one’s writing, and how does writing inform or transform one’s parenting? Do parents create more believable child characters? Do readers even want realistically depicted children? And what of the parents? How realistically do we dare depict ourselves?
Later that evening, at 9:00PM, I moderated the panel: “Mad Science Q & A,” which was… interesting. The description of the panel left me slightly confused, so I reached out to the ReaderCon33 folks to ask what the format and feel of the panel would be like. They told me to expect a bunch of SFF writers to pepper the panelists with science-related brainstorming questions. It sounded like I would be calling on audience members when they raised their hands to ask questions about something science-y. As a teacher, I felt pretty confident I could handle that.
The panel ran pretty much the way I expected, except that all of the panelists (including myself) had backgrounds in biological sciences. Arula Ratnakar is a writer pursuing a PhD in Computational Neuroscience. Amanda Downum is a writer with a degree in Mortuary Science. Author Allen Dyen-Shapiro has a PhD in Biochemistry, and I’m the schlep who teaches biology to high schoolers. So, of course, nearly all the questions were about time travel and quantum entanglement. Ugh. What do four folks who know all about biological systems know that can possibly let them answer the question, “Do you think time travel is possible” in any kind of satisfying way? Spoiler alert: No, time travel is not possible. Someone did ask about whether or not the idea of transferring memories from one brain to another was plausible. That, we were able to talk about at length. Especially Arula. Thank Thor for Arula!
Have a notion for a futuristic technology and want to run it by some experts? A chimerical monster whose biology requires further scientific study? Need to know how long it takes a body to decompose in an abandoned mineshaft, for… um… reasons? Ask our panel of
madscientists your burning questions and see what they thinkthrough the little windows in their skulls. Answers may be unexpectedly thoughtful or incredibly unreliable—you will have to judge that for yourself. They called us mad, MAD to do this panel! [ReaderCon33 Experiences]
Meet the Pros(e) Social Hour [Moderating Panels, Networking at Conventions, Writing Events] Readercon33 Experiences

My final panel of Friday night wasn’t so much a panel as a professional gathering styled like a speed dating event. At 10:15PM authors and editors sat around teeny tiny (way too teeny tiny) tables with non-authors and editors and chatted about whatever. Every 15 minutes, we rotated to a new, randomly assigned table and repeated the process until 11:00PM. It was loud, crowded, and kind of awkward, but also fun. And I got to sit for fifteen minutes with author P. Djélí Clark, whose writing is amazing! If you haven’t read anything by him, you’re truly missing out. Turns out, he’s also a pretty amazing human as well as an amazing author.
I also got to chat for fifteen minutes with the award winning horror editor Ellen Datlow, who has edited some of the best horror anthologies out there, Screams from the Dark being the most recent that I’ve read. Okay, truth? Ellen is one of those people around whom I freeze up and get fanishly awkward. I have a huge (non-romantic) crush on her. She knows her shit, takes no shit, gives no fucks, and totally owns whatever space she’s in. She’s absolutely incredible. Sorry for the swearing, but Ellen Datlow deserves heaps and heaps of profane praise.
I’m going to end this Part 1 post here. In my part 2 post, I tell the story of my Sunday solo reading experience (my first in person live reading at a convention and holy wow was I nervous!), and I’ll tell you about all the awesome folks I met and chatted with. I also need to record the many packing errors I made but didn’t discover until I got to the hotel and checked in for posterity sake. [ReaderCon33 Experiences]
Do you have a favorite con that you like to attend regularly? Tell me about it. What makes it great for you? [ReaderCon33 Experiences]
Thanks for stopping by, and as always, happy writing! [ReaderCon33 Experiences]


 Hustle culture is awful. It’s not a unique thought, obviously. And it’s not a problem unique to the writing/publishing world. If you’re a creative writer, though,
Hustle culture is awful. It’s not a unique thought, obviously. And it’s not a problem unique to the writing/publishing world. If you’re a creative writer, though, 

