Immortality watch, part 2

While in Utah for a wedding (Congrats, Jason and Stephny!) I attended the 2012 Writing for Charity conference. Brandon Sanderson was one of the presenters, and as I waited to talk to him, he said, "Hey, John, what's up?" Somebody famous remembered my name! Gleeeeeeeee!

I was one of 40 people or so in his fiction writing class at BYU in the spring of 2008, which was just a tremendous learning opportunity. (One of the many mini-tragedies of the Great Laptop Theft Disaster of 2009 was the loss of my copious notes from this class.) The next time I saw him after that, I think, was in the spring of 2011, when he was in Barnes and Noble at the same time as our writing group. He came by the table and answered our questions about writing.

Anyway, in this most recent encounter, I shared my news about finishing the first draft of the novelization, and my hopes for publication. He gave me lots of encouragement, and some practical advice. What a mensch! He also asked to see the movie trailer, and pronounced it awesome.

I get to see Brandon again in May at the Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas. I hope to have some word back from the publishers by then. But either way, it just feels great to be making progress on my writing career.

If all goes according to plan at the seminar, Brandon and Kevin J. Anderson, and the other big names will invite me to join the Secret Society of Famous Authors. I hear when you're inducted, you get a time turner, which is of course the only explanation for how a human could possibly produce so many pages.

I should have a Hugo and a Nebula by fall and be at the top of the New York Times bestseller list before the year is out. Then the Princess of Power and I can finally afford to get our own washer and dryer and say goodbye forever to the laundromat, the worst place in the world.

Wish me luck!

--JOHANN "FNORD" WEISSHAUPT