SFContario begins tonight (Ramada Plaza Hotel, 300 Jarvis Street, Toronto) and runs for the weekend. Here’s my schedule:

Targeting the Appropriate Market – Sat. 11 AM Parkview

Often selling a story is all about finding the right market. How do you label what you’re selling? How do you find out about markets and identify the right one? Our panelists discuss sources of calls for submission, networking methods, using rejections to refine your targeting strategies, and other techniques of getting your story in front of the person who will buy it. (Madeline Ashby, Karen Dales, Stephen Kotowych, Jana Paniccia (M), Mike Rimar)

Reading – Sat. 12:30 Gardenview

Writer’s Groups Behind the Scene – Sat. 8 PM, Solarium

Ever wonder how a writer’s group really works? Come and see Toronto-area writer’s group The Stopwatch Gang in action! The members of SWG will hold one of their no-holds barred critique sessions at SFContario this year and want you to come watch and see how it’s done! A short reading of a first draft story will be followed by a roundtable critique by the SWG members. An audience critique will also be encouraged, and questions and tips for setting up your own writer’s group will follow. (Brad Carson, Suzanne Church, Costi Gurgu, Ian Keeling, Stephen Kotowych, Tony Pi, Mike Rimar)

This year SFContario promises to be a great one. Guests include Karl Schroeder, John Scalzi, Gardner Dozois, David G. Hartwell, and Kathryn Cramer.

In addition, SFContario is also this year’s Canadian National Science Fiction convention (“the CanVention”), and the Aurora Awards will be presented there. Good luck to all the nominees, but especially to my fellow Stop-Watch Gang member Suzanne Church, who’s nominated in the Best Short Fiction category.

See you there!

– S.