LA Worldcon and Dragon Con - thoughts
Sep. 13th, 2026 09:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldf So virtual Worldcon and in person Dragon Con in one week was a LOT! Much admiration for the various pros who did both in person. I absolutely could not have done it.
My two panels at virtual LA Con went pretty well. One of the panelists decided that the anthology editing panel wasn't for her and, as I suspected, Asimov's editor Sheila Williams' daughter Irene was there to assist her mother in participating (more on Sheila's Go Fund Me for her care after her aneurysm and stroke here) so it was less huge than it appeared initially and Irene did a great job keeping her mom on track and participating. I hope the other panels she was on went well too. My other panel went well and I enjoyed the panels I attended, I need to try and watch at few more of the other streamed ones. And, oh hey, I made the Hugo Awards Long List for Best Long Form Editor! Squee!
My friend Jody and I took off for Atlanta on the Wednesday before Labor Day. No issues coming in and we were able to take the subway (MARTA) direct from the airport to the general vicinity of our hotel. After some wandering in the heat (which was dire), we eventually got to our hotel (about 20 minutes on the train from the main Dragon Con sites) only to discover that their system was down. We grabbed comfy chairs in the lobby and ate the goodies they bribed us with until we could check in. The hotel turned out to be conveniently located for less expensive breakfasts and a nearby supermarket so we stocked up on snacks and water and fruit.
Thursday we headed down to the main hotels and I went off to go pick up my registration stuff from the fancy VIP area and Jody went to go get hers at main reg. This turned out to be quite the Thing. I got my stuff within 30 minutes and had time to hydrate. Jody was stuck in line (outside in the sun and the sweltering heat), but declined my offer of company or respite, so I went to go check out the first of the hotels where I had panels. Then the second hotel where I had panels. Finally, after 2.5 hours, Jody was able to get her reg stuff and meet me. Throughout the weekend, we heard about people who had fainted in line, waited 3+ hours for preregistered badges, got sent back to the regular line if they had a disability sticker but no wheelchair or scooter, etc. It was not a great start to the con and I hope that Dragon Con sorts this out for next year.
At any rate, we grabbed lunch and went to a panel and wandered around some more. The cosplays were pretty stunning - if you do cosplay, this is definitely a con for you. The crowds were quite large and the lines for many things, quite long. The Vendor hall had a 2 plus hour wait every time I tried to go and I never got to see it. We did make it to the Art Show however and that was quite good. We eventually grabbed dinner and went back to our hotel. Friday began with a delightful breakfast with author Darrell Grizzle, his husband and some of their friends. We roamed a round for a bit, separately and together and then I went off to my 4PM panel, which went well. Then I had to race like the wind through ridiculous crowds to a different hotel for my 5:30 panel. It worked out, but I was almost late.
Saturday, we went to the parade and actually got a spot to sit in the shade, thanks to a tip from one of Darrell's friends. The parade was a lot of fun and the costumes were great - we loved the marching band wearing the colors and pattern of the old hotel carpet in one of the main hotels. We split up after this, me to meet my friend Sara Amis and her husband George for lunch. George meant to go do something else, but he and I got into a lively discussion of Minneapolis politics (he's a journalist) and we all ended up hanging out.
Then I had to head to my 1PM panel, which went well. It was a panel on editing and I brought up She Who Will Not Be Named as an example of writers who let the middle of their stories sag and clearly needed editorial help. Got wild cheers and applause at that. After that, I found a reasonably quiet chair and a cup of hot tea and vegged out for a bit. Then I met up with Jody again and we walked walked a few blocks down to a lovely historical hotel and had a delightful dinner in the restaurant before my 10PM panel on Women as Werewolves. This was glorious fun and one of the attendees showed up cosplaying a female werewolf (in the company of her girlfriend, Mothman) and it was a delight. Lots of fun to be had, though I was sorry we had to leave in a hurry because our Lyft was coming. If you were the person who wanted me to signed her sweatshirt, a. apologies and b. let me know if you would like a signed bookplate.
Sunday, we tried to be tourists, after a failed attempt to get to the art museum a few days before. This time, I figured out the hotel shuttles and we took one over to the Aquarium. It is a a great aquarium, but packed on a holiday weekend and we were both pretty exhausted when we got out. So we got on the shuttle back...and then spent over 45 minutes trying to get to the hotel across the street through the skyway. Only to discover that after we survived that and made our way downstairs that we were in the wrong tower for the panels we wanted to attend. Sigh. So we hit the art show again, then wandered out to grab dinner in the food court, then back to hotel. By then we were so wiped out, we laid around watching the Hallmark Channel for a while before going to bed. The trip home was incident free and our friend Tony was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and drive us back to our respective homes.
Things that went well:
Now that I