On Shore Leave Anticipation

Shore Leave is coming up. The second weekend in July — the 9th through the 11th.

Guests this year include Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff.

If you’re in the Baltimore area in mid-July and you’re looking for a convention, Shore Leave’s worth your time.

I bring up Shore Leave because yesterday I received an e-mail about programming for the convention. In short, they’re looking for ideas. I’ve been spitballing a few ideas in my head.

One thing I’m thinking of pitching:

Writing Fiction at Stupidly Short Lengths
Learn about Twitterfics, Drabbles, and Flash Fiction as writers talk about creating stories at super-short lengths that make conventional stories look like War and Peace by comparison. Discover the appeal of the super-short form, uncover the techniques writers use to conceptualize and create at that length, and try your hand at your own super-short story!

I write marketing copy on a daily basis, can’t you tell?

As I mentioned in yesterday’s posting, I like writing drabbles, which are stories of precisely 100 words. I’ve not tried a Twitterfic yet, which would be a story in 140 characters, the length of a tweet. Running a panel on the topic struck me this morning as something that’s potentially fun and different. And I’m all about the fun and the different.

I’m also thinking of pitching a Merlin panel, though I haven’t come up with a catchy name for it. I do, however, have a catchy name for the standard Doctor Who panel — “The Eleventh Doctor’s The Charm!”

I’ll come up with some other ideas over the weekend.

Shore Leave. It’s a month away. I can’t wait!