LTUE

The Post-LTUE News Post

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Language is fun, isn’t it?

Which is good, because a fair portion of this week wasn’t for me. You’d think otherwise, given that LTUE was last week, and it was an incredible, awesome time. But in that regard I was both very fortunate … but also unlucky this week.

My back went out on Monday.

Yeah … easily one of the top three for “worst it’s ever been” though my trying to stave it off might have made it worse. Still, it basically crushed a fair portion of my week. I wrote as long as I could bear to sit upright on Monday … but by Monday evening I couldn’t bear to sit anymore and was regulated to the floor hoping the pain and tightness would go away. Tuesday afternoon I could finally sit again, but between lack of sleep and a haze of pain, writing wasn’t going to happen. Or any of the other stuff I planned on doing. It wasn’t until yesterday that I was able t to reliably get stuff done again. Which means that what would have been a “here’s what I did this week” has officially become today’s “What’s coming ahead!” post!

On the plus side, my back did not go out during LTUE. That was a much-appreciated blessing.

But yeah, that’s age (and a life of hard labor when young) for you. Getting old is awful. I recommend avoiding it after a certain point. You’ll know when it arrives.

Okay, so what was the plan for this week? Well, first I need to say that LTUE for me this year involved a few new bits of information that reconfigured some thoughts for the future. I was planning this week to reach out to someone to start looking at the possibility of getting an audiobook made for Axtara – Banking and Finance. The catch? We’d almost certainly have to use a kickstarter for it. While it has become cheaper in the last decade to produce an audiobook, there’s still a wide window between “all but free” (which some seem to think producing an audiobook would be) and “sell your car, or maybe a house.” And while getting an Axtara audiobook made is no longer in the price range of a new car, it’s not escaped good used-car territory.

Which means it would be wholly reliant on a kickstarter that you, readers, would be asked to contribute to. Now, maybe we could make that kickstarter play double-duty with another LTUE finding of mine, but to hear about that, you’ll have to hit the jump.

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LTUE 2026: The Three Day Set

Max Misc ,

Apologies for the late posting today, writers. I slept for quite a long time today, recovering from the con, and then no sooner had I started my day then … my back decided it was time to make a scene and cause a fuss. I’m doing what I can for it right now, and it’s definitely been worse, but it’s not fun either. There’s a good amount of pain coming from it at the moment.

In addition, and as most of you should be aware if you’ve been keeping abreast of the site news, there’s no Being a Better Writer today. Why? Because I write them on Friday, and this last Friday I was busy at LTUE all day!

However, that doesn’t mean that there’s no writing advice to be had today. Not at all! It’s simply in a different format than the usual weekly post, and it’s over a wide variety of topics. Why? Because each night after LTUE I summarized the panels and presentations I’d attended in a write up. It’s quick, and each one is a little dirty because it’s just my notes, rather than the full experience of a panel, but … Hey, that’s three days of writing advice and guidance from a multitude of authors on a variety of subjects. And since there’s no BaBW today, why not give you folks the links to all three days, and let you peruse that?

Sure, you can also just scroll down and access them. Your call. Either way, it’s a snapshot of the LTUE experience, so enjoy.

The LTUE 2026 Day One Report

The LTUE 2026 Day Two Report

The LTUE 2026 Day Three Report

Enjoy, and remember: Good luck! Now get writing!

LTUE 2026 Day Three Report

Max Misc ,

It is finished. The work is done.

By which I mean the work of the Life, The Universe, and Everything symposium. For this year. Insofar as attending the con itself goes. I fully expect that by next week emails will be flying fast and furious among the committee members as once again the long wind-up begins.

That said, all that care and dedication they put into LTUE each year shows. LTUE is an incredible experience, and there’s nothing quite like it. In fact, during the banquet dinner held at the end, the observation was once again made that Utah, by far, churns out a very high number of successful creators of Science-Fiction and Fantasy. And again, the speaker noted that many have asked what drives this phenomenon.

They then said it was clear: Utah has LTUE, and there is nothing else in the world like it.

Now, I’m totally beat and ready to relax for a bit, but before I can, I do need to deliver some more highlights from the panels and presentations I was able to attend today. As I did have three events to attend for this final moment of the weekend, my notes might be a sparse, but I’ll do my best to fill you all in. Hit the jump!

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LTUE 2026 Day One Report

Max Misc ,

Whew! And as fatigue leadens my limbs, I give to you the summation of panels and presentations from my first day that this year’s Life, The Universe, and Everything.

