It always feels good when you’re surrounded by people who enjoy the things you do. That’s what really made the second annual UntitledTown so awesome for me.

I had a single workshop at last year’s event, but this year saw me giving a solo presentation and sitting on three panels. About a week earlier, I was asked to join another panel about writing memoirs, but I declined, informing them that I wasn’t the best choice since I had never written a memoir. Still, it was cool to be asked.

 

This year’s UntitledTown was wild, doubling in size, venues and participating authors. There were almost 200 different events at the festival last weekend, with 125 authors participating. The festival officials touted the big names like Roxane Gay and R.L. Stine, but there were plenty of authors touting a variety of issues.

 

On Friday, I was on two panels. The first panel was pitched by me and involving my colleagues with the Shawano Area Writers. We talked about the various paths to becoming a published author. We were all self-published, but we didn’t start out that way. It was a chance to not only take our small group into a larger venue, but to help show writers that there are many different ways to get your book published—whether you do it yourself or go the traditional route.

We also got to inject a little humor into the talk. Dennis Vickers, a professor with the College of Menominee Nation, commented that his wife told him he was horrible at writing sex scenes. That is when I pointed out on the next question that I have never been accused of writing bad sex scenes.

I think next year the Writers might strike out on their own and leave me off the panel.

 

Right after the first panel, I didn’t have to go very far, as I was also on a panel about getting into freelance writing for newspapers and magazines. That was rather interesting, as I found myself having to fight for talking time with Marci Martin and Sharon Verbeten, two panelists who freelance regularly. There was supposed to be a fourth panelist, Larry Scheckel, but he did not show.

 

I, myself, have not done any freelance writing for years, but I was amazed at how rigid they were on what their policies were and their stance on “free” writing. I donated quite a bit of time and talent helping the Shawano Area Writers with press releases, but to hear them talk, they probably would have charged the group for the same service.

 

I definitely had more fun at my next panel on Saturday, which addressed the pros and cons of self-publishing. I’m currently at 15 books self-published in the past eight years, so it was a good opportunity to dispense some advice. The previous panels had included prepared questions with a little time at the end for the audience to ask questions. The self-publishing panel was pretty much all audience questions, and with 25 people in the audience, we sure received a lot of them. I felt more at ease with this panel, as we seemed better able to share time.

 

More interesting than the panel itself, though, was the camaraderie that was forming. One of the panelists, Ted Prokash, attended my other panels and was interested in swapping books with me, so I traded The Colors of Love and Autumn for his novel, The Brothers Connolly. It should be an interesting read.

I also met an Eagle River connection, so to speak. Mark Kuether had emailed me the night before the self-publishing panel and mentioned that he had a book that was set in Eagle River, too—The Legend of Tehdrin. He attended the self-publishing workshop, and we talked afterwards. We also traded books, and I’m looking forward to reading the book. I just have to find a way to set aside time to do it.

Prior to the self-publishing panel, I attended an authors panel about what it means to be an American writer in 2018. I expected it to be a lot of talk about writing and showcasing patriotism, but it turned out to be an interesting discussion about how hard it is to be an American writer and travel abroad with what our current administration is doing. Panelists mentioned they were constantly asked abroad why Donald Trump was doing this or that. It was an interesting reminder that, while Americans love America, that love doesn’t always extend beyond the ocean.

 

After the self-publishing panel, I traveled to St. Brendan’s Inn for a panel on what it takes to write a successful series. Of course, I’m currently writing a series of mysteries, but I also wrote a trilogy—A Cure for Hunger. An interesting thing I took away from this panel was that the authors recommended writing the whole series before starting to publish, claiming that fans really hate waiting for the next book to come out. I did that to an extent with A Cure for Hunger, but if I waited on the mystery series, I would have been out of action for the last five years, and people probably would have wondered if I’d fallen off the face of the Earth.

 

My whirlwind UntitledTown tour finished on Sunday with my solo presentation, a combination of reading and talking about gay protagonists in books and why it’s important that the gay community is represented. It was really important for me to give this representation, because I remember growing up without seeing other gay people like me (that I knew of—I later found out a number of my friends from school were batting on my team).

 

It was at a community theater, and I was expecting to be standing at a podium. Imagine my surprise when I discovered no podium, and my backdrop looked like something out of the 1930s. It was pretty wild, but it didn’t stop me from giving a great presentation, and I even sold a couple of books afterward.

 

Rainy weather on the Sunday of last year’s festival discouraged me from seeing UntitledTown, but this year’s weather was great. I had an excellent time overall, but there were a couple of things that I felt could be done to make the festival better in the future.

• Like I said before, there were almost 200 different events at this year’s festival. The problem was that there were so many going on at the same time, and there were some presentations that clashed. One in particular on writing blood quantum interested me, but it was impossible for me to attend because I was in another location giving my presentation on gay protagonists.

There were people going around and snapping photos, but I wonder if it wouldn’t be a benefit to record all of these sessions and put them on YouTube or some other video sharing platform so anyone who might have had conflicts could go back and enjoy learning more about books. The committee could even potentially set up some type of pay-per-view system to help offset the festival’s costs.

• Also mentioned previously, UntitledTown featured 125 different authors. You would not know that from the news coverage and the festival’s website. Most of what was covered focused on the major authors brought in—R.L. Stine, Michael Perry, Roxane Gay, etc. I met other amazing writers out there, but where is their coverage? Where are the photos of their presentations or book signings? The festival founders make a big deal of having a diverse lineup and a variety of options, but looking back on what was posted, it’s all about the authors who have already made it big. I would hope that more is done in the future to feature some of the “little guys.”

It goes beyond the coverage during the festival, too. Besides myself, there were several other presenters from my neck of the woods taking part in UntitledTown. However, I didn’t see any press releases come across my desk (or email) from UntitledTown that provided a local connection. Ted Prokash, the one panelist I mentioned earlier, was from Algoma; I think it would have been good for the local paper to have had the opportunity to say, here’s one of our own taking part in this really cool festival. I certainly don’t expect the Gannett mainstays like the Green Bay Press-Gazette and the Post-Crescent to look beyond the glitzy big names, but unless the founders intend for this to be an event that is geared for Green Bay residents, it doesn’t hurt to reach out to media beyond the Packers home base and generate interest.

 

Despite those two concerns, UntitledTown is on its way to becoming something great. The festival is only in its second year, so there is a lot of growing to do, but to come as far as it has in such a short time is definitely amazing. I’m already looking forward to next year and trying to figure out what I can present.