LTUE 2014

LTUE was great. I really think it's one of the best conventions in Utah. Great panels, great panelists, well organized, great community. I was able to meet a lot of people this year, including Larry Correia, Eric James Stone, and L.E. Modesitt Jr.; Megan who owns a sweet bookstore down in Cedar City, and Dawn Ray who reads 500 books a year, and tons of others, and of course caught up with some old friends in the area.

I also told Brandon Sanderson that I just signed with JABberwocky (which may or may not have come out of my mouth as follows: ZOMG BRANDON YOU ARE AMAZING GUESS WHAT I SIGNED WITH JABBERWOCKY SO WE ARE LIKE AGENCY BROTHERS WE SHOULD TOTES DO BROTHERLY THINGS LIKE BUILD PILLOW FORTS AND PLAY VIDEO GAMES AND TOTES HANG OUT ALL THE TIME CUZ TOTES ZOMG) and he was over the moon about it. No, really, he was actually excited! He loves to hear success stories from old students, and it was cool to let him know the good news.

My notes from LTUE this year were mostly through my twitter account, and many awesome things were said, including but not limited to the following:

"When your tire blows, you don't talk about the other three that worked perfectly, you bitch about the flat one" @mbcollings #LTUE #endings
— Christopher Husberg (@usbergo) February 13, 2014

That was Michaelbrent Collings on endings--basically saying that readers remember endings, even if they forget everything else, so the ending better be amazing. Which isn't to say that other parts of the story aren't important, but, like tires, they should do their freaking job.

"Efforts aren't worth shit unless they yield results. Entertainment comes first." L.E. Modesitt throws down a pretty hefty gauntlet. #LTUE
— Christopher Husberg (@usbergo) February 13, 2014

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. was a freaking rockstar--definitely one of my favorite panelists this year. And, as previously mentioned, I had the pleasure of meeting him! So that was a thing and it was cool. I think the above quote went more along the lines of "'Efforts' aren't worth a damn if you write like shit." Basically, putting effort into your writing is meaningless unless you are actually entertaining people while you're at it. That isn't to say writers don't have room to grow, improve their craft, etc., but they have to put their effort into the right places. Modesitt's 64th book (Rex Regis, I believe), was just released a month ago, and he's been in the business for about thirty years. That's two books a year, for thirty years. That kind of consistency is worth its weight in gold, and definitely something I aspire towards. Like I said, a freaking rockstar.

"Emotion isnt drama; emotion is the result if drama. If youre adding emotion to up the drama, youre doing it wrong." -Clint Johnson #LTUE
— Christopher Husberg (@usbergo) February 14, 2014

Clint Johnson, in a fantastic panel on creating drama in fiction.

"You've got to learn to be your own best critic. The sooner you learn that, the better a writer you'll be." L.E. Modesitt #LTUE
— Christopher Husberg (@usbergo) February 15, 2014

And another gem from Mr. Modesitt. And a good note to end on, actually. Long story short: LTUE was great. And you should totes go next year.