Writing Excuses has two new episodes this week due to a goof on our part. We had planned to hold Mary’s brainstorming episode back until the spring, but we forgot that there was a direct followup episode. The followup got released first and people were confused, so we’ve gone ahead and made it a two-episode week. Here are the episodes in chronological order: episode 51, Brainstorming with Mary, and THEN episode 50, Outlining the Mary Way.

InkWing has a new blog post up about their December deadlines and the Windrunner pin, which they’re giving away in each T-shirt order, or which you can get by entering the contest in the blog post comments.

I have two events in Utah this week.

Dragons Keep Magic The Gathering Draft & Signing, Orem

Date: 12.13.12
Time: 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Place: Dragons Keep
Address: 48 W 300 N
Orem, UT 84601
Phone: (801) 225-5215
Schedule:
Draft: 6:00 p.m.
Signing: 9-10 p.m.
Limited amount of potential draft participants; sign up now.
Cost: $12.00 Dragon’s Keep Standard Draft Pricing and Prizes
This one will focus on ALL of my books, and while there might be a few copies of the Mistborn Adventure Game for sale, this is my holiday signing for Utah Valley. Because of that, we’ll bring a lot of copies of various things to sell.

Worlds of Fantasy at the Salt Lake City Library

Date: 12.15.12
Time: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Place: Salt Lake City Library
Address: 210 East 400 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Phone: (801) 524-8200
Schedule: See the library website for the full schedule, which begins at 10:00 a.m.. My events are as follows:
Fantasy Literature and the Re-imagined Myth with Brandon Sanderson
12:00 noon-1:00 p.m., Nancy Tessman Auditorium
Sponsored by Utah Humanities Council
A discussion exploring the questions; from whence did Fantasy Literature Rise? What is its place in contemporary culture? Where is it going?
Brandon Sanderson Q&A: World Building
1:30-3:00 p.m., Lower Urban Room
Brandon Sanderson Signing
3:30 p.m., Night-Flight Comics at Library Square
Bookplates for A MEMORY OF LIGHT will be available.

Here is the Salt Lake Library’s press release on the event:

Popular Fantasy Author Brandon Sanderson Speaks at The City Library
Highlights Worlds of Fantasy Exhibit on Display

December 10, 2012—Salt Lake City—Fantasy is a major component in our cultural zeitgeist. The past decade has been filled with literature, film, games, and art that capture society’s desire for the exploration of magical worlds. From Harry Potter to Game of Thrones, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, our pop-culture world is one obsessed with fantasy. Join The City Library for a series of events highlighting the mystical and magical.

On December 15, The City Library will be transformed. An ongoing exhibit featuring sets and pieces from a locally-produced fantasy film, Flight from Shadow, will be the backdrop for a series of fantastic events, including an all-ages costume contest—from the worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Robert Jordan, wand-making classes, film screenings, book browses, tours of the exhibit, and a performance by the Salt Lake Pops Orchestra.

The feature of the December 15 celebration is a lecture with famed author Brandon Sanderson, beginning at 12pm in the Main Library Auditorium. Sanderson is best known for finishing Robert Jordan’s epic series, The Wheel of Time. The final installment of this series will be released on January 8, 2013. Sanderson will also host an intimate Q&A, focusing on world-building, followed by a book signing.

Other Worlds of Fantasy events continue through the month of January, including Dungeons and Dragons at the Chapman Branch, and a continuation of the Fantasy Genre Speaker’s Series, focusing on art, film, and deconstructing Middle Earth.

The Genre Speaker’s Series is funded by the Utah Humanities Council, and Worlds of Fantasy has been sponsored by The City Library, University of Utah Department of English, Fort Douglas Military Museum, McGrew Studios, Wagonland Adventures, Absinthe Hair and Grooming Parlor, Razor’s Edge, Abbie Warnock Photography, Badali Jewelers, Wheel of 9 Productions, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, The Downtown Alliance, Gryphon Games, Night Flight Comics, Utah Film Commission, and Marcela Torres.

For more information on Worlds of Fantasy at The City Library, visit www.slcpl.org/fantasy.