Sheacon 2022 Goodie Bag

Sheacon 2022 is starting TODAY! Early access is available right now, in fact! (Reminder! To attend Sheacon, you’ll need to join the KM Shea Discord server! Once inside our community server, there is a special channel called “Sheacon-Announcements.” That channel contains a link to the Sheacon server–the place where the actual conference is held. If you have any problems navigating the discord server, feel free to ask questions! Vin, the Mod Squad, and the Sheacon Planners will be watching, so they can swoop in and save you!)

Once you’ve joined Sheacon sever, you’ll have access to the full schedule of events for the weekend–you can find it in the “schedule” channel! It’s also advised that you check out the server rules and info channel, and since the Opening Ceremony won’t take place until 6 PM central time, you’ve got time to explore all the activities–like puzzles–and check out the goodie bag! What is the goodie bag? I’m so glad you asked!

Every year I have a goodie bag of treats–for both Con attendees and Champions who couldn’t make it! This year, we have so much to share–important, the other attending authors/panelists have goodies to share, too, so if you’re attending Sheacon, check out the “Goodie Bag” channel on the server!

First of all Prince’s Bargain is free today (7/29) through Monday (8/1). This book was voted on by the newsletter Champions in my July newsletter, so thank you to everyone who voted!

Click here to grab your copy!

The Prince’s Bargain is about Myth, a student translator and verified book nerd, who is selected to become the Crown Prince’s personal translator. Can she survive all the politics, danger, and her charming employer?

The Prince’s Bargain is book #3 in the Elves of Lessa series, but it is a stand alone fantasy romance, so if you haven’t tried this series you can pick up this book and jump in, although for maximum enjoyment you might want to read the other two books first. Please share the news about Prince’s Bargain with anyone you think might enjoy Myth and Arvel’s story, because this book isn’t going to be on sale like this for a long time!

For the next piece in the goodie bag, we have a brand new, free short story: Between a Queen and Her Colonel: Click here for the PDF!

This short story is a series of letters sent back and forth between a particular Erlauf Queen and her Colonel husband. (If you haven’t read Cinderella and the Colonel from my Timeless Fairy Tale series, I’d recommend skipping this for now!)

We also have something that has been long requested–much to my surprise–Aldelbert’s Glory Stretches!

Click Here for the PDF!

Aldelbert is a character from my Snow White retelling, and he’s rather famous among Timeless Fairy Tale Champions for his hybrid yoga/verbal affirmation exercises. Now you, too, can join Aldelbert in his quest to intensify personal glory!

These fantastic illustrations are done by Caitlin, you can see her art here on her Instagram page! They go through a few of Aldelbert’s Glory Stretches, as show by Angelique, Snow White, and the Seven Warriors! (Individual pages will be available at a later date, but this post is already so full!)

Magiford and Retha fans, fear not, I haven’t forgotten about you! Caitlin also created some coloring pages for Retha and Magiford!

For Hall of Blood and Mercy, we have a coloring page of the famous pool scene! (Click here for the PDF!)

For Court of Midnight and Deception, we have Leila and Rigel on a coffee run with some nightmares! (Click here for the PDF)

For Pack of Dawn and Destiny we have Pip on a Pack Run! (Click here for the PDF!)

And for Second Age of Retha we have a very adorable page for Pirate Kit and Solus when the Pirates are taking them back to shore (PDF Here)  and–by popular vote–Kit on one of the crazy dwarven sheep! (PDF Here)

That’s everything in this year’s goodie bag, though I do have some fun announcements I’ll be sharing this weekend, so stick around! I hope you enjoy Sheacon 2022, Champions! I can’t wait to see you there!

Sheacon 2022 Activities

Hello, Champions! Today we have another guest poster, Cindy! Cindy is our Head Sheacon Planner, and today she’s going to give you a breakdown of what activities will be available at Sheacon (July 29th – July 31st) in addition to the panels and Retha D&D. (If you haven’t seen the panel schedule yet, click here to view it!) We still have a few slots open in Retha D&D, which is the Retha themed table top game run by Zooknar. If you’d like to sign up, here’s the form–make sure you check the rules and sign up ASAP as spots are limited!

