Life, The Universe … and me

We all want to know the answer to the question that was posed by Douglas Adams in his wonderful Hitchhiker’s Guide and perhaps we may get a glimpse into that this weekend when I attend ‘Life, the Universe and Everything 29’ behind held at the BYU Conference Center at BYU in Provo, Utah starting today and running through Saturday (February 17th – 19th, 2011). I’ll be joining again with friends including James Dashner, Dave Farland, Jessica Day George, Stacy Whitman and Lisa Mangum. Howard Tayler, our partner in crime for XDM: Xtreme Dungeon Mastery will, of course, also be attending — we having first met at this conference some years ago.

The events in which I will be participation are as follows:

Friday, February 18th, 2011

10:00 AM: – Deconstructing Hobbits: An exploration of the four foundational through-lines of plot and their relationship to character archetypes, as revealed in the Lord of the Rings — and how those principles can be applied to your own writing. (Tracy Hickman)

Noon: -Charisma is not a dump stat: The real world importance of personal appearance and social skills in achieving your creative dreams. (Howard Tayler, Jake Black (M), Tracy Hickman)

2:00 PM: – Characters’ morals/theology vs. authors’ (Aleta Clegg (M), Hickman, Brad R. Torgersen, James Dashner)

3:00 PM: – Collaboration (Blake Casselman (M), Brian Hailes, Jake Black, Tracy Hickman)

Saturday, February 19th, 2011

9:00 AM: – Killer Breakfast (Tracy Hickman)

11:00 AM: Main Address: James Dashner

Noon: Signings in 1188: Jake Black, Larry Correia, David Farland, Paul Genesse, Tracy Hickman, Dan Wells

1:00 PM: – Writing Excuses Podcast (Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, Dave Wolverton, Tracy Hickman)

4:00 PM: Why write about worlds that don’t exist? (Michael R. Collings, James Dashner (M), Tracy Hickman, Michael Young)

If ’42’ just isn’t enough of an answer for you … come join us!