Seems like Eric Wecks and the Vancouver Community Library were made for each other.
Wecks, 41, is a successful local author who has already spent several years holed up in the fabulous new downtown building, anonymously working up his fiction.
“I loved writing in that space. I love the feel of it,” he said. “And when they finally found out I was doing that, we started cooperating on a few projects.”
The latest project is StoryCon, and it’s set for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — all day long — Saturday at the library, 901 C St. It’s free, and the whole point is connecting book lovers with their next great reads, Wecks said. Learn more at storyconvention.com or call the library at 360-906-5000.
More than 30 authors will be on hand for readings, breakout discussion panels, informal chitchat and book sales and signing — with 40 percent of the revenues going to the auxiliary Friends of the Vancouver Community Library group.
Breakout sessions will include topics such as “The Wicked West” (what makes the Pacific Northwest such a prime setting for crime writing?), “Hell on Heels” (female heroes and villains), and “Where to Find Great Flash Fiction Online” (very short stories — under 1,000 words). Vancouver mystery writer Kate Dyer-Seeley and Portland sci-fi authors Daniel Wilson, Jason Gurley and David D. Levine are among the many who will be on hand.
Yes, it does seem to be a sci-fi heavy event. But Wecks himself came from a completely different direction. He was a real estate agent and financial expert who survived two corporate mergers during the Great Recession — until he finally got laid off. But he was teeming with financial knowledge, he said, as well as an awareness of just how close to the edge many people were living. Plus, he loved to write.
Best-selling advice
Most hot financial self-help books focus on the middle class, he said, but he “wanted to focus on those who were in the middle class no longer, or never were.” So he wrote a book called “How to Manage Your Money When You Don’t Have Any.” To his astonishment, it became an Amazon best-seller — which just shows the need for such a book, he said — and launched a whole new writing career for Wecks.
Writing about money has made him a lot of money, but he realized his heart was really in fiction. “I didn’t want to be the personal finance guy,” he said. “I realized I was a much more creative artist than a businessperson. I had to give voice to that side of my personality.” He’s written two sci-fi novels since then; they haven’t sold quite as amazingly as the finance book, but the fact that somebody somewhere is reading them still feeds Wecks’ soul, he said.
That’s why he wanted to pay readers back with StoryCon. Literary conferences tend to focus on writing and publishing — the techniques, the business — but Wecks thinks readers deserve their own conference too. He’s really hoping this first StoryCon proves to be the first annual one.
“As a writer I’m beholden to readers,” he said. “I need readers. I wanted to create something where readers would be the guests of honor.”
Bits ‘n’ Pieces appears Fridays and Saturdays. If you have a story you’d like to share, email bits@columbian.com.
