No Wasted Ink Newsletter & Ramblecast - May 2024
a newsletter and voiceover podcast by Poet Laureate Emerita Wendy Van Camp
Welcome to the monthly No Wasted Ink Newsletter. My name is Wendy Van Camp and I’m Poet Laureate Emerita for the City of Anaheim, California. This newsletter is not affiliated with the city. All views stated here are my own.
RAMBLE
National Poetry Month was a whirlwind of activity for me. It was my last month as Poet Laureate for the City of Anaheim. I got off to a slow start due to catching a bad headcold. I was able to continue with my home office work, but ended up having to cancel a few appearances at the start of the month.
My most memorable moment was accepting the Proclamation for National Poetry Month in front of the Anaheim City Council. I spoke about what I had done for the past two years as their poet laureate and read my poem “I am the Moonface”. It was a crowded night with hundreds of people in the chamber due to a pending scandal the city was dealing with, but even so, they made time to have me come up from the podium and pose with the council and mayor for a photo op. Having the entire city council and mayor shake my hand and thank me for my service was a wonderful experience. Hearing hundreds of people applauding my poem was gratifying.
My community poetry anthology “Anaheim Poetry Review” has been published. The launch party podcast recording session had a few bumps on my part, but nothing I can’t fix in post. At the event, many of the poets in our community thanked me for mentoring them. One even went to the podium to speak of how I have inspired her to think of herself as a poet, which brought tears to my eyes. Mentoring the budding poets of the Anaheim community has been the biggest pleasure of my role as poet laureate. While I will still see them at various open mics in the community, things will not be the same as I leave my role behind.
I have completed my service. I’ve organized two “Indie Author Day” events for the library, supported the monthly open-mic with feature suggestions, mentoring of poets, and readings, and as editor created two issues of “Anaheim Poetry Review” for the poets of the Anaheim community along with producing a reading podcast for each issue.
I now embrace my Emerita status and look forward to being a full-time writer and poet once more.
yours in poetry,
Wendy
ESSAY
Attending Science Fiction Conventions as an Author: Different Tracks Explained
All across the world large groups of readers and writers of the science fiction and fantasy genre gather together. They experience all that is weird and wonderful about the books they love. It is in that place we call the Science Fiction Convention.
Some conventions are huge with thousands of attendees and others are smaller local affairs of a few hundred. Both types are useful to an author or speculative poet. Conventions offer a resource for writing. It is a place to learn your craft at panels geared to the science fiction writer. It is also a place to hang out and talk about your love for Star Wars or Dr. Who without getting odd looks from your mother.
One of the reasons I choose to be a science fiction and fantasy author and poet, is this well-established circuit of literary conventions to promote myself and my books. I go in-person and also appear on virtual panels, depending on what the convention offers.
Learning how to use the conventions as an author is complex for the beginner. It often takes years to build credit for yourself as a speaker. In this essay, I will break down the different parts of a convention and what it offers you as a writer. It will give you a taste of what conventions offer to authors and readers of the genre.
Writing Track: This is where I usually hang out as an author and poet. The writing track is a mini writer’s conference within the convention. Panels and workshops about writing craft, tropes in the genre, and how to market your books. Featured are solo and group readings by authors or poets.
Filk Track: A filk singer is someone who takes a well-known song and gives it new lyrics of a science fiction or fantasy nature. It is sort of like fanfiction for musicians. Better-known filkers perform throughout the evenings, providing entertainment to the attendees. It is common to see people with folk guitars lounging around the commons of a convention on any given day.
Media Track: The genre is more than books. Movies, television, and podcasting are vital parts to our equation. In the media Track, you will find theaters with free science fiction, fantasy, and horror movies. You may see presentations and panels about being a podcaster. Many panels about your favorite fandoms such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr. Who and everything else in the cosmos are available to attend.
CosPlay Track: Attendees wearing costumes have been a big part the science fiction community for as long as I remember. You’ll see people dressed as Jedi knights, in Royal Manticore uniforms, and many other pop culture icons. Usually, if you ask politely, they are happy to stop and pose for a picture with you. At the Masquerade Ball, costumes are judged and prizes are awarded based on attendee creativity.
Science Track: Science fiction attracts a large number of engineers, doctors, and other professionals. They come to let out their geek side for the weekend. Most conventions will feature lectures and presentations by these scientists. Which rival ones I’ve seen at JPL and other institutions. These are talks about the planets, new technology, mathematics, physics and a host of other subjects. As a science fiction author, I find these to be gold mines of information that I can later use in my stories.
Artist Track: While conventions offer panels about being an artist or artist demos of people demonstrating their work, the heart of the artist track is the dealer room and the convention art show.
