GenCon is simply too huge to even begin to recap it in a single blog post. But it was also too much fun to not share, so I'm going to try to get down all the fun bits for those of you who either didn't get the chance to attend, or were doing other things at the con and didn't see the same cool things I did. I'm sure I'll miss some stuff, because - well, how could you not? It was 6 days (from the time I left til the time I got back) full of action and adventure, gaming and parties, socializing and fun. A great time was had by all (well, at least by me!)

Wednesday - I left here in Bisbee around 8:30am on Wednesday and drove up to Tucson (with a brief stop in Sierra Vista for an apple fritter from a tiny little doughnut shop that makes the best fritters I've had since I was a kid. Oh, Cork's Doughnuts in Lebanon, Oregon, how I miss you!) Pastry acquired, I made my way to the airport and through security, running into Don Dehm from Pulp Gamer at my terminal. Unfortunately, his plane to GenCon was just loading up, so I didn't manage to get more than a quick hug and promise of hanging out a little once we'd both made it to Indianapolis. (If you haven't listened to Pulp Gamer, you really should. It's a wonderful group that produces a wide variety of video and podcasts with great production values and interesting hosts. I love "Out of Character". They cover mostly board and card games, as well as industry news and insider reports - a real gem of a show.)

An hour or so later, it was time for me to board, and boy, was I in for a treat.

Wow. Just... Wow.

To say that I was unprepared for the influx of traffic to my site regarding the "Gencon for the Aspiring Professional" articles would be an understatement. Sunday's headcount was almost 1900 visitors, according to my Google Analytics data. (Good thing I didn't have to find chairs for all you guys!) But do stop by and say hi on Twitter if you get a chance. I've got more virtual room there than I know what to do with!

Many thanks to the folks at Slashdot and Reddit, who featured the articles, and to my Viking, who thought to send them there. As of this morning, while they've fallen off the front pages of Reddit, they're still the top article for Slashdot's Game page.  How insane is that?

I've been contacted by an e-zine, asking for permission to print them in a non-GenCon specific format in September, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to say yes (just working out a few details on rights and attribution, etc.) I've also received dozens of letters from aspiring writers and artists asking specific information that wasn't covered in the original articles. I may well add the answers to these questions into the archived copies of the articles, or post a FAQ linked to the originals.

So, what's next?

Well, starting on Wednesday evening,  I'm going to be at GenCon myself.  I'm going to be drumming up more writing/editing work (RPG or otherwise), maybe doing a couple more interviews (so far I have one lined up with This Just In From GenCon and All Games Considered, but I still have time slots available throughout the weekend), volunteering at the ENnies booth (gotta give back!) and hopefully getting a chance to pitch the Steampunk-themed card game I created, Tinker's Damn.

I'll also be at the ENnie Awards Ceremony on Friday night, since The Rose-Bride's Plight (my Changeling: The Lost SAS) was nominated for Best Adventure, and Hunter: The Vigil (which I helped write) was nominated for a whole schmeer of categories.

Copies of Buried Tales of Pinebox, Texas, the horror anthology I was a part of, should be there through Studio 2. I may have to pick up a copy for my folks, since I'm not letting my author's copy out of my sight!

As well, I hope I'll be able to talk about a project I just finished, there as well.

Oh, yeah, and hopefully get a chance to play some games as well!

After GenCon? Well, I'm working on two other non-rpg game designs at the moment, a Halloween-themed card game and a board game based on evolution. I'm also going to be focussing a lot more on fiction writing in the next year - I'm currently working on a paranormal novel set in an alternate-history version of Venice, among other projects.  Oh, and for those of you in the northern climes, I'll be a Featured Guest at FanExpo at the end of August - It should be a blast, so if you're out near Toronto, stop by and say hi!

Welcome to "Follow Ups and Follow Through", Part Four of "GenCon for Aspiring Pros," a four-part series of blogs where I offer advice and suggestions for maximizing your career-opportunity exploration at GenCon or other major gaming conventions. In yesterday's blog on "At the Con" we discussed ways to make the most of your opportunities to network at the convention while still having a great time.

Today, in the final part of this series, we're going to talk about what to do after the con, to make certain that the effort you put into the convention doesn't go to waste.  We'll discuss establishing post-con contact with your new network of industry allies, as well as a very basic set of tips on how not to flub your first industry job.

Part Four: Follow Ups and Follow Through

Follow Ups

Hopefully, by the time you return home from GenCon you'll have collected a nice stack of business cards.

Welcome to "At The Con", Part Three of "GenCon for the Aspiring Professional," a four-part series of blogs where I offer advice and suggestions for maximizing your career-opportunity exploration at GenCon or other major gaming conventions. After touching on "The Basics" on Tuesday, yesterday's article on "Preparation" discussed a few simple things you can do to before the convention to really maximize the effectiveness of your time there.

Today we're going to cover how to make the most of your time at the convention, including where to go, what to do and what to say (and not say) while you're there!

Part Three: At The Con

Where to Go and What to Do

Panels and Programming - When you arrive at the convention, take a few moments to look over the programming schedule.