Fencon Report Day 2
After breakfast on Saturday morning, I headed to my reading. I shared the 10am slot with Alexis Latner, which was a really good pairing (at least from my perspective). We were half expecting no audience, and were pretty much planning to chat and catch up with each other's lives, but we actually had two audience members. I gave them their choice of one of my short stories or my forthcoming nonfiction essay on the Anita Blake series, and they opted for the essay, which led to a very interesting discussion. Alexis then read from her new novel-in-progress, which is a dark western fantasy. I was really sucked into her chapter and can't wait to read it in context with the rest of the book.
I popped into the dealer's room for a bit and then found a spot in the hallway to do a bit of songwriting (a song I've been working on for two weeks starting really percolating in the brain). I work best with white noise in the background, and this also gave me the chance to chat with folks I had not yet had a chance to visit with. And in the really spiffy weekend news, Sundara of Ghost of a Rose walked by and sat down to chat. She asked for a copy of my song My Irish History because she wants to start performing it and eventually record it. I'm still floating.
I did everntually come down to earth enough to head to the Lyric Writing Workshop taught by bedlamhouse and ladyat. They do the workshop as a two part process. On day one, we meet, talk a bit about the songwriting process, and then as a group we brainstorm topics. We then vote on a topic and proceed to brainstorm images and active verbs associated with that topic. We are then all sent forth with instructions to write a song - approximately 3 verses and a chorus - by the next day. On day two, we share what we've come up with and critique it. Last year I found the workshop incredibly useful, and this year was no different. We ended up picking DIY (do it yourself) as the topic, largely because it was the theme of the con.
Chris and I then went to grab some lunch, and I'm afraid I mentally abandoned him about halfway through lunch because my brain locked in on the tune for the song, and I was off and running with lyrics. I scribbled notes, but had to postpone the actual writing for a bit, because first I was scheduled for the Yard Dog Press road show, which went well. The con had given us only one hour, so several of us didn't get a chance to read, but I think the audience had a great time, and that's the key.
I went to bedlamhouse and ladyat's concert (wonderful, as was to be expected), but ended up skipping Bujold's key note speech to go scribble on my song. Within an hour, I had most of it roughed out. It's always a bit amazing when a song bursts forth so close to being fully formed.
Met up with Alexis and two of her friends and we headed off for a great dinner. When we returned to the hotel, Alexis and I secured a quiet corner and then finally had a chance to catch up with each other's lives. That's one of the things I miss the most about living in Tulsa - the ability to visit with friends at conventions and festivals.
I then eavesdropped on the cabaret and, when that wrapped up, headed to filk. The filk circle (and audience) were bigger than the night before, and most of the filkers at the con popped in for a bit, and some stayed for quite awhile. The only frustrating part was we had a couple of enthusiastic but not very attentive folks who kept stepping all over folks like billroper, ladyat and filkertom. While I love the egalitarian aspects of filk, there does need to be some common sense and courtesy - when ladyat and filkertom haven't gotten to perform, it's not really cool for one person to jump in to do their third song in 45 minutes.
I performed (again, in no particular order) Home Repair, Kilmainham, The Greys are Here, The Menu Song, and That Man Rolf. I originally had no plans to do The Greys Are Here, but it fit as a follower, and Casey graciously agreed to let me jump in front of him to do the song - he had stepped aside for faxpaladin, and it was pretty clear we were wrapping up and I didn't want The Greys are Here to be the last song of the evening - I took the tune for How Great Thou Art and wrote a song about alien abduction. When I finished, one person said "that's just so wrong" and another said, "as a Baptist, I am appalled. As a filker, I'm in awe." And that pretty much sums up my reactions to my song - I love the way it turned out, but everytime I sing it, I wait for lightning to strike.
I popped into the dealer's room for a bit and then found a spot in the hallway to do a bit of songwriting (a song I've been working on for two weeks starting really percolating in the brain). I work best with white noise in the background, and this also gave me the chance to chat with folks I had not yet had a chance to visit with. And in the really spiffy weekend news, Sundara of Ghost of a Rose walked by and sat down to chat. She asked for a copy of my song My Irish History because she wants to start performing it and eventually record it. I'm still floating.
I did everntually come down to earth enough to head to the Lyric Writing Workshop taught by bedlamhouse and ladyat. They do the workshop as a two part process. On day one, we meet, talk a bit about the songwriting process, and then as a group we brainstorm topics. We then vote on a topic and proceed to brainstorm images and active verbs associated with that topic. We are then all sent forth with instructions to write a song - approximately 3 verses and a chorus - by the next day. On day two, we share what we've come up with and critique it. Last year I found the workshop incredibly useful, and this year was no different. We ended up picking DIY (do it yourself) as the topic, largely because it was the theme of the con.
Chris and I then went to grab some lunch, and I'm afraid I mentally abandoned him about halfway through lunch because my brain locked in on the tune for the song, and I was off and running with lyrics. I scribbled notes, but had to postpone the actual writing for a bit, because first I was scheduled for the Yard Dog Press road show, which went well. The con had given us only one hour, so several of us didn't get a chance to read, but I think the audience had a great time, and that's the key.
I went to bedlamhouse and ladyat's concert (wonderful, as was to be expected), but ended up skipping Bujold's key note speech to go scribble on my song. Within an hour, I had most of it roughed out. It's always a bit amazing when a song bursts forth so close to being fully formed.
Met up with Alexis and two of her friends and we headed off for a great dinner. When we returned to the hotel, Alexis and I secured a quiet corner and then finally had a chance to catch up with each other's lives. That's one of the things I miss the most about living in Tulsa - the ability to visit with friends at conventions and festivals.
I then eavesdropped on the cabaret and, when that wrapped up, headed to filk. The filk circle (and audience) were bigger than the night before, and most of the filkers at the con popped in for a bit, and some stayed for quite awhile. The only frustrating part was we had a couple of enthusiastic but not very attentive folks who kept stepping all over folks like billroper, ladyat and filkertom. While I love the egalitarian aspects of filk, there does need to be some common sense and courtesy - when ladyat and filkertom haven't gotten to perform, it's not really cool for one person to jump in to do their third song in 45 minutes.
I performed (again, in no particular order) Home Repair, Kilmainham, The Greys are Here, The Menu Song, and That Man Rolf. I originally had no plans to do The Greys Are Here, but it fit as a follower, and Casey graciously agreed to let me jump in front of him to do the song - he had stepped aside for faxpaladin, and it was pretty clear we were wrapping up and I didn't want The Greys are Here to be the last song of the evening - I took the tune for How Great Thou Art and wrote a song about alien abduction. When I finished, one person said "that's just so wrong" and another said, "as a Baptist, I am appalled. As a filker, I'm in awe." And that pretty much sums up my reactions to my song - I love the way it turned out, but everytime I sing it, I wait for lightning to strike.