Reminder, Sheacon 2022 will be held on a discord server, which will open on July 29th. If you’re interested in any of the activities mentioned, you can find them in their corresponding channel names, which are bolded. Some channels do have matching audio channels–for instructions and fun. If you’re ever lost, or don’t know where to go, check out the help desk channel! (It will be in the top most section of the server!)

And that’s it for now–take it away, Cindy!

Hello Champions, my name is Cindy. As Head Planner for SheaCon 2022, I first need to make a shout out to the amazing hard work of all the planners. They are responsible for creating so many new activities, and preparing old ones to return. And don’t worry, there will be returning activities as well! 

Our art and cosplay channel is back! This is where you can post fan art or pictures of a KM Shea/AM Sohma character cosplay you have done. We ask that privacy is respected in these pictures, especially for minors, but you can show off costumes without showing faces!

This year for the very first time, there will be a Printable Activities channel where there will be many different types of activities. These include Quote Cryptogram, Buzzword Word Search, Magical Creature Word Unscramble, and Trivia Crossword. These activities will test your brain power with KM Shea and AM Sohma quotes, trivia, creatures and character names!

If you find puzzles relaxing, we have the channel for you!  In our puzzle channel you will find many, many jigsaw puzzles of Kitty’s book quotes and cover images.  

Do you like riddles? Then step right into our channel full of brain twisting riddles, riddle me this!  You will be able to use this channel to share your riddles or try answering riddles created by your fellow Champions. You can submit riddles from any book written by one of the authors participating in a panel, or you can just create and submit a generic riddle.  

Ever wanted to share in the indescribable misery joy of Stil’s question game? Need a way to help time pass? Yes? Stil will be overjoyed at having another person playing his game!

Magiford is going to be the center of a fae, werewolf, and human battle to decide which drink is the best on Magiford Beverage Brawl! The fae insist tea is superior to all other drinks. Leila leads a faction of humans obsessed with coffee. And the werewolves demand that cocoa is the best out of loyalty to Pip and Greyson. To settle the issue once and for all, Pip has suggested a challenge. Which drink will win Magiford’s favor? You decide. Share your favorite tea/coffee/cocoa recipes or share pics of your favorite drink or drinkware (coffee/tea pots, tea cups, mugs, etc.). The beverage with the most posts wins!

The fan favorite Drawing with a Twist will be back! “Drawing? But I can’t find my favorite sketching pencil!” you say. Do not fear, for despite the name of this activity, a pencil is not required. You can also break out the sidewalk chalk that you gave your children for Christmas, the craft paint you bought when you were trying to somehow make your dorm room more homey, that tub of clay from the pottery phase you went through 7 years ago, or even the oil paint that your great aunt gave you after you mentioned that you were taking a high school art class. You will have one hour to create an iconic* scene from  a KM Shea or AM Sohma series! (*iconic is a broad definition, and we are not open for critique at this time 😉

Calling all Champions to the arena of Shea-Trivia! You’ve read the books, you’ve re-read the books, but have you delved into the details with the determined focus of Stil playing his question game? Test your mettle in a round of K. M. Shea themed Kahoot! Each Trial of Trivia will test your knowledge of Kitty’s books. Will you stand as strong as a Drake vampire in sunlight or falter under the nitty-gritty details? Speed and accuracy are key, so warm up your clicking finger and get ready to show-off your true obsession with all things Shea-verse!

Test your intelligencer senses in Codenames! Codenames is a card based guessing game with a spy (and Kitty!) theme that can be played online. The goal of the game is for the operatives to guess correctly which cards belong to their team, based on clues from their spymaster. The first team to identify all of their cards wins! 

Welcome to SheaCon Bingo! To play, simply jump in the channel (and the voice chat) and pull up a Bingo card! Listen carefully as your host calls out familiar words (to Champions) and soon you just might have… Bingo!

