Coyote Con 2010

I’ve never been a big fan of chat rooms; or, perhaps I should more accurately say that I stopped being a fan of chat rooms some years ago. So I was very dubious and apprehensive when I saw the ads for CoyoteCon 2010, an online writer’s convention that is running throughout the entire month of May.

However: “Free” is a powerful word, and “sit on your own couch and talk to other writers” is a powerful draw for me … so I gave it a try. So far I’m impressed; I attended the Saturday night session, “Mythic Fiction”. Panelists included Ed Morris and Deena Fisher, among several others, and the discussion was lively, well-moderated, and had me actually taking notes and asking for a transcript to use later as reference material. I’m headed into the second panel now, a special session called “Well-Rounded Worlds with Lynn Flewelling”; and I enter not apprehensive this time, but expectant and excited! Let’s see how it goes …

Update: The special session was a lot of fun; Lynn had some excellent advice, very well presented, and once again the moderators stayed on top of things and kept everything moving along nicely. I’m even more impressed on realizing that this is the first year of CoyoteCon; I’d thought they were on their second year, but apparently not.

References of the two panels I attended thus far that seem like they’re going to come in handy: Dianna Wynn Jones’s “Tough Guide to Fantasyland” (which I’ll be ordering shortly), Pantheon.org,  “The Fairy Reel” by Terry Windling, Sid Fleischman, Kelly Link’s “The Faery Handbag” (a free copy of which may be found here), Stephen Vincent Benet, and much much more.

I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring!