Worldcon! Worldcon! Worldcon!
I'm home, I went back to work (to a mountain of mail, e-mail, and messages), yet Worldcon is still filling my thoughts.
Once Worldcon really started, I didn't get my computer open much, except for taking notes during the lyric writing workshop, and now I have bills to pay, errands to run, spam comments in my LJ to delete, and stories to finish, so if I missed something important on LJ in the last week, you're welcome to call my attention to it here.
It's way too long since I was at a Worldcon. As much as I love being in filk song circles, I kept finding myself talking to people in the corridors instead of going in and singing. Gail Bailey gave me a beautiful length of lavender tatting, too short for much besides a bookmark, though I'd rather attach it to a garment and show it off than bury it in a book.
I met people who only know me as Wyld_Dandelyon, people who had heard my voice for years on filk tapes but didn't know what I look like, and people I haven't seen in way too long. I met Stina Leicht, who was autographing next to me, watched the Hugos (and even committed haiku there). The Hugo base design this year is STUNNING--you can see it here: http://litstack.com/?tag=hugo-award, but in person the glass has a steely blue tone and simply gleams, even in the predictably boring light of a basement convention hall. Deb Kosiba, the artist, outdid herself.
I was on some fantastic panels, especially the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading (17 authors read from their work in ng an hour and a half) and Storytelling the Old Fashioned Way, featuring four writers who also have performed live in various venues. There were dozens of panels I wanted to see, too many of which conflicted with things I was on. (I actually drew lines through entire time slots because each slot took up more than two pages there were so many different programming items at the same time, and I didn't want to miss my own programming items).
I also participated in a fishbowl event, where various writers sat in the fan lounge writing. The signed original text was auctioned during the Art Auction with the proceeds going to charity. I don't know how much it went for--I was napping at the time, after the unexpected cardio-hour on two hours of sleep wherein I rushed back and forth trying to find the person running the fishbowl event, so I could sign the printout, learned about and found a lost phone, found a stranger working the art show who had another stranger's badge, and quite thoroughly used up all the energy I'd gotten from my morning's nap.
I listened to some great live music, sat in some standing-room-only panels, read some of my work aloud, sang some songs (mine and other people's), smiled at fannish babies, handed out dozens of Torn World ribbons and postcard/flyers, sold a very few books (Subversion was popular at this event), bought a few books and CDs, got a new patch for my gig bag, resisted gorgeous jewelry of all designs (including stunning jeweled space ships) and chatted with friends new and old. It was a good con, even if it would have been better with a time-travel device to let me do more things and get more sleep.
If I have enough money and time off from work, in two years, I could go to Worldcon in London and then, a week later, to Eurocon in Ireland. That would be a cool trip! Now if I could just avoid the need to pay for stuff like car repairs and root canals...
Once Worldcon really started, I didn't get my computer open much, except for taking notes during the lyric writing workshop, and now I have bills to pay, errands to run, spam comments in my LJ to delete, and stories to finish, so if I missed something important on LJ in the last week, you're welcome to call my attention to it here.
It's way too long since I was at a Worldcon. As much as I love being in filk song circles, I kept finding myself talking to people in the corridors instead of going in and singing. Gail Bailey gave me a beautiful length of lavender tatting, too short for much besides a bookmark, though I'd rather attach it to a garment and show it off than bury it in a book.
I met people who only know me as Wyld_Dandelyon, people who had heard my voice for years on filk tapes but didn't know what I look like, and people I haven't seen in way too long. I met Stina Leicht, who was autographing next to me, watched the Hugos (and even committed haiku there). The Hugo base design this year is STUNNING--you can see it here: http://litstack.com/?tag=hugo-award, but in person the glass has a steely blue tone and simply gleams, even in the predictably boring light of a basement convention hall. Deb Kosiba, the artist, outdid herself.
I was on some fantastic panels, especially the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading (17 authors read from their work in ng an hour and a half) and Storytelling the Old Fashioned Way, featuring four writers who also have performed live in various venues. There were dozens of panels I wanted to see, too many of which conflicted with things I was on. (I actually drew lines through entire time slots because each slot took up more than two pages there were so many different programming items at the same time, and I didn't want to miss my own programming items).
I also participated in a fishbowl event, where various writers sat in the fan lounge writing. The signed original text was auctioned during the Art Auction with the proceeds going to charity. I don't know how much it went for--I was napping at the time, after the unexpected cardio-hour on two hours of sleep wherein I rushed back and forth trying to find the person running the fishbowl event, so I could sign the printout, learned about and found a lost phone, found a stranger working the art show who had another stranger's badge, and quite thoroughly used up all the energy I'd gotten from my morning's nap.
I listened to some great live music, sat in some standing-room-only panels, read some of my work aloud, sang some songs (mine and other people's), smiled at fannish babies, handed out dozens of Torn World ribbons and postcard/flyers, sold a very few books (Subversion was popular at this event), bought a few books and CDs, got a new patch for my gig bag, resisted gorgeous jewelry of all designs (including stunning jeweled space ships) and chatted with friends new and old. It was a good con, even if it would have been better with a time-travel device to let me do more things and get more sleep.
If I have enough money and time off from work, in two years, I could go to Worldcon in London and then, a week later, to Eurocon in Ireland. That would be a cool trip! Now if I could just avoid the need to pay for stuff like car repairs and root canals...