I can’t believe it’s been over a month since my last journal entry. Time is moving too quickly, and it’s just about two weeks before we fly out to San Francisco for the World Horror Convention. I’ve got a feeling that this one is going to be special.

WHC is one of the more “professional” conventions in the horror circuit. Attendees are mainly writers, agents, artists and editors, with a few fans mixed in. A lot of business gets done at cons, and the bulk of it has to do with networking. Sure, there are plenty of stories of contracts being signed by bleary-eyed veterans in the hotel bar at three in the morning; life-changing deals made with a handshake over a pitcher of beer and some salted nuts. But those are the lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be) few, and the vast majority of writers who attend are happy simply to meet a few contacts, maybe talk shop, catch up with old friends, and leave richer for the experience.

For me, this will be the first real chance to see what kind of reaction Bloodstone is getting from the folks in the genre. Sure, I’ve had lots of reviews, sales have been strong and I’ve gotten some feedback from message board writers and friends in the business, but there’s nothing quite like a big convention to get a sense of what people are saying about a particular work. I’m looking forward to it, because let’s face it: we writers are a needy bunch. If we were really writing only for ourselves, as so many claim, then we wouldn’t see the need to publish anything at all, would we?

I’m also looking forward to catching up with friends and sitting in on a panel or two. Then of course there’s the mass signing, where every writer with a book to sell gathers in one giant room to hawk their wares. And finally, the room parties, which is where legends rise and fall.

Through all this, new convention-goers must learn to tread lightly. There are many trapdoors to avoid, which are quite nicely summarized in Weston Oche’s recent contribution to storytellers Unplugged (a great blog about writing by writers). It’s important, particularly for new writers who are trying to break through that magical door to publication, to sit back, absorb the atmosphere, remain polite, and when in doubt, keep their mouths shut. Of course I broke nearly all of those rules at last year’s Necon (Koi Pond and all, although contrary to what many claim, I did not actually get my feet wet). But here comes the disclaimer: Necon is a different animal than WHC. WHC is a working convention, whereas Necon is, as anyone who has attended puts it, a “summer camp” for writers.

I’m not quite a newbie anymore, and I do want to see and be seen. And this is why I think WHC 2006 may be a special one for me. It’s hard for me to believe that’s it’s been barely over a year since I jumped back into the horror pool (so to speak), because so much has happened and I’ve made so many close friends during that time. But I’m feeling more comfortable now, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that translates to the convention floor. I do know this much: Nicole and I are going to have a great time.

I’ll report back when the deed is done. I hope to see a lot of you there!

Tentative date
2-4 pm
Booksigning at the B. Dalton’s bookstore in the South Shore Plaza Mall in Braintree, MA.

Nate will hold a reading and discussion at the Wiscasset Library in Wiscasset, Maine, on April 1, at 10 am.