Well, this weekend I crossed a new milestone: I attended my first fiction convention!

I’ve toyed with the idea of going to a con for some time; of course, living in Canada, I’m relatively isolated from big events like that, most of which happen down in the States. Even those we do have are mostly in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal; living in Ottawa on a grad student’s budget, I of course can’t just jaunt to Vancouver, and even going to Montreal or Toronto for a weekend ends up being expensive.

What I didn’t know until recently, though, is that there’s a convention that happens in Ottawa every fall: Can-Con. Better, it’s a speculative fiction convention, covering both my two main genres, fantasy and sci-fi. That alone intrigued me: as I scrolled through the list of events and speakers, though, I came across a name that closed the deal.

Fonda Lee.

For those reading this who don’t know, Fonda Lee is a hot up-and-comer in the fantasy world. I recently read her trilogy, the Green Bone Saga, and man. I cannot recommend those books highly enough. They definitely deserve all the hype they’ve gotten over the past 5-ish years. Of all the new stuff I’ve read in the last year or two, I’d put those books second only to A Song of Ice and Fire in terms of enjoyment.

So, knowing an author I really liked was going to be there – and knowing I might not get another chance to hear her speak and get a book signed by her for some time – I bought a ticket to the con. I mean, I’d be stupid not to, right? And who knew? I might hear some other interesting perspectives, meet a few more interesting people, you know. All that fun stuff.

And now that Can-Con has come and gone…yeah, it was definitely worth the price of admission.

I didn’t meet anyone new. As is often my way, I was pretty quiet and shy throughout. But networking wasn’t the main reason I was there. It might have helped me, both on a personal and professional level, but maybe I’ll focus more on that if I go back for Can-Con 2024. This year, I just wanted to drink up the experience, and man, did I ever.

First, I learned a lot about the industry. I got a bunch of useful tips and tricks from the various panels I attended, from writers, editors and agents alike. This is especially true of one event: a sort of roundtable event I signed up for in advance, with Sara Megibow, a prominent agent in the industry. That was really illuminating, especially in terms of learning how to market my work, but also in terms of how I should be structuring my stories, in order to make readers and agents interested. That 50 minutes alone was more than worth the price of admission, and it actually made me more confident that I can someday climb the mountain and get a book out there.

Second, I also just generally got some good life advice! This is especially true of one panel, featuring a writer named Ed Greenwood, who I’d never heard of before this weekend but whose work was apparently one of the main inspirations for the world of D&D (which just shows how ignorant I still am of much of the wider Fantasy scene). He said something that really stuck with me: that if you chase someone else’s definition of success, you’ll never be happy. Even if you achieve it, it will always ring hollow. You’ll never be satisfied. Instead, he said, you need to figure out what success looks like for you, and go after that. And there might be a different definition each day: some days, success might look different than it does other days. And, of course, it might look different for some people than for others. I thought that was really profound, and something we can all apply to pretty much any aspect of life.

Third, it gave me perspective. When I signed up for Can-Con, I was expecting most of the attendees to be around my age, maybe between 20 and 35. As it turned out, though, I was one of the younger people there. Yes, there were some people in their twenties, but if I had to guess, I’d say the majority of attendees were 40 and over. And quite a few of them were aspiring writers themselves, or writers who’d published a handful of things, but were still looking for ways to improve, ways to get their work to a wider audience. I took a lot of hope from that; I guess subconsciously, I’m a bit nervous to get older. I’ve always associated age with fatigue; breaking down, losing energy, losing your edge. That, and there’s a part of me that looks at an author like Stephen King – or R.F. Kuang, to give a more recent example – who reach massive success in their 20s, and asks myself, why can’t you do that? But again, that’s living by other people’s definition of success: being surrounded by other, older authors, whose bodies may have aged but who still possess the same passion and enthusiasm for their craft, and who still want to learn and grow as much as they possibly can, really inspired me.

And hey. Even if we’re talking big success, in the world of writing, that can sometimes come a bit later. Take my two favourite recently-discovered authors: George R.R. Martin was established and well-respected in the Sci-Fi and Fantasy communities by his 30s, but he didn’t hit his peak success until his sixties. And Fonda Lee is in her forties, I believe.

Oh, and speaking of Fonda Lee: I did indeed cap off the weekend by going in and getting my copy of Jade War signed by the author herself. Getting to meet her (albeit very briefly) and have her sign my copy of her book was an extremely cool experience. Part of that is probably just because she’s the first author who’s written something I’ve loved who I’ve actually gotten to meet. I’ll admit, I was a little star-struck when I walked up to that table. But Fonda Lee was gracious; she signed my book, we had a very short chat, and then I left, a little disappointed the weekend was over and I’d have to go back to normal life, but glad I at least got the chance to meet someone whose work I love so much, and who I respect so highly.

(I guess, on another level, this experience will be good for me if I’m ever the one doing the signings, sometime in the distant future. I know what it’s like to be a jittery, excited fan. And as Ed Greenwood said, in that panel I talked about a few paragraphs earlier: for the fans, they might have travelled across the entire country just to hear you speak, have you sign their book, chat with you even for just a minute. So be gracious. Well, I (hopefully) won’t have that problem. Because I know what it’s like to be a fan.)

And there you have it. That was Can-Con 2023. Not much of a success in terms of networking or making friends, but hey. There’ll be other cons for that. This being my very first fiction convention, I just wanted to go in and soak up as much of it as I could.

And in that way, this past weekend was a roaring success.

Anyway! With that all behind me, it’s time to get back to work. Having finished the first draft of The Procurers last week, I gave myself a short break from writing, but that ends today. I’m not 100% sure what I’ll work on next yet, but I’ll get that figured out.

And to whoever might read this: have fun, stay safe, keep reading!