worldcon - day 1
A few months ago I was in a liquor store looking for grappa (because I'm basically an old Italian man at heart) and there was some talk radio station playing. Normally I despise talk radio which is fine, it makes me shop faster. On this talk radio station they had the author of some sort of “get rich quick” book, which I'm pretty sure I hate more than talk radio - the combination of the two is kind of like a punch in the brain and I was trying not to pay attention. But in between his attempts to prey on the weak with tips of flipping properties, he said two things that made a lot of sense.
1)Don't be the smartest or most successful person in your peer group.
2)If your peer group consists of nine broke, unemployed guys, you'll be broke unemployed guy #10.
Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while they say, but those two things really struck home for me. I realize that having friends who are always doing something amazing, new books, new plays, new movies, whatever motivates me to work harder, lest I have nothing to bring to Show and Tell.
So, I was pleased to discover this morning that reddit had picked up Where I Write, and I was pleased to see that it looks beautiful in the Worldcon Program (thank you Paul) and then I was pleased to discover that Metafilter had also picked it up.
So, here I am with my Thing To Be Proud of. It's a nice feeling.
I've only just got here and already I almost got a Hugo....
We got up at 4:15 this morning, got on a plane, made it to Canada without incident. Bagle o' Death hooked us up with the coolest house I've seen in a Very Long Time (where I am currently sitting by the pond writing this) and we hied off to the convention center where we quickly ran into Michael Freaking Swanwick who gave us the most beautiful, heartfelt, wonderful gift I felt like weeping. (Michael has two new books out as well. Two.)
We bumped into whafford and Colin and found Neil Freaking Gaiman in the green room. He introduced us to Dr. Who writer Paul Cornell.
We talked about Where I Write and Neil was able to top it, because he's just won two blue ribbons for his honey at the county fair.
So tonight I strive to do better because my friends are doing better and I'm glad I heard that guy on the radio in the liquor store. I'm very lucky not to be the smartest or most successful person in my group of friends. I'm glad they're out there kicking my rear every day.
(Neil's liason, Anne, says she knows where my lj is.)
1)Don't be the smartest or most successful person in your peer group.
2)If your peer group consists of nine broke, unemployed guys, you'll be broke unemployed guy #10.
Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while they say, but those two things really struck home for me. I realize that having friends who are always doing something amazing, new books, new plays, new movies, whatever motivates me to work harder, lest I have nothing to bring to Show and Tell.
So, I was pleased to discover this morning that reddit had picked up Where I Write, and I was pleased to see that it looks beautiful in the Worldcon Program (thank you Paul) and then I was pleased to discover that Metafilter had also picked it up.
So, here I am with my Thing To Be Proud of. It's a nice feeling.
I've only just got here and already I almost got a Hugo....
We got up at 4:15 this morning, got on a plane, made it to Canada without incident. Bagle o' Death hooked us up with the coolest house I've seen in a Very Long Time (where I am currently sitting by the pond writing this) and we hied off to the convention center where we quickly ran into Michael Freaking Swanwick who gave us the most beautiful, heartfelt, wonderful gift I felt like weeping. (Michael has two new books out as well. Two.)
We bumped into whafford and Colin and found Neil Freaking Gaiman in the green room. He introduced us to Dr. Who writer Paul Cornell.
We talked about Where I Write and Neil was able to top it, because he's just won two blue ribbons for his honey at the county fair.
So tonight I strive to do better because my friends are doing better and I'm glad I heard that guy on the radio in the liquor store. I'm very lucky not to be the smartest or most successful person in my group of friends. I'm glad they're out there kicking my rear every day.
(Neil's liason, Anne, says she knows where my lj is.)