 In my mind, submitting a story for publication is a bit like buying a scratch ticket. The
In my mind, submitting a story for publication is a bit like buying a scratch ticket. The  It’s been way too long since I last posted anything here. Since late December, to be exact. Even longer since I posted any kind of an
It’s been way too long since I last posted anything here. Since late December, to be exact. Even longer since I posted any kind of an  I have jaw-dropping news—at least, it made
I have jaw-dropping news—at least, it made  2024 is off to a great start. My story, “A Pharaoh’s Curse to End the War,” found a home in issue 19 of
2024 is off to a great start. My story, “A Pharaoh’s Curse to End the War,” found a home in issue 19 of  I decided to apply for an associates level membership in the SFWA a couple of weeks ago. It’s a little pricey for me ($100) but ever since I discovered that the SFWA existed and saw the credential in the bios of a few SF authors I was reading in SF&F and Asimovs and Analog, etc. way back in the early aughts, I’ve wanted to be able to list it next to my own name. So silly, I know. Completely childish. “So and so is in the SFWA! Some day I’m gonna be in that organization, too!”
I decided to apply for an associates level membership in the SFWA a couple of weeks ago. It’s a little pricey for me ($100) but ever since I discovered that the SFWA existed and saw the credential in the bios of a few SF authors I was reading in SF&F and Asimovs and Analog, etc. way back in the early aughts, I’ve wanted to be able to list it next to my own name. So silly, I know. Completely childish. “So and so is in the SFWA! Some day I’m gonna be in that organization, too!” Teaching is taking up way too much of my life this year. On top of my two regular science courses, I inherited a couple of trimester elective science classes from a teacher who was let go last year (for reasons I won’t dwell on other than to say it was a poorly handled situation on all sides). The teacher in question left a TON of materials in a highly disorganized state. So while there’s a ton of resources for me to utilize for these two courses, I am essentially rebuilding both courses from the ground up.
Teaching is taking up way too much of my life this year. On top of my two regular science courses, I inherited a couple of trimester elective science classes from a teacher who was let go last year (for reasons I won’t dwell on other than to say it was a poorly handled situation on all sides). The teacher in question left a TON of materials in a highly disorganized state. So while there’s a ton of resources for me to utilize for these two courses, I am essentially rebuilding both courses from the ground up.  Fitness… ugh. I am currently in an unfit, detrained state. Two years ago, I tore my shoulder labrum. Hurt like a son of a bitch when it happened. Took me a year to get it officially diagnosed. Turns out labrum tears don’t heal and surgeries to repair them have a 50% success rate. Not being a young person with ambitions of a college or pro- sports career, I opted NOT to undergo the highly invasive surgery. Instead, I opted for a couple of dry needling sessions to release the muscles that had semi-permanently tensed up around the injury. Hot damn, did that work! I was astonished. And then I got the bill. Oof.
Fitness… ugh. I am currently in an unfit, detrained state. Two years ago, I tore my shoulder labrum. Hurt like a son of a bitch when it happened. Took me a year to get it officially diagnosed. Turns out labrum tears don’t heal and surgeries to repair them have a 50% success rate. Not being a young person with ambitions of a college or pro- sports career, I opted NOT to undergo the highly invasive surgery. Instead, I opted for a couple of dry needling sessions to release the muscles that had semi-permanently tensed up around the injury. Hot damn, did that work! I was astonished. And then I got the bill. Oof.
 Excitingly, my flash fiction piece, “
Excitingly, my flash fiction piece, “
 There are definitely some seasonal cycles at work in my life. For example, fall is a four month season of teaching, coaching, and family commitments. As such, September requires I pause in my creative writing endeavors. The months between August and December require head-down determination and a focus exclusively on lesson planning, grading, and (this year) volleyball. Interestingly, seeing two of my stories in print during my no-room-for-writing fall season has acted as a creative beacon for me. It reminded me that the exact same thing happened last year. I had to put my personal interests down for several months. Yet despite that fallow period, I ended up with four new short stories written and published. As a result, I’m feeling slightly less burnt out than I usually do at this time each year. Perhaps a few months away from writing every autumn is a good thing.
There are definitely some seasonal cycles at work in my life. For example, fall is a four month season of teaching, coaching, and family commitments. As such, September requires I pause in my creative writing endeavors. The months between August and December require head-down determination and a focus exclusively on lesson planning, grading, and (this year) volleyball. Interestingly, seeing two of my stories in print during my no-room-for-writing fall season has acted as a creative beacon for me. It reminded me that the exact same thing happened last year. I had to put my personal interests down for several months. Yet despite that fallow period, I ended up with four new short stories written and published. As a result, I’m feeling slightly less burnt out than I usually do at this time each year. Perhaps a few months away from writing every autumn is a good thing.  I’m also looking forward to taking part in
I’m also looking forward to taking part in 
 Staring June 26th, I’ll be writing my fingers raw as I try to raise some money to support a super worthy cause. I’m taking part in Clarion West’s 2023 Write-a-thon fundraiser, a six-week-long writing adventure. I hope you’ll consider supporting my efforts, but first, let me tell you a bit about Clarion West.
Staring June 26th, I’ll be writing my fingers raw as I try to raise some money to support a super worthy cause. I’m taking part in Clarion West’s 2023 Write-a-thon fundraiser, a six-week-long writing adventure. I hope you’ll consider supporting my efforts, but first, let me tell you a bit about Clarion West. Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization that runs an acclaimed six-week residential workshop every summer, online classes and workshops, one-day and weekend workshops, a reading series every summer, and other events throughout the year.
Clarion West is a nonprofit literary organization that runs an acclaimed six-week residential workshop every summer, online classes and workshops, one-day and weekend workshops, a reading series every summer, and other events throughout the year.




