This was the second conference we’ve attended put on by the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. We learn so much at these conferences: pages upon pages of notes about topics like–how to be better writers, how to better market our book, and how to have a better online presence. Orion and I drive back up to San Francisco this afternoon. If past experience is any indication, we will talk about what we’ve learned the entire six-hour drive plus well into the night tonight. It’s going to be a long, but fun, day.
While we were in Los Angeles, we also took the opportunity to hang out with the very talented Chris Lang, who provided the voices for our characters in the audiobook version of Dreaming of Xeres. We hung out for several hours, talking about topics from all over the spectrum. Eventually, our conversation wandered to the upcoming books in The Third War series and Chris got an earful about what’s in store for Riley, Tessa, Alex and the gang. He’s the first person, besides Orion and me, who has heard the overarching story that will play out across the projected four books in this series. It was cool to let someone in on the secrets and then watch his reaction. As a writer, you always worry about how people will feel about your story but seeing Chris’ reaction to what we have planned had me smiling like a goofball the rest of the night. I felt revitalized after months of feeling like we weren’t making enough progress. Now, I can’t wait to finish the story so that everyone can share in this world we’ve created and see what’s in store for our characters.