I’m home from another C3 held in Columbia, MD. It was another great year of books, conversations, and food. I got in a day early in order to check in, relax, and do some writing. I went to the lobby and wrote. I got little done.

People wandered in. I ended up chatting and helping Austin and Denise, the organizers, unpack boxes from their van. The rest of the evening was spent with meeting and catching up with friends and new people at the bar. I had one beer, but bought a round.

The following morning was rough, since I woke up at 2AM after 4 hours of sleep. I went down and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant once it opened. I checked into the conference and dropped my books off at the bookstore stand the conference sets up. The conference didn’t start until noon, so I wandered around chatting with people.

Now, I’m an introvert. Being around more than one person is stressful and draining, and I was around 250. Luckily, I’ve learned to deal with it and project energy during my time as a corporate presenter and instructor. Sill, it’s exhausting. I went to bed and woke at 2AM and could not fall back asleep.

This year’s keynote speakers included Lee Goldberg who has written multiple books and TV series. The other keynote speaker was Jack Campbell, best known for hi SF books.

Each year, I buy the keynoters’ books and put them up for auction at the conference to help support the conference. All the attending authors sign the books, and I throw in a few other goodies to sweeten the pot. This year, the auction raised $250, which isn’t a huge amount in the grand scheme of things, but every bit helps.

The conference started, and the panels began. This year’s panels seemed a lot better than previous years. I was on one of the first panels. This one dealt with “writing funny”. It went well, and I didn’t make myself look like an idiot. The following panel on the schedule was one I was moderating. It was titled “SEX!”. I wasn’t sure about this one since I don’t write sex scenes. Luckily, this panel ran itself mostly. Even though I was moderating, I didn’t have to do much since there were more audience questions than I’d ever seen at any conference panel, writing or otherwise. I just had to watch the time and call on people.

The rest of the day, I was free, so I went to a few other panels as an audience member.

After all the panels were done for the day, it was time for the author signing. The hotel, great as it is, is off the beaten path, so most of the signing was authors signing for other authors. I sold and signed a few books. It’s a fun time since you get to mingle with the other authors and get the occasional signing request from a non-author.

Dinner at the Doubletree included a keynote address by Jack Campbell. He talked about how he approaches writing SF with a slant on actual physics.

Dinner on the first night of the conference is followed by Noir at the Bar, where some authors get up and read something they’ve written. They had 7 minutes this year. It’s always an interesting time. Usually, there are some humorous pieces, but many people agreed this year was very dark and grisly.

Despite having “Bar” in ‘Noir in the Bar’, the readings are done in the room where dinner was held. The true ‘bar’ occurs after ‘Noir in the Bar’. I dropped in for a short time and then, being totally drained, went up to my room. I woke up at 3AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. At least, I got one more hour than the previous night.

Saturday, I was exhausted from the prior day and all the people. Luckily, I had to moderate only one panel that day, “Genre Bending”. This was a topic I’d suggested, and we talked about writing more than a single genre within a single book, and how that affects publishing and promoting the book.

The Saturday dinner was followed by Lee Goldberg’s keynote, which was hilarious when presented a lot of anecdotes about how he got into the business and how luck had played a major role. His summation was you have to make your own luck and be open to the luck of others.

I crashed early—and slept through until about 7AM. I was energized and rested, but this was the last day of the conference, and a half-day. I packed up my stuff and went to the remaining sessions.

The conference is always a blast. All the authors are welcoming and glad to see me. I enjoy going and supporting the conference. Whether you’re a reader or author and have the chance to go, go. You’ll meet old friends and new.

Preregistration for 2025 is open.