Des Moines Con was a great time!
First things first, I chose to take Friday off and make a weekend of the Con. And, as it turned out there’s a writing/creative track, which is now part of several of the Nerd Street conventions. So I took advantage of the panels, learned quite a bit at all of them, got to hear what is probably the most outrageous romance story about Thor ever (at a panel about writing adult material, specifically romance and violence). More importantly, I met up with friends, made some new friends, and made some contacts in the writing world.
Des Moines Con did a great job coordinating all the panels, and making sure everyone had the multimedia and support they needed. All of the panels I attended were both fun and educational, including panels about costuming for wrestlers (it gave me some great ideas for characters’ outfits in stories and considerations for where they might were specific types of materials, outfit styles, and color selection), a panel about how to produce ‘zines (those mini magazines that pop up in various places), and, of course, the intersection of comics and wrestling.
I also attended a 1 hour short story work shop, business panels for writers and comic book creation, a library panel and how libraries are relevant, a book in a month panel (Red did a great job with this one!), and the Writing After Dark (18+) mentioned above, Creating your own magic system to keep it coherent, a craft of writing panel, short story creation and opportunities.
My panels on fitness for the time crunched creative and all the things I wish I’d known when I started writing had small but interested and active participants who made both sessions more fun and valuable!
So, I’ll be going to other Nerd Street conventions, and I’ll definitely be back at Des Moines Con next year! I hope to see you there!
Keith Hedger's Home for Fiction 