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4th Street Fantasy and beyond
Jun. 26th, 2014 03:06 pmIt has been a full couple of weeks, in all sense of the term. Some of it, I'm not going to post about yet because I don't have the excess energy to be filled with rage right at this moment and some of it, I need to discuss with other people before talking about it out here. The condensed version for now is that I'm beyond burned out and worn down and that I need to try and make some changes. More on that as it happens or doesn't.
The good parts:
I had a decent time at 4th Street Fantasy, said in slightly wondering tones. 4th Street has been something of a crap shoot for me in previous years. I've had okay cons and I've had cons where I never wanted to go back again. It has tended to be my "professionals behaving badly" con in the past, so after a hellish few weeks, I was quite pleased that this was not that year. There was a lot of new blood and a number of people working very hard to make it more pleasant, so many kudos to all for creating a more fun con this year. Much, much appreciated!
I, of course, got stuck in traffic and went to the wrong hotel due to poor planning on my part. But I still made it to my 5:30PM panel on Friday. The discussion that ensued on 'Suspension of Disbelief" was a tad chaotic, but civil. And then we went to dinner, as is the way of such things. Specifically, I went to dinner with Elise Matthesen, Marissa Lingen, Alec Austin and Pamela Dean, so I pretty much won Friday night dinner. :-)
Saturday, Jana dropped by and we met Elise and Juan for dim sum, which was spiffy. Then I went and sat by the nearest pond for an hour and a half and worked on my SF Signal post and entertained the local geese by sitting around and scribbling madly and occasionally staring back at them. I had managed to get no sleep (see last few weeks above) so going back in fto listen to panels meant lots of caffeine. I caught parts of several interesting discussion as I wandered in and out, sucking down coffee with enthusiasm. I also ran into many fabulous people, some I had not seen for awhile, some I mostly know from online, and some I did not know at all until this con, so that was all grand. Our 5PM panel on "Out of Frame" seemed to go reasonably well - lots of discussion on this one, with some overlap on the 'Suspension of Disbelief" panel.
After that, I was off to dinner with a bunch of local author and fannish friends, including Sherry and Mike Merriam, at the nearby Indian restaurant. A lively discussion ensued about...about, well, lots of stuff. But it was lively and fun and then we went out in the parking lot to watch members of our party teach others to stilt walk. I went back inside to catch part of another panel (the full schedule is here) before the whole not sleeping thing caught up with me. At any rate, sleep-walking me had a fine time, though I wasn't able to make it back on Sunday due to Mom -related duties.
So far this week, I've caught Delih2Dublin at the Cedar, and learned how to use our new electric mower. Next up, the sewing machine and the soldering iron. And the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair tomorrow. And Pride this weekend. Plus, with, maybe, sleep!
The good parts:
- Got a new story subbed as Emily last week and a contract for another one. Emily (my alter ego) is running at 2 acceptances and 1 current submission so far this year
- Got my latest SF Signal post subbed - "LGBT SFF in the 1990s." Links when it goes live, hopefully in time for Pride this weekend.
I had a decent time at 4th Street Fantasy, said in slightly wondering tones. 4th Street has been something of a crap shoot for me in previous years. I've had okay cons and I've had cons where I never wanted to go back again. It has tended to be my "professionals behaving badly" con in the past, so after a hellish few weeks, I was quite pleased that this was not that year. There was a lot of new blood and a number of people working very hard to make it more pleasant, so many kudos to all for creating a more fun con this year. Much, much appreciated!
I, of course, got stuck in traffic and went to the wrong hotel due to poor planning on my part. But I still made it to my 5:30PM panel on Friday. The discussion that ensued on 'Suspension of Disbelief" was a tad chaotic, but civil. And then we went to dinner, as is the way of such things. Specifically, I went to dinner with Elise Matthesen, Marissa Lingen, Alec Austin and Pamela Dean, so I pretty much won Friday night dinner. :-)
Saturday, Jana dropped by and we met Elise and Juan for dim sum, which was spiffy. Then I went and sat by the nearest pond for an hour and a half and worked on my SF Signal post and entertained the local geese by sitting around and scribbling madly and occasionally staring back at them. I had managed to get no sleep (see last few weeks above) so going back in fto listen to panels meant lots of caffeine. I caught parts of several interesting discussion as I wandered in and out, sucking down coffee with enthusiasm. I also ran into many fabulous people, some I had not seen for awhile, some I mostly know from online, and some I did not know at all until this con, so that was all grand. Our 5PM panel on "Out of Frame" seemed to go reasonably well - lots of discussion on this one, with some overlap on the 'Suspension of Disbelief" panel.
After that, I was off to dinner with a bunch of local author and fannish friends, including Sherry and Mike Merriam, at the nearby Indian restaurant. A lively discussion ensued about...about, well, lots of stuff. But it was lively and fun and then we went out in the parking lot to watch members of our party teach others to stilt walk. I went back inside to catch part of another panel (the full schedule is here) before the whole not sleeping thing caught up with me. At any rate, sleep-walking me had a fine time, though I wasn't able to make it back on Sunday due to Mom -related duties.
So far this week, I've caught Delih2Dublin at the Cedar, and learned how to use our new electric mower. Next up, the sewing machine and the soldering iron. And the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair tomorrow. And Pride this weekend. Plus, with, maybe, sleep!