Rogues and Rogue Writers

This is yet another MileHiCon post...this is getting way out of hand, but you guys wanted me to do this blog, and you wanted to know what was going on in my life...so it's your own damn fault.

Again, if you want this to make more sense, scroll down to the "MileHiCon First post," and then read up...

If you're a writer, and you're ever asked to participate in such a panel, make sure you're one of the first readers. The idea behind the panel is that each person does a brief reading of their work...emphasis on brief. I was the moderator, which basically meant that I got to go last...bad luck for me.

When the panel started, there were more than 20 people in the room. By the time I was able to read, there were four (other than the panelists.) A combination of people taking longer than they should, some bad writing, and some bad readers scared everyone off. That's not to say everything was bad. I did enjoy some of the work, but there were a few that made me cringe "in a thousand different ways."

The response to my reading (the second chapter of The Opium of the People...the torture scene) was positive...and to put it mildly, I felt much better about my writing after that panel.