Norwescon: Weekend in a blur
Norwescon: Noise, crowds, friends, parties, the masquerade, panels, a game show, business conversations, general madness.
Here's my modest Flickr set from the weekend.
At this point, what I remember in detail is sharing quality time with my roommate, conversations about the current Sekrit Project, about the future Sekrit Project, conversations about crowd anxiety and job PTSD, the history of fan fiction, epic fantasy, weddings and future travel (as in, where I'm going, not where technology is going), and more. I think the main issue is that I was very, very tightly scheduled on Saturday which, in the wake of two pretty stressful weeks at work, exacerbated every anxiety, every stressor in the arsenal. So while it was a good weekend, it tripped a number of switches that I was unprepared for. I did a lot of dodging of crowds and a lot of single-minded walking from hither to yon with limited social interaction.
I didn't like this feeling. Conventions are usually a time for visiting with friends I don't often see, for having the occasional business conversation, and for indulging the geek side of my personal Force. The weekend flew by, feeling like it was over before it began. I had to sort of survey the art show rather than strolling through to enjoy it; I made sure I saw art posted by friends and acquaintances, tried to see stuff by artists with whom I was unfamiliar, but it was a pretty quick jaunt. I spent minimal time in the dealer's room and purchased nothing. (One book dealer was out of the one book I was actually interested in, a collection of Marge Piercy short stories.)
I did have quality time with some key folks, including Peggy Rae Sapienza, in from the East Coast, flogging the DC in 2017 WorldCon bid (I presupported, but I'm going to have to presupport Helsinki in 2017, too, because -- HELSINKI!). I also got to visit with calendula_witch, markferrari, the_monkey_king, joycemocha, mistymarshall (in from Europe!), Janet Freeman-Daily, Craig English, and to chat with Clint Boomer, Jeff Grubb, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and a number of writers I'm currently working with on the Sekrit Project.
I did get to a couple of panels (one on giving good alien, and one on putting gods into fantasy fiction). I attended the Masquerade and participated in the half-time show, a game show called Just a Minute; I was buttonholed later in the weekend by someone who said they enjoyed my performance--gratifying, unexpected. Though I came in second by one single point, I walked away with the prize because the winner, one davidlevine, wouldn't be around to use it. The prize was a membership to Crypticon, a horror-media convention over Memorial Day weekend. I may go for a day.
And my panel conversations were good ones. Putting the Epic in Epic Fantasy went very well, I thought, with Bradley Beaulieu as the moderator asking smart and specific questions. And the panel about the history of fan fiction was fun. I was able to share copies of zines from the 1980s, as did another panelist (who brought many more, some of which I own). It was fun to see kids who hadn't been born yet paging through my artifacts. And I learned about some current fanfic resources that I was previously unaware of.
I didn't get a single glimpse of the weekend's guest of honor, Michael Moorcock, which was rather disappointing. He did some signings and some panels, all of which I just missed.
So while it was a good weekend in many ways, it was something of a mixed bag. Next year's GOHs are Boris Vallejo and George R. R. Martin. It will be a madhouse and I'm already trying to decide if I'm going to go or if I'm going to skip, given the trouble I had with the crowds this year. We'll see.
Here's my modest Flickr set from the weekend.
At this point, what I remember in detail is sharing quality time with my roommate, conversations about the current Sekrit Project, about the future Sekrit Project, conversations about crowd anxiety and job PTSD, the history of fan fiction, epic fantasy, weddings and future travel (as in, where I'm going, not where technology is going), and more. I think the main issue is that I was very, very tightly scheduled on Saturday which, in the wake of two pretty stressful weeks at work, exacerbated every anxiety, every stressor in the arsenal. So while it was a good weekend, it tripped a number of switches that I was unprepared for. I did a lot of dodging of crowds and a lot of single-minded walking from hither to yon with limited social interaction.
I didn't like this feeling. Conventions are usually a time for visiting with friends I don't often see, for having the occasional business conversation, and for indulging the geek side of my personal Force. The weekend flew by, feeling like it was over before it began. I had to sort of survey the art show rather than strolling through to enjoy it; I made sure I saw art posted by friends and acquaintances, tried to see stuff by artists with whom I was unfamiliar, but it was a pretty quick jaunt. I spent minimal time in the dealer's room and purchased nothing. (One book dealer was out of the one book I was actually interested in, a collection of Marge Piercy short stories.)
I did have quality time with some key folks, including Peggy Rae Sapienza, in from the East Coast, flogging the DC in 2017 WorldCon bid (I presupported, but I'm going to have to presupport Helsinki in 2017, too, because -- HELSINKI!). I also got to visit with calendula_witch, markferrari, the_monkey_king, joycemocha, mistymarshall (in from Europe!), Janet Freeman-Daily, Craig English, and to chat with Clint Boomer, Jeff Grubb, Diana Pharaoh Francis, and a number of writers I'm currently working with on the Sekrit Project.
I did get to a couple of panels (one on giving good alien, and one on putting gods into fantasy fiction). I attended the Masquerade and participated in the half-time show, a game show called Just a Minute; I was buttonholed later in the weekend by someone who said they enjoyed my performance--gratifying, unexpected. Though I came in second by one single point, I walked away with the prize because the winner, one davidlevine, wouldn't be around to use it. The prize was a membership to Crypticon, a horror-media convention over Memorial Day weekend. I may go for a day.
And my panel conversations were good ones. Putting the Epic in Epic Fantasy went very well, I thought, with Bradley Beaulieu as the moderator asking smart and specific questions. And the panel about the history of fan fiction was fun. I was able to share copies of zines from the 1980s, as did another panelist (who brought many more, some of which I own). It was fun to see kids who hadn't been born yet paging through my artifacts. And I learned about some current fanfic resources that I was previously unaware of.
I didn't get a single glimpse of the weekend's guest of honor, Michael Moorcock, which was rather disappointing. He did some signings and some panels, all of which I just missed.
So while it was a good weekend in many ways, it was something of a mixed bag. Next year's GOHs are Boris Vallejo and George R. R. Martin. It will be a madhouse and I'm already trying to decide if I'm going to go or if I'm going to skip, given the trouble I had with the crowds this year. We'll see.