Farpoint: The Wrap-up of Con

Another year, another con complete.

MJ Blehart at Farpoint Con — *The author in front of a familiar blue police box.*

As I wrote last week, I attended my third Farpoint con. Once again, I got to hang out for a weekend with like-minded geeks, sit on a couple of very interesting panels, and even signed and sold a couple of books.

My favorite part of attending the con as an author guest is the panels. Three of the four were amazing. It began with a Doctor Who Panel, where I got laughter and applause as I sported a fez upon introducing myself and said, “I wear a fez now. Fez’s are cool.” Then, I got to attend an amazing panel about AI and how it will impact creative works alongside one of the con’s chairpersons and special guest Erin Macdonald, science advisor for Star Trek! That was especially amazing.

A slightly disappointing panel was the “Did We Win?” panel. The pretext was, did geek culture becoming more mainstream mean we won? The moderator and creator of this panel let it go off-topic, and I felt he also allowed the audience too much leeway in comments over questions.

My final panel was all about Tropes. This was a lot of fun, as we discussed how to best use tropes, how they get abused, and turning them on their heads for various reasons.

I didn’t take a ton of photos, but here are a few.

Tawny Newsome at Farpoint — *Star Trek Lower Decks and Space Force star Tawny Newsome.*

Author MJ Blehart at Farpoint — *MJ Blehart signing and selling his books at Farpoint.*

Call Dodd sings at Farpoint — *Wolverine cartoon voice actor Cal Dodd sings karaoke!*

More cons in the future?

I need to find more cons to attend as an author guest. This will help me get more exposure as a brand, and also help me gain more comfort when it comes to this world.

The funny thing is, as much of a sci-fi geek as I am and always have been, Farpoint was my first con as a guest and only the second or third I’ve ever attended. I think between my mom being a single parent and growing up in the ‘burbs of Minneapolis in the 1980s, I never got into this. Then, in college, my involvement in medieval reenactment was quite intense, so cons weren’t a thing for me.

Still, I would like to find more cons to attend, especially as a guest. I’ve explored the possibility of going to Balitcon and AwesomeCon, both of which are less than 3 hours from home. However, getting involved as a guest has proven a challenge. And of course, this forces me out of my comfort zone. Which is good, but also an extra challenge.

my books at the con! — *My books at the con!*

I’ve got lots more stories to tell. My journey as a professional sci-fi and fantasy author has only just begun. I can’t wait to see where it takes me next.

Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?

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