 Because I’m a teacher,
Because I’m a teacher,  Okay, I might be biting off more than I can chew here. Of course I am. I’m a Try Hard, YOLO, overachieving Extra by nature. Do all the things! All of them!! In that spirit, I’ve got a half-finished draft of a middle grade adventure story that I really want to finish writing, and I really want it to be good, not sucky. Rather than discovery write my way into 70,000 words of bloated rambling nothingness (which has been my failed strategy with my last two novels), I need a plan. I need to actually map out the story before I write it. Unfortunately, I suck at plot structure. Fortunately, I’ll have a SFWA mentor who will be able to help me out with tips and tricks and regular check-ins to keep me honest.
Okay, I might be biting off more than I can chew here. Of course I am. I’m a Try Hard, YOLO, overachieving Extra by nature. Do all the things! All of them!! In that spirit, I’ve got a half-finished draft of a middle grade adventure story that I really want to finish writing, and I really want it to be good, not sucky. Rather than discovery write my way into 70,000 words of bloated rambling nothingness (which has been my failed strategy with my last two novels), I need a plan. I need to actually map out the story before I write it. Unfortunately, I suck at plot structure. Fortunately, I’ll have a SFWA mentor who will be able to help me out with tips and tricks and regular check-ins to keep me honest. 
 Funny thing, though. A couple of weeks went by and I found myself mentally minimizing my publishing success, doubting it. Once is a fluke, I thought. Once doesn’t mean anything. But then it happened again. Another acceptance showed up in my inbox in early May, this time from
Funny thing, though. A couple of weeks went by and I found myself mentally minimizing my publishing success, doubting it. Once is a fluke, I thought. Once doesn’t mean anything. But then it happened again. Another acceptance showed up in my inbox in early May, this time from  





 Less than a month after getting the great news from Metastellar, B. Morris Allen emailed me with an official offer of acceptance on that strange slipstream SF story he’d been editing with me since December! That makes not one but
Less than a month after getting the great news from Metastellar, B. Morris Allen emailed me with an official offer of acceptance on that strange slipstream SF story he’d been editing with me since December! That makes not one but