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

Sheacon 2022 Authors!

I’m happy to announce the lineup of authors coming to Sheacon 2022! Attending this year is: Regency author Sally Britton,  regency author Sarah Courtney, fairy tale author Emily Deady, fantasy author Joseph Lallo, and fantasy/fairy tale author Kate Stradling!

These authors represent a wide variety of genres–for you Sohma fans, Joseph Lallo even has aRPG book–and have a massive library of books between them all, so stock up your “To Be Read” lists!

Additionally, the Sheacon planners wanted to give you a chance to ask these visiting authors questions. Click here to submit questions for my Q&A Panel, and click here to submit questions for our guests! (Important note from the Sheacon planners: Please submit your questions about books, future plans, writing style/process, etc, for Kitty or any of our guest panelists before July 2nd!)

Finally, as a reminder, this year’s Sheacon is July 29th, 30th, and 31st! I hope to see you there!

Sheacon 2022

I’ve got some awesome news/updates for Sheacon 2022, Champions!

First of all, a date has been chosen! Mark your calendars for July 29th, 30th, and 31st! For those of you who are new to the community, Sheacon is a weekend of book-dedicated community fun held on a private discord server. We have guest panelists, games–like my favorite, Drawing With A Twist where moderators give piece by piece descriptions of a scene from one of my books and you franticly try to fix your personal drawing to match their description–activities, and more! (This year, RayJay even made us the above icon! The cat with the crown is my favorite part, buwahah!)

As the weekend draws closer we’ll release instructions about joining Sheacon, but you do need to be a member of my Discord server so you can get an invite to Sheacon! Additionally, In June I’ll announce our guest author-speakers and some of the planned activities, so stay tuned for more information.

In other Sheacon news–which some of you might have heard previously–I’ve added another member to the Shea Team as the chief Sheacon planner: Cindy!

Cindy has been helping plan Sheacon since our first year back in 2020. As an official team member, she’ll use her awe-inspiring skills of organization and leadership to map out Sheacon, and is responsible for inviting and scheduling the authors/panelists who speak during the convention, plotting out everything that needs to be done in order to make Sheacon happen, and leads all the other amazing volunteers in everything from vetting games to helping me find artists to commission freebies I give away to you Champions.

This year we’ve got a wonderful pack of volunteers who are helping Cindy take on this task! Without them, Sheacon wouldn’t happen, so a huge thank you to: Anneli, Battatack, Bluefires, Chelsc, Cheybri, Cwang, Dino, Ellarose, Gwen, Kay, Lavalectrix, LouBerry, Miriel, Narel, PumpkinPi, Rachel, wish.I.was.in.a.fairytale, Wertful, and last–but certainly not least–Zooknar.

I’m very aware that having an entire online conference dedicated to…uh…me (which, I feel really sheepish even saying that) is rare and special. I’m so proud of our community, and I’m happy and honored to be a part of it, and there’s a part of me that still thinks this whole thing is a dream. I can’t thank you Champions enough–from those like Cindy and the Sheacon volunteers to everyone who comes to Sheacon to join in the fun. Thank you for making the community so welcoming, inviting, and fun. I can’t wait to see you all at the conference, beginning July 29th!