The LTUE 2018 Report · 10:18pm Feb 16th, 2018
It's time for another LTUE (Life, The Universe, and Everything) report! And this time, not in place of Monday's Being a Better Writer post!
Why, you may ask? Okay, and you may be asking "What's LTUE?" as well. So, in reverse order then.
LTUE is one of the best "secret" cons for writers out there, if not the best. It always has a massive, smashing guest list full of friendly authors, editors, and publishers, hundreds of awesome panels those same people participate in ... and then just plenty of fun stuff too. Want to learn how to write romance, or common submission pitfalls? Want to catch the latest scuttlebutt and undercurrents from the industry, or hear embarrassing mistakes from now-famous authors?
Okay, you might not get all of that in one year, simply because you'd probably have to hit multiple panels at the same time, but all of that can be found at LTUE. It's a convention for writers, about writers, by authors passing on their knowledge. If you like BaBW, LTUE is a con you should go to. February of every year in Provo Utah.
Now, the second question: Why is this report going up early? Oh, and shorter? Well, quite simply because I wasn't paneling this year and was too broke to go to all three days (much sadness on that point). LTUE is a con, after all. Expect to pay (though students get in for $5 a day).
Anyway, with my knee dragging my finances down, I only was able to afford going to a single day. Naturally, I picked the day I most wanted to go to, which included a relaxed sit-down with Larry Correia (because the guy is fun to talk with), and went then.
So, what'd I pick up from this year's LTUE? It was a mixed bag. Not at all because the con wasn't as good this year or something, but because, personally, where I'm at.
Look, I'll get two things out of the way right away. The first is that LTUE is fun. Like, ridiculously fun. Even if you're there flying solo, it's a good time. Everyone is there to talk about writing in some facet or another, from just starting out, to being stuck in a death spiral, to trying to submit their first manuscript. That's awesome.