Ever wish you could get up and move around while still attending SheaCon?  Then Glory Stretches a la Aldelbert is for you! Get ready to stretch your muscles and boost your confidence!

Vin will have a channel (or two) dedicated to continuing the mis-adventures of Lord Sebastian Vlasic Dilbertcumber the Seventh and Valgara aka Princess Airryn Nimbus! And You get to participate! Each Champion will get an opportunity to write a few sentences at a time to contribute to the new story.

Vin will also be hosting a LotRO (Lord of the Rings Online) watch party as she and others from the kin run around Middle Earth. If you’ve ever wondered what Retha might look like, be sure to join in. Check out Vin’s fun in her Vintertainment channels!

All this is in addition to the panels with Kitty, other author panelists, and Retha and Dragons, a Dungeon and Dragons game with an Age of Retha twist! We are very excited to see you at SheaCon this year, so be sure to mark your calendars for July 29th through 31st!

Discord Tips & Trips

Good news, Champions! Vin–our Director of Discord–is back with some general Discord tricks and tips that will hopefully make your time at Sheacon easier/more enjoyable. During Sheacon you will be able to ask for help at the server “help desk” (which you’ll see once Sheacon starts on the 29th) but you might want to refer back to this guide for extra help.

Now, then, take it away, Vin!

Hello, Champions!

I am back with my tips and tricks for Discord. The most important thing that I can say for a newcomer is to join Kitty’s server before SheaCon. You don’t even have to talk to us if you don’t want! (Though we are pretty amazing.) Joining early will give you time to see how Discord works without the pressure of figuring everything out that weekend. Trust me, it’s going to be a fun packed but CRAZY BUSY event filled with author panels and activities. The last thing you need is to feel overwhelmed because Discord is a different platform than you have used before. SheaCon will take place on a separate server (think of servers like different Facebook groups), and the link to it won’t be shared until July 29th.

My next tip is to read up on the basics of Discord. It has its own “Beginner’s Guide to Discord” webpage. I use it ALL THE TIME, and I’ve been on Discord for almost four years. I used it just today. From that one article you can find more advanced articles like how to do text markdowns (making words bold, italics, underlined, etc.). Bonus points to them for keeping it updated with every new feature they add.

Each server is different, so read the server rules and channel descriptions. The rules will make it clear how to conduct yourself on a server should you eventually join one that is not Kitty’s. Channel descriptions will let you know what the channel is about if the channel name did not clearly communicate its purpose. Kitty’s Champion server and the SheaCon server share most of the same rules.

On a more sensitive note, I’m going to talk about GIFs. Now I love to use GIFs! But I’ve had to tone down my usage because I have learned that a lot of flashing GIFs in a row will over stimulate some Champions. How did I learn this? The hard way, unfortunately, when those poor souls had to reach out to me about their troubles. Talk about a moderator fail. This is not a rule, more of a guideline in being considerate of the hundreds of Champions that are on Discord, but please try to keep GIF usage minimal. A few here and there don’t hurt anything, but an entire conversation held in just GIFs can be crazy. Fun… but crazy.

Now, you have joined Discord, you have looked over all the how-to articles, and you are familiar with the server. What next? That is completely up to you! While it can be intimidating at first, if you want to talk, the easiest way is to just jump into a conversation. We’ll think nothing of it and keep talking to you. Or you can ask book questions. I’ve seen that nothing is more effective at getting conversation started than theorizing about Kitty’s books. However, you don’t have to talk to us at all! I can’t count the number of silent members on Discord… because they are silent. They are active, they read everything, but they choose not to talk. And that IS FINE!

My last thing: If you are lost, please ask for help. We are very friendly and want other Champions to feel welcome in our server and in the SheaCon server. Champions will gladly help answer questions, but if you are uncomfortable asking them, you can send me a personal message. I will either know the answer or find it for you.

I hope these tips help you have a great weekend during SheaCon or help if you just want to check out this Discord “thing” we keep talking about. I’ll see you there!

-Vin