Dealer rooms are populated with professional vendors that sell things related to the genre. There are book sellers, comic book vendors, costume designers, jewelers, and other offerings you see no where else. It is a place every attendee should plan to visit at least once during the event.
Before I became an author, I was a convention dealer of jewelry for around twenty years. I sold Celtic and Science Fiction themed jewelry. I still book tables for my jewelry and books from time to time, but these days I’m more often in programming and can’t spare the time to be at a table all day. However, as a new author, it could be a good way to get your foot into the door.
The convention art show is a little different. It is a consignment sales location for artists at the convention. All 2D and 3D art on display must be in genre theme and original to the artist. Often times, an artist can mail-in their work to the show.
Science Fiction Conventions are fun! The creative energy which takes place there is like nothing I’ve experienced. If you haven’t been to one, find a smaller local convention and get your feet wet. Release your inner geek. Beyond selling books and doing readings of your work, you might find a place where you can relax and chat about your favorite books and movies on a level you have never experienced before.
SCIFAIKU
[flashes on the moon]
flashes on the moon new tea served to astronauts superluminal flight
This scifaiku poem first published as part of a group Renku coordinated by Joshua St. Claire. Thirteen poets were involved and I was one of them. “Quantum Entanglement” was published in “The Lotus Tree Literary Review” in 2022 - The Renku won the Critters Reader Poll for Best Poem of 2022 and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. The scifaiku segment [flashes on the moon] was written by Wendy Van Camp.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
LitFest in the Dena appearing Saturday, May 4th at 12:30pm
Wendy Van Camp, Denise Dumars, Neil Citrin and Leanne Kathleen Ingino will be featured in City of Phantoms: Poetry of Unseen Boroughs. This is an hour reading of speculative poetry and a discussion about genre poetry.
Discussion Group for Disabled Authors on Thursday, May 16th at 2pm (Virtual)
Join Wendy Van Camp in her Second Life Indigoskye Press bookshop for a group discussion about working as a disabled author or poet. Share your personal experiences, or listen to find out how others manage as working authors. This meetup requires you to visit via your avatar in Second Life.
Author Nation Seminar on Thursday, May 23 at 8am (Virtual)
Join me for a pre-recorded presentation of “Every Word Matters: Using Poetry Concepts to Enhance Your Prose) followed by a virtual Q&A session. This Zoom based seminar is part of Author Nation’s new webinar series.
Balticon 58 on May 24th - 27th (Virtual)
https://balticon.org
I will be a virtual panelist, reader, poetry judge, and instructor at this Regional Level Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention in Baltimore, Maryland. The convention is hybrid. You can attend in-person, virtually, or both! Please check the Balticon Discord channel during the convention. All panel and reading times are EST. Registration is required to attend.
Panels:
Fri 4:00PM Microfiction and Micropoetry
Fri 7:00PM Author Platform for Indies
Sat 4:00PM Introduction to Speculative Poetry
Sun 5:30PM Taking Off the Training Wheels: Fanfic to Original Fic
Mon 1:00PM Finding the Right Writers' Group -- Online and IRL
Solo Readings:
Sat 1:00PM Akua Lezli Hope and Wendy Van Camp (I am the second part of the hour)
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Anaheim Poetry Review 2
https://anaheimpoetry.com
This is the second volume of this anthology series. As editor, I created a vehicle for the local poets of Anaheim, CA to undergo an authentic publishing experience. Many of our poets are published for the first time in this journal, but we also attract many accomplished local poets as well. The culmination of the experience is a live launch party in Anaheim Central Library where the poets read their work and are recorded for a podcast.
In addition to being editor, 3 of my micropoems also appear in the journal.
PODCASTS
Con-Tinual Fandom
April 2024 Release
Star Trek Rogues Gallery
Join Wendy Van Camp, Rachel E. Carr, Gini Koch, Kristin Jackson, David R. Slayon, and host James P. Nettles for some of their favorite rogues!
LINKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Portfolio - http://wendyvancamp.com
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/author/wendyvancamp
Medium - https://medium.com/@wvancamp
X (Twitter) - https://twitter.com/wvancamp
Instagram - https://instagram.com/nowastedink
Mastodon - https://me.dm/@wvancamp
Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/indigoskye.bsky.social
BOOKS
The Planets: a scifaiku poetry collection - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z8HMPF2
The Curate’s Brother: A Jane Austen Variation of Persuasion - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OU1V45A
ANTHOLOGIES
Eccentric Orbits: An Anthology of Science Fiction Poetry
Volumes 1 - 5
Editor
Available for purchase: https://dimensionfold.com
Anaheim Poetry Review 2023
Volumes 1 - 2
Editor
Free to Read: https://anaheimpoetry.com
Eye To The Telescope: Quests #46 - Fall 2022
Guest Editor
https://eyetothetelescope.com/archives/046issue.html
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