Conventions ahoy! · 12:08am Apr 13th, 2017
Good news for people trying to check the rare and beautiful Horizon off of their pony-watching lists! I'm having quite a ponyriffic year, with no less than three brony conventions on the agenda.
First: I'm currently in the whirlwind of trying to get ready for Babscon, which starts in two days. In fact, not only will I be there, but you'll have two entirely unrelated opportunities to get a dose of my work!
First, the theme department is doing something crazy this year — an overarching story with the convention mascots (Golden Gates and her family and friends) as they fight to save their city from the evil Queen Quake and her minions. It's an ongoing storyline with a multi-year arc — picking up from where last year's story left off. It was an ambitious enough project to rope me in — when's the last time you saw a convention theme with continuity, much less one where the mascots interact with the public all convention and that changes the outcome of the story? — and I wrote the scripts for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies stage plays (as well as scripting a bunch of promo material which I'm not sure was used). It's been a wild experience not only jumping into the middle of an ongoing episodic project, but also seeing my words take shape as actors' dialogue. Pretty much the closest thing to MLP show-writing you can get without actually working for Hasbro! 
Second, if you swing by Super Trampoline's 25th birthday party Friday night in the writer suite (room number TBA — keep an eye out for posters), take a look at the alcoholic drink menu. The mixed-drink theme is "bad writing tropes", and while my friend Jesse gets all credit as the mixologist, I'm responsible for the drink names and the flavor text on the menu.
Here's a sneak preview (this was a drink proposal for the "First Draft", rejected for its flavor text being too painful):
I'm going to pause for a moment here to plug Bad Horse's FIMFiction "Convention Planning" group. If you attend pony cons, that's a great place to post about upcoming cons, and to coordinate with fellow attendees.
I spent most of the winter denying that I would be showing up to Everfree Northwest, because it was both badly timed and a budget issue. Then a couple of things happened all at once: I discovered that it wasn't on the same weekend as BLFC any more; I further discovered that I could get round-trip tickets to Seattle for only $200; and Skywriter and SR Foxley agreed to help out with hotel arrangements. Then the con staff heard that my excuses had evaporated, and roped me in as a community guest. I'll be speaking on some panels (though I'm not quite sure which ones yet) and helping out with the Iron Author contest judging. Time off is still a concern, so I don't have any "shoulder days" to hang out with ponyfolk, but it'll be cool taking in the con with y'all!
Finally, while I haven't bought my plane tickets for BronyCon yet, I had so much fun last year that I've committed to going again. Probably just as an attendee for once — there was some talk of doing a panel with AugieDog and bookplayer, but I'm not sure anything came of that. No biggie! That just means more time to hang out in Quills and Sofas! (And maybe take in the dance a little more this time.)
See a bunch of you at one or more of those places! And if not, well, you're all cool and I like hanging out online. 
See you in August!
4494341
Sweet! See you there.
No EFNW this year?
Note:
Basically Friday and Saturday are both to celebrate both my birthday and fan fiction hangout, but I figured Friday would focus on my birthday and Saturday would focus on fanfic hangout. I may actually be gone part of Saturday night to see a prog rock band I like in San Fransisco.
Also I might be interested in doing a bronycon panel with yous. Every year I say I'm going to go, but this time I actually am going for realizes: going to take the train with a friend from Cali to Baltimore!
The panel request was sent in before the deadline, but I haven't heard back yet one way or the other. I will absolutely drop you a line as soon as there are things to know!
what about the common and homely horizonToo bad it's on wrong coast. D: It sounds great.
And that excerpt is amazing.
Looking forward to seeing you in Baltimore.
>going to the inferior babscon
>ever
Oh wow! Community guest? Look at Mr horse famous over here :)
I'll try to track you down this weekend and say hi.
I am so glad you're planning on being there. You're one of the best moderators I've had the pleasure of paneling with!
4494367
I know, right?
~Skeeter The Lurker
Excellent! Great to have you back in Baltimore this summer.
Ugh, and I have yet to go to a single convention.
I wanted to go to Fiesta Equestria, but looks like that's done for. Only other option right now is Nightmare Nights in Dallas.
4494346
Nope. But I have a Horse Voice with me at Bronycon.
Man I wish I lived near any of the coasts, all the fun things happen there.
that convention storyline sounds really fun actually. I guess I'll never get to see it though
Oooo, gnarly! Hey, there's also EQLA coming up late in the year, which is at least on the same coast as some of those others... for various reasons, that's looking like one I might try to get out to.
4494531 I say thee neigh! There are still some midwest cons! WCPC is over for the year but there's still Ponyville Ciderfest in October, which was a blast last year.
4494671
I want to go to Ciderfest, which is only, like, 3 hours from my house, but I'm not sure I'll be able to find the time to do so.
But my original statement (mostly) stands, a great many fun things happen on a coast.
Convention Planning group links, for people to arrange to share rides, meet up at, and/or share rooms at conventions:
Babscon 2017 thread
Everfree Northwest 2017
Bronycon 2017
Ciderfest 2017
4494367u wot m8
Because I am a con whorse, I will be at all of these.
When is your migratory flight to Englandshire
Quick reminder, anyone interested in BABSCon coordination may want to join the discord channel I set up, just like we had last year. Use it to coordinate meals/rides/drinks/etc. https://discord.gg/Ana2ctp
Also, I'm guessing neither of my suggestions for drink names made the cut?
Trying to reach for EFNW, not sure whether I'll manage it. Hope to see you there if I do!
4495161
You wouldn't want to wait for that. I have the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
(but seriously it's on my bucket list for when I am earning more money than I am today)