YANovCon 2026

It's time for my belated post about this year's YANovCon. 

There was a writing exercise at the beginning, lead by the author Arriel Vinson. I'd gotten there early, and so I figured I'd sit in on it. I didn't want to share anything during the workshop, because all of the other participants were kids and I didn't know if adults were meant to participate. But luckily, one other lady came - I think the mom of one of the kids. And the author asked me to share anyway (she asked every person to). 

She had some fun prompts, and I turned them into a couple poems. The basic idea was to "write about a place you always go." I chose my garden for one exercise, and my Japan trip for the other. 

During one of the panels, an author said that she puts together a playlist to listen to for each book she writes. That sounds cool. I kinda want to make them for my stories, but I don't know if I'd ever listen to them. Plus, there are so many moods throughout a story. You'd almost need a separate playlist for each feeling. (A fanfiction would be really easy to make a playlist for. You could just use the soundtrack from the movie or game!) 

One author said that a lot of readers just skip the prologues and epilogues. Why would someone do that? There can be such important information in those! One way for a writer to get around that is just to call the prologue "Chapter 1." 

I was even more shocked when they said that some people only read the dialogue in a book. How would you know half of what the book is about? 

And here are a couple good points made by the authors:

To be good at something, you have to suck first. Then you can learn how to fix it. 

All of the authors agreed that the efforts to break into publishing are soul-crushing (and getting worse). In response to this, Eva Des Lauriers said, "The drum of writers is in you. If it's in you, it's never gonna stop drumming." 

As always, the authors' books were for sale. I wrote down a bunch of titles that I want to read. But the one I bought to get signed was "The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea." It's based off of a Korean folktale, and I think half the reason I bought it was because the cover is so beautiful. 

(Though I was a bit disappointed in the character development and pacing). 

I talked to some of the authors after, which is always fun. 

 Yesss, I just finished my Beauty and the Beast story! 

And now I gotta go to bed. I have to get up early XD

Sharing Quirks-AKA Irritating Behavior

Maya was feeling pretty bland in the first draft of the story. I realized she needed some kind of quirk (as well as some more depth, but that can come in later drafts). 

I ran through a few potential quirks in my head, but it didn't take me long to land on one. Sometimes she just can't stop talking. I do that occasionally. It's mostly just when I'm excited about a movie, or a story I'm writing. And pretty much every single time, the person I'm talking to doesn't actually care. 

Gratitude

I hear about these often. I think I should try making one. It seems like a nice way to think. 

It's called a gratitude journal. Every day, you write down something you're thankful for. Hanging out with a friend, a few minutes to do something creative, or maybe just a hot bowl of soup on a cold day. If things get stressful, you can use the journal to think of the good things. Even if those good things feel very small at the moment. 

Another twist I just learned is a journal for "Good things are always happening to me." For example, you found a parking spot easily, or you got a nice message from a family member. 

When life feels, that's when it's the most important to see the hopeful things. 

For Kiki and Tombo, it's Funny

It occurred to me as I was writing that Maya and Corvin start out a lot like Kiki and Tombo. Maya just can't stand Corvin, and he didn't do anything wrong. Except Maya is an adult, and she should know better. 

Playing the Villain

I finally made myself finish the story part of Hyrule Warriors. 

It only took several years. 

I'm still kinda pissed that they made me play Ganondorf. You have to play the villain, and undo all the hard work you've been fighting for over the course of the game? To attack your own allies? Ouch. 

Coastal Harvest

I recently stumbled upon a book event at a library. Usually I wouldn't be interested in one of those unless I'd already read the book. But this sounded cool. The book was Coastal Harvest, by Taku Kondo. He's a professional sushi chef, who goes along the coast going fishing and gathering shellfish, mushrooms, and seaweed. I don't know much about that kind of thing, but it sounded interesting and I wanted to learn about it. 

When I arrived, I was delighted to receive the book for free. I got a seat, and watched as the room filled up until people were standing along the walls. 

Taku told us how he got started - his family moved here from Japan so the kids could have a less stressful childhood. And he said that he's still goofing off to this day, fishing and collecting clams. 

He teaches classes too. That sounds cool. 

He signed books at the end. He'd gone to college where my parents used to teach (before they retired). I asked if he'd taken their classes, but he hadn't. 

I've since checked out his book. So far I've only tried one recipe, for pickled onions. But I marked a bunch of others I want to try. 

I've been watching some videos from his Youtube channel too: Outdoor Chef Life. Man, I really want to get a fishing license so I can gather some seaweed and sea urchins.