If you’re new to the site, well, these reports are what I do each day after I return from LTUE. If you’re not sure what LTUE is, scroll down and check out the prior posts on that (or click this link). But for those who know, this is me delivering a quick summation write-up of each panel and presentation I attended.

It is by no means as complete an experience as attending LTUE in some fashion. But they are highlights. If you like what you see and hear here, I’d suggest checking out LTUE for 2027.

But for now? Click that jump, and let me regale you with what panels I attended today.

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Life, The Universe, and Everything Is in Two Weeks! Here’s Where I’ll Be

Max Weekly Updates , , , ,

Sands and Storms, the time is almost upon us!

That’s right! If you’ve been paying attention at all these last few weeks (or years), you know that February marks one of the best convention experiences for writers with the LTUE symposium. Life, The Universe, and Everything is an educational writing experience unlike any other that I’m aware of, with panels on writing and creative subjects of every kind that are taught by creative experts of the field.

Which again, if you’ve been on the site at all in prior years or the last few weeks, you probably know. If you don’t, then I’ll just drop this link to the LTUE website right here, followed by the link to last week’s discussion of the upcoming symposium here on the site so you can get caught up.

See, this week’s post about LTUE isn’t to tell you what LTUE is, but to tell you where you can find me at the symposium. Panels, signings, presentations … even a kaffeekatsch (spotlight) meetup!

With two weeks left to go before LTUE, here’s a look at my LTUE schedule:

Thursday – Feb 12th

The Gold Rush Before the Storm: Natural Resources and Their Ripple Effects – 1 PM
What powers a setting or a nation: Gold? Oil? Whale blubber? Magic? This panel explores the connection between critical resources and geopolitics, trade, conflict, and culture. Who controls what? How are these resources obtained. And how can such be used either as a critical core part of a story, or as background to make your world come to life?

Friday – Feb 13th

That’s Going to Leave a Mark: Injury, Disability, and Lasting Impact on Storytelling – 2 PM
We’ve seen plenty of Hollywood tales where the hero walks away as ruggedly clean and untouched from the final battle as they were at the start of the film, but not only is this not very real, it’s also cutting away from a fantastic storytelling element. This panel explores in the impact of injury—temporary or permanent—and how they can shape a character’s identity and story.

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Three Weeks Out From LTUE!

Max Misc , , ,

Hey! You know what’s starting twenty-one days from now? Do you?

Oh, you do? Well, then you’ve got your ticket, right?

Roughly how much time there was to go when I posted this post.

For those of you who don’t know, what I’m talking about is Life, The Universe, and Everything (LTUE)—and yes, that’s a reference to the works of Douglas Adams. LTUE is the writing symposium. Most people call it a convention, but in truth that’s not entirely accurate. Cons are things you go to in order to be with fans and geek out, and if you learn things, they’re generally behind-the-scenes details about the thing you’re there to geek out over.

And … yes, LTUE has an element of that. But it’s also got a greater focal lens guiding it forward. See, first and foremost, LTUE is about learning. And teaching.

Learning and teaching what, you might ask? Writing! You know that Being a Better Writer thing so many of you show up here for? Now imagine three solid days of that. Panel, after panel, after panel.

Oh, and this isn’t like those “writing camps” that may or may not be “taught” by someone that’s never actually published a book, either. LTUE’s panelist are authors and creators of all ranges. We’re talking from folks who have only published one or two works all the way up to heavyweights like Brandon Sanderson.

Side note: Yes, Brandon has paneled at LTUE before. In fact, he’s spoken about how LTUE was key in his career. No, I don’t know if he’ll be at this year’s. With Brandon, I think if he does show at LTUE it’ll be unannounced just so it doesn’t become centered around him. Which is very considerate of him, personally.

But basically, this is a con where instead of panels like “Behind the scenes on the set of Stargate” we have topics like Injury, Disability, and Lasting Impact on Storytelling or How Travel Speed Shapes Culture and Conflict.

If, writers, you’re thinking “Hey, those sound like worldbuilding topics” then you’re spot on! Worldbuilding, prose guides, pacing, writing every conceivable kind of genre … it’s all stuff talked about and discussed in panels at LTUE. From authors and creators in the field who have experience with what they’re talking about, as well as experts in said field. If you’ve ever been at another con and had a panel talk about a topic that made you think “Wow, I learned something, and I wish more panels were like that” well, that’s all of LTUE.

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The Slow Return

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Or “How My Vacation Spread Across Time.”

Welcome to 2026, folks. Here’s to it being better than 2025. That’s a low bar, too, so it should be that hard to clear, right?

Insert the Star Wars Anakin-Padme meme here.

Okay, so why title this The Slow Return? Well … I got sick. I returned from visiting family last Thursday, and immediately got to work on readying a personal project. See, I’m the one running my tabletop group’s annual campaign this year, and we’re once again doing a campaign set in the Gears of War universe. Again using a system I’ve been building myself for the last six years. And of course, as these things do, I was working down to the wire before our first session. Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday were all devoted to getting the player’s guide printed out and ready to go. Which ended up being 150+ pages, 50,000+ words. I want to stress I didn’t do all that in those four days. I’ve been working on this for years, and this version of it for about a year now off and on in my spare time. But still, it was a lot of work.

Which is probably why between that and traveling back from family, my resting heart rate was steadily rising from its normal RHR to about 12 beats above normal by Wednesday … which is when I woke up with sinus pressure.

Light, thankfully. I took both Wednesday and Thursday partially off as a result, reading up on my notes for the latest project and taking care of other IRL issues rather than writing. Thankfully for my last weekend, I had a classic post all ready to go (how have you enjoyed those blasts from the past, by the way?) but as of this coming Monday I’m out, so it’s back to the grindstone.

But before I tell you about that, I do want to mention that I had a blast visiting family for Christmas. Working to cement my status as “best uncle” and doing pretty well at it, I think. It was a delight. I introduced one nephew to Dungeons and Dragons, and another to synthpop (which he liked, but he’s also two, so there’s plenty of time for him to form his own musical opinions still, provided he gets exposure). I hope each of your Christmases were in some form or another just as pleasant.

But with that, it’s a new year, so let’s talk about what you can expect to see down the road! This first of which is Axtara – Armies and Accounting.

Where are we at with the third Axtara book? Well, it’s in the hands of the first set of Alpha Readers right now. And here I’ve learned a valuable lesson: DO NOT START ALPHA’S RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

I’d never actually managed to have a book ready at that time before, but I was a little skeptical of putting it out around such a holiday. Would it be a “holiday gift?” Or would it be largely swept to the side by real-life holiday concerns and practices and fade from memory? The only way to find out was test it.

And … it’s the latter, folks. Turns out, do not start an Alpha around Christmas is the way to go. Word of warning for authors out there: It’s not a good idea. At least, maybe if you’re Brandon you can pull that off. Axtara could not. So that’s one thing we’re getting off to a slow start with, but hopefully the new year can kick it back into gear. I’d like to get Axtara 3 out ASAP.

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No Being a Better Writer Today – Have the Full LTUE 2025 Write-up Instead

Max Misc , ,

Hey guys, sorry for the late post. I ended up sleeping really late to catch up on lost sleep from the LTUE symposium. Also, since I was at that symposium delivering live panels similar to Being a Better Writer, there was no time to write the usual Being a Better Writer.

All is not lost, however. There are always plenty of classic posts to dig through, and I did provide a nice collection of write ups that I’ll link below after each day of the con. The full notes of which are found on the Makalay Camp Discord.

Have a wonderful Presidents’ Day, and I’ll see you later this week!

LTUE 2025 Write-up: Day One
LTUE 2025 Write-up: Day Two
LTUE 2025 Write-up: Day Three

LTUE 2025 Write-Up: Day Three

Max Misc ,

Whew! I am beat.

I mean it. Three days of con will wear even the most energetic out. Especially when you’re putting a lot of energy into the con itself. I only had one panel today, in the morning, and with little sleep, but I put as much into it as I could anyway. And then attended a bunch of other panels. Ready for the recap? Because here we go!

Non-Human Senses:
Oh yeah, definitely my kind of panel. This one was all about non-human senses. No, I don’t mean how a bird sees the world, I mean how a bird sees the world with receptors we humans can’t envision because they see them not just in color shades we don’t, but with more colors than we can envision as well!

No, I’m not joking about that. This panel was all about senses that humans don’t have. Bioelectric senses. Nutrition senses. Vision of polarized light. And as the panel pointed out, one of the hardest things about putting these in fiction is that they are senses for which we cannot experience and don’t have.

Which means it all has to go through the human filter, which changes it. And would be different from person to person.

However, they did offer a few recommended books for digging into such senses, which I’ll list here:

  • An Immense World by Ed Yong – Interviews on animal senses
  • The Light Eaters – All about plants
  • Other senses, other worlds – Old and out of date, but has fun ideas.
  • What It is Like to Be a Bat – An Essay on, well, you can probably guess.

Kind of complicated panel, but I hope this at least gives you ideas. Electrical pulses for expressing emotion? Skin signals out of the human visible spectrum for speaking? Or something else?

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