CONvergence write up
Jul. 7th, 2015 01:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfI spent most of the weekend at CONvergence, which is one of our largest local SF/F cons (7000 or so plus in attendance). I've been going there as an invited pro for a number of years so I know what to expect from the crowds, the parking and all that good stuff. And I do have to say that last year was not a good year, for a variety of reasons, and I considered not attending this year. But I'm glad I changed my mind because I had a fine time: very few issues, none of them mine, good panels and those kind of magical moments when you look for someone or something and that person or thing immediately appears. Plus, I scored good parking and excellent socializing for all 4 days.
Thursday was badge pickup. I ran into lots of people and recruited Anton Peterson to my guest liaison at Arcana 45 (because why not recruit one of the best?), made plans, then headed home to roast beets (we inherited a friend's CSA while they were out of town). Friday, I was back bright and early for breakfast with my friend Julia Rios at the Maker's Cafe, which was enjoyable both for the cafe and the company. We headed back to the hotel after hanging out for awhile and headed out to our respective panels.
In my case, that was a lively panel on anthology editing with Toni Weisskopf, Tim Lieder, Lynne Thomas and Roy Booth. I think we provided a fair amount of decent info, while being all collegial and pleasant and all that. Given that most of us were working with small or medium-sized presses, we were perhaps a tad downbeat on the realism end of the scale. But so it goes; hopefully future panels on the topic will be jollier if the publishing climate improves. Afterward, I chatted with Toni and Tim briefly, acquired a book from Tim's press, and wandered off to find lunch. I then ran into a slew of pals in the hotel restaurant and joined them for lively conversation. Afterwards, Kelly McCullough allowed me the use of his room's bathroom to change for Lynne and Michael Thomas' vow renewal on Friday night. Then ran into more friends before going to dinner with Kelly. Dr. Laura McCullough, Martha Wells and Jody Wurl. Post-dinner, did odds and ends before going to the Big Event. The Thomas' renewal of their weddings vows was lovely and enjoyable. They looked very happy and it was a pleasure to attend. I did wimp out before the dance party, but I'm told it was lots of fun.
I headed back in on Saturday for my 11AM panel on adding humor to your writiing with phillip low, Melissa Olson, Patrick Tomlinson and Wesley Chu. This panel was akin to being at the cool kid's table at lunch and trying to keep up, from a panelist perspective. Several of the other panelists did standup/professional storytelling and the two writers were a tad more experienced at this kind of panel than I was (not to mention doing more with overt humor), but I soldiered on and got the audience to laugh a few times. I think it went reasonably well and was certainly fast-paced. Post-panel, I was off to lunch with author and podcaster Rachael Acks to talk about our fun new venture (not quite ready to be revealed). Post lunch, I attended an entertaining reading by author Abra Staffin-Wiebe and wandered into the Dealer's Room to find a warm thing to wear, since the air-conditioning was quite exciting in some portions of the hotel. Fabulous steampunk vender KMK Designs had the perfect light pullover: textured burnt silver velvet with a light cowl, so I got to swan about in reasonable comfort while being petable. Dinner was enjoyed with the ever-delightful author Martha Wells, and was followed by roaming around and a stop by the GPS Party Room. Martha and I retired to the Merriams to watch the Masquerade with the gathered ensemble and cheer on Dana Baird, whose company won one of the big prizes. I left to go to the Arcana party and ended up hanging out with poet Bryan Thao Worra for an hour or so before heading home to sleep.
Sunday, I came back early to catch my attorney, Mitchell Faas, on a panel about building a community for art startups, which was quite interesting. Afterwards, I enjoyed lunch and a chat with Monica Valentinelli and Martha Wells. Monica and I then moved on to the Build-a-World Gameshow panel, with Paul Cornell, Martha Wells, John Heimbuch (of Walking Shadow Theater Company), Carrie Patel and Tex Thompson. Carrie, Paul and I were on Team Menopausal Werewolves while everyone else was on Team Velociraptor. This was competitive world building with audience input and it was a blast. We got our butts kicked until the last round, when we sent Paul Cornell out into the audience to make a pitch for our world. His delivery carried the day and we squeaked by with a win, but really, both worlds sounded like a lot of fun.
Post-win, I did Minnesota goodbyes with Martha, Paul Weimer, Shaun Duke and John Heimbuch before heading home to collapse. It was a very full and fun con! I'm glad I got to see so many folks and spend time with them.
Now, onto the one thing that marred the weekend. At some point on Saturday night, someone on the CONvergence Board decided to fire web page designer Hal Bichel. Hal has been a driving force behind the convention website, including the accessibility sections and other areas. She is well-liked and respected in fandom (hence the #Halisawesome tag you may have seen around the con) as being talented and hardworking. If you would like to weigh in on the con, with or without providing feedback on hal's firing, please fill out the survey at www.convergence-con.org.
Whew! Now to get caught up. Ha.
Thursday was badge pickup. I ran into lots of people and recruited Anton Peterson to my guest liaison at Arcana 45 (because why not recruit one of the best?), made plans, then headed home to roast beets (we inherited a friend's CSA while they were out of town). Friday, I was back bright and early for breakfast with my friend Julia Rios at the Maker's Cafe, which was enjoyable both for the cafe and the company. We headed back to the hotel after hanging out for awhile and headed out to our respective panels.
In my case, that was a lively panel on anthology editing with Toni Weisskopf, Tim Lieder, Lynne Thomas and Roy Booth. I think we provided a fair amount of decent info, while being all collegial and pleasant and all that. Given that most of us were working with small or medium-sized presses, we were perhaps a tad downbeat on the realism end of the scale. But so it goes; hopefully future panels on the topic will be jollier if the publishing climate improves. Afterward, I chatted with Toni and Tim briefly, acquired a book from Tim's press, and wandered off to find lunch. I then ran into a slew of pals in the hotel restaurant and joined them for lively conversation. Afterwards, Kelly McCullough allowed me the use of his room's bathroom to change for Lynne and Michael Thomas' vow renewal on Friday night. Then ran into more friends before going to dinner with Kelly. Dr. Laura McCullough, Martha Wells and Jody Wurl. Post-dinner, did odds and ends before going to the Big Event. The Thomas' renewal of their weddings vows was lovely and enjoyable. They looked very happy and it was a pleasure to attend. I did wimp out before the dance party, but I'm told it was lots of fun.
I headed back in on Saturday for my 11AM panel on adding humor to your writiing with phillip low, Melissa Olson, Patrick Tomlinson and Wesley Chu. This panel was akin to being at the cool kid's table at lunch and trying to keep up, from a panelist perspective. Several of the other panelists did standup/professional storytelling and the two writers were a tad more experienced at this kind of panel than I was (not to mention doing more with overt humor), but I soldiered on and got the audience to laugh a few times. I think it went reasonably well and was certainly fast-paced. Post-panel, I was off to lunch with author and podcaster Rachael Acks to talk about our fun new venture (not quite ready to be revealed). Post lunch, I attended an entertaining reading by author Abra Staffin-Wiebe and wandered into the Dealer's Room to find a warm thing to wear, since the air-conditioning was quite exciting in some portions of the hotel. Fabulous steampunk vender KMK Designs had the perfect light pullover: textured burnt silver velvet with a light cowl, so I got to swan about in reasonable comfort while being petable. Dinner was enjoyed with the ever-delightful author Martha Wells, and was followed by roaming around and a stop by the GPS Party Room. Martha and I retired to the Merriams to watch the Masquerade with the gathered ensemble and cheer on Dana Baird, whose company won one of the big prizes. I left to go to the Arcana party and ended up hanging out with poet Bryan Thao Worra for an hour or so before heading home to sleep.
Sunday, I came back early to catch my attorney, Mitchell Faas, on a panel about building a community for art startups, which was quite interesting. Afterwards, I enjoyed lunch and a chat with Monica Valentinelli and Martha Wells. Monica and I then moved on to the Build-a-World Gameshow panel, with Paul Cornell, Martha Wells, John Heimbuch (of Walking Shadow Theater Company), Carrie Patel and Tex Thompson. Carrie, Paul and I were on Team Menopausal Werewolves while everyone else was on Team Velociraptor. This was competitive world building with audience input and it was a blast. We got our butts kicked until the last round, when we sent Paul Cornell out into the audience to make a pitch for our world. His delivery carried the day and we squeaked by with a win, but really, both worlds sounded like a lot of fun.
Post-win, I did Minnesota goodbyes with Martha, Paul Weimer, Shaun Duke and John Heimbuch before heading home to collapse. It was a very full and fun con! I'm glad I got to see so many folks and spend time with them.
Now, onto the one thing that marred the weekend. At some point on Saturday night, someone on the CONvergence Board decided to fire web page designer Hal Bichel. Hal has been a driving force behind the convention website, including the accessibility sections and other areas. She is well-liked and respected in fandom (hence the #Halisawesome tag you may have seen around the con) as being talented and hardworking. If you would like to weigh in on the con, with or without providing feedback on hal's firing, please fill out the survey at www.convergence-con.org.
Whew! Now to get caught up. Ha.