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Isn't that cool?
We're back from Baycon a day early because we have Much To Do. So this entry will be short, and I can't promise to be around much this week. But I will write about our Baycon experience as soon as possible (hopefully before I forget). The short version is: we had a blast, still don't have the hang of collecting ribbons, and we're already signed up for next year.
Two weeks from now, my daughter will have been married for a week, our houseguests will all be on with their own lives, and I MIGHT be able to get back to writing, submitting, and critting full time. But until my other daughter has her baby, I'm on call and will be spending a week or two in San Diego.
Once THAT'S over with, life will return to some semblance of Normal. Whatever Normal turns out to be at that point.
Y'all have a good Memorial Day.
- Mood:
busy
Baycon starts tomorrow.
The sad news is that Mercedes Lackey won't be there - evidently she's got a bad case of the flu. Okay, well I don't want to catch it. And I don't want the poor lady to drag herself out of bed when she feels like crap.
Still. I'm sure I'm not the only one who is disappointed.
Another disappointment: all year Rick and I have looked forward to another con and the chance to spend our evenings in Regency dancing. We had an absolute blast last year.
This year?
Say hello to planter fasciitis. Rick can hardly walk; dancing is out of the question. I suppose he shouldn't even attend the con, it would be better if he stayed home and kept his foot up. But we'll go anyway, and I'll do what I can to help him not walk around too much. We'll just limp from one panel to another.
But we're going in style. I got costumes for us to wear. Steampunk. Er... conservative steampunk. Rick is a gentleman...
- Mood:
geeky
That about sums it up for me. Between work (I've had some work - it did't pay much, but it took a long time), houseguests, weeding, playing with my granddaughter, and yes, a little writing - I've hardly had time to think. We went to the zoo today and got caught in typical San Francisco weather - foggy and cold, despite the fact that over on our side of the Bay, it was sunny and nearing 100 degrees. Honestly, usually when it's hot like that here, SF is at least 70.
Not today. We actually had to buy sweatshirts at the zoo, that's how bad it was. And I feel like an idiot, because I KNOW not to go to SF without a very warm wrap.
Oh well.
Back at home, I've just made a lemon meringue pie that will function as a birthday pie for my husband and his son. Their birthdays are two days apart. I think the pie turned out all right, although the crust is a little crumbly.
Baycon - is anyone else going? Rick and I will be there, all decked out in our steampunk regalia. Mercedes Lackey is the guest of honor - perhaps I'll bring a book or two for her to sign. That would be cool.
The Baycon Powers-That-Be have not been able to post a schedule of panels, so I don't know which ones we'll be attending. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to it. We're staying the whole weekend and I hope it's a wild one!
- Mood: busy
Total exhaustion enabled me to sleep last night. I'm still sore as hell - this new mattress is simply not going to work. We'll give it another week, I think. If there's no improvement we're returning it and trying something else. I have enough trouble sleeping without ADDING to the problem.
But back to the fun at Baycon. We went home after the baseball game on Saturday, planning on returning to Santa Clara in the morning. We slept in, though and had a few chores to do, so we didn't get back until the 1:00 panels. I was bummed about that. I wanted to sit in on the panel about Small Press Publishers.
By now, we felt like old hands at conventions. We knew our way around the hotel, recognized some of the panel members, and smiled at people we'd danced with. We still felt like outsiders - it was just the two of us, with no friends or acquaintances to meet up with, and no one tried to talk to us. The few side conversations we started seemed to fall flat. Maybe it takes attending several conventions before one is able to fit in. This is the difficult part for me. I feel that we're all there with similar interests and to have a good time, and conversations with strangers (and hopefully, getting to know them) should be part of it. But alas, it's not.
- Mood:
contemplative
Even though we stayed at the hotel Friday night, we didn't manage to hit all the late night spots. The third floor was the "party floor" (I overheard one hotel employee say that he'd never heard of any group reserving an entire floor for parties) but we didn't make it on Friday. Nor did we get to the concerts or filks going on. This is all regrettable - I would have liked to stop in for a while, anyway. But we danced a while, then went in search of the "Grog Appreciation" tasting out on the patio. It was cold out there, but we stayed about half an hour, talking with James and Kathryn Daugherty, who made the excellent grog. Entertainment was provided by a free-wheeling pirate lass who regaled us with tales of grog tastings in other cities, her friend the pirate whore (her choice of title), and an adorable fairy who held her grog quite well. We engaged in a few Irish toasts and made our way back to the regency dancing. Thus exhausted, we limped back to our room before midnight.
- Mood: busy
I just attended my first SF convention and I'd like to talk about it from the perspective of a newbie. I can't do it from any other perspective, after all.
BayCon 2008.
Wow.
Let me say up front that we were incredibly impressed with the program. I think the organizers deserve major kudos for putting it all together.
Let me say up front that we were incredibly impressed with the program. I think the organizers deserve major kudos for putting it all together.
( Read more... )
- Mood:
tired
Also: author bio. How many newbies have one those ready to hand out? There are so many pieces to this business!
I've also been printing my handouts for the seminar on Tuesday. No point keeping it till the last minute. So right now, I'm stapling my business card to each handout. One business card has the word "Winner!" written on the back for the lucky person who wins my Food Wheel. I'd give away a cookbook, but this is costing me enough as it is.
Oh well. It all goes to advertising.
One point five reams of paper. All I have to do is make sure I take the writing material to BayCon and the cooking material to the seminar...
- Mood: busy
