Updates post WWC
Thursday, August 21, 2025
So, WWC 2025 is in the books, so to speak! Here are my thoughts :) And this one's a long one folks! Fair warning :)
Once again, Hubby and Eldest and I made the long drive to Calgary to attend the When Words Collide Festival for Readers and Writers.
I presented my two sessions, which I think both went well. And there was one gentleman who spoke with me after A Map is Still Not a Journey, with a helpful critique. Said the material was great, and my delivery of that good, but that I should cut back/eliminate any talk of myself or even of Whitney's backstory. Said the material was what was important, and that I "wasted time at the beginning talking about myself and Whitney, which meant I was rushed at the end". Huh. Fair point! In the past I didn't talk much about myself during my sessions, not even at the beginning, as I figured there wasn't much to tell! But this year, all of the sessions I attended (other than the one panel) the presenter gave a fairly full bio of themselves. Plus, each of these presentations had an assigned MC, who talked about the presenter. I wonder if that fellow felt that way about all the sessions he attended, because there certainly was LOTS of self promotion! But, I didn't disagree with his critizue, so, while my bio page was still in the Magic Makes the World Go Round powerpoint, I didn't expand upon it in any way - I let my MC do that :) And I don't know if it made a difference or not, but I finished early enough that I was able to take questions and get packed up and out of there fairly quickly! Of course, there was less to pack up than from the Map is Still Not a Journey session, but still!
The sessions I attended included three by Suzy Vadori - who is a very dynamic and entertaining speaker, a couple that Charlotte Morganti did, one by Kelley Armstrong, one by Sarah Brindley, one by Rob Bender, one by Dave Sweet, one by Lacy Lieffers, and one by Jenna Greene, plus a panel on Cozy SF. Also an introductory into playing DnD. The ones by Suzy and Charlotte were pretty informative - Thirty Ways to Promote Your Book, 7 Ways to Find Telling in Your Writing and Four Must Haves in the first Two Paragraphs of Every Chapter or Scene were presented by Suzy, and had good information. Dave's was interesting (What Happens When We Die?), but the content didn't quite match the write up. Still interesting though! Kelley's was also interesting, even from the spot sitting on the floor! Would have liked to have seen more of her! The panel was awesome - and one of the panelists was from SK and also published a short story in a Pete's Press anthology!!! And the Dynamic Conflict with Jenna Greene was perhaps my favourite of the whole weekend - the material wasn't really new to me, but her style and presentation were awesome!!! I found myself really engaged and enjoying myself :)
Disappointing sessions - The Sell More Books session on Marketing was not bad (by Lucy), but really didn't tell me much. Or maybe I just need to review my notes, because there was definitely content, and some tips to use going forward. Sarah's session on Resuscitating a Dying Draft was similar in that it didn't overwhelm, but I think a review of my notes will provide a few things I can use. The real disappointment was How to Play D&D :( The speaker rambled a bit in her delivery (who doesn't?). But for people who were looking for instruction into how to play D&D, and other than Hubby and myself everyone attending were brand new, they ALL left totally confused and in the dark. Hubby was really annoyed by the presentation - said it was disjointed and not very informative. It definitely did not prepare anyone to be able to start playing at any level. As such, neither of us bothered to go to any of the other D&D sessions that we'd planned on going to. I figure I'll get more info on running a 5th edition game for the Pathfinder conference in October that I've agreed to do simply by utilizing the DM guide we have on hand.
Thoughts on the new hotel ... this year we were at the Sheraton Cavalier Calgary. And while it was a nice enough place - and very handy to have everything in one building - the session rooms were all pretty small, compared to what we had over at the Delta. I mentioned sitting on the floor for a session? Most sessions had people standing or sitting on the floor, and many had huge lineups waiting outside before the doors opened. Which meant people left their previous session early just so they could line up and hopefully get a seat in their next one. Not great at all. Also - for all that there were three restaurants and a lunch kiosk (kind of like what you find in an airport), one place was only open for breakfast (a mediocre buffet, which was free for us because of the room we'd booked), and another said it was to be open for lunch and supper, but it didn't have alot of space and most of the time didn't look like it WAS open. And the third was only open for supper, and while the food was good, they were SO understaffed we'd be there for over an hour before someone would even bring us menus. Other than the Thursday night, this happened Friday, Saturday and Sunday!
On Thursday, Eldest and I went to the social for guests and presenters, which was a costumed affair. Drinks, even pop, were kind of expensive, so we only had one each. And some people who had the Coke felt it tasted "off". Of course none of the appies being served were gluten free (typical!), but we had a fairly enjoyable time just sitting at a nice large round table and waiting for a variety of people to stop by to visit. Which they did! I had a great chat with Robert J Sawyer, and Brian from Edge Publication was a real delight! Randy McCharles stopped by briefly, but didn't chat much. And there were a few ladies that were quite lovely to meet! Hubby, of course - as socializing like this was not his cup of tea - stayed in the room and played VR Dungeons of Eternity!!!
All in all, disappointments aside, it was a pretty good weekend. And we've all three signed up for next year already!
Now I need to update the website with my presentations from this year, and just in general tidy things up there!
And that's all for now!
Til Later, Peeps! (still need to work on a cute/catchy ending phrase ... )
Lisa
Posted on 10:28 AM by