wyrd words | Valya Dudycz Lupescu

Summer is nearly over (and I have yet to write about the adventures and catch up on all the things), like the successful second annual Wyrd Words workshop:

While it was full and happy, I’m eager for the renewed routine that Autumn brings. I’m home from a trip overseas with the kids to visit friends (more on that hopefully soon), with enough time to do laundry, buy school supplies, and pack once more…this time for DragonCon (my first time)

14034805_10208282218787079_4405263800315202078_n — The beautiful Gullfoss waterfall, Iceland.

14054233_10208282406391769_8221778027485123933_n — Landscape outside Reykjavik, Iceland.

14063814_10208324031032359_7965653614443818872_n — Hever Castle and Gardens, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Now it’s time to try on things and decide what to pack for DragonCon 2016. (I may have picked up an accoutrement or two in recent travels.)

If you’re attending DragonCon, my co-author Stephen H. Segal and I will be talking about and reading from Geek Parenting on Sunday at 2:30pm; we’re also on a panel about “How Horror Fans Raise Kids” on Saturday at 11:30am.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for ideas for your own upcoming adventures, here’s a piece on travel that Stephen and I wrote for Quirk:

TO THE INTERSTATE AND BEYOND: GEEK VACATIONS FOR SCI-FI AND FANTASY-LOVING FAMILIES:

“Geeks seek to boldly go where no one has gone before, right? Sometimes that means studying artificial intelligence or genetics or astrophysics. Sometimes it means reading sci-fi and fantasy novels or playing mind-expanding videogames. And sometimes it means getting in the car, picking some quirky destination that connects somehow to all that beloved magical stuff, and driving across state lines to explore the strange new worlds that await out there among our fellow Americans.

Every nerdy family, after all, needs to get away sometimes…”

14045766_10208282378071061_6144917241790301128_n — Looking for fish in the crater lake. (Kerið, a volcanic crater lake in Iceland.)

It’s nearly the Autumn Equinox, and I’ve yet to write about so many Summer adventures.

After more than a year of planning and months of drafting, revising, and exchanging manuscripts, the inaugural Wyrd Words Workshop was held in July. We ate, drank, and danced around the kitchen (Well, ok, maybe that was just me); we workshopped brilliant beginnings and provocative plots; we used technowizardry to traverse miles; we strolled under the full moon, and we sauna’d; we talked about creativity and inspiration, punk rock and K-pop, politics and fairy tales. There were bees, rockets, and skeletons in the trees…

Most importantly, we did good work. I’m so excited to see the books that will eventually make their way into the world from this workshop. Such good stories. Such excellent writers. Such dear friends.

Writers spend so much time alone at the laptop that in-person connections of quality are a real gift. Thank you to everyone at the workshop and behind the scenes who gave it shape and filled the weekend with such wonderful, wyrd words.

I’m going to quote from one of my favorite children’s books, Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, because it fits so well for this dear group:

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”

Wyrd Wordians, you are both. Thank you.

Tag: wyrd words

Quick update…

Wyrd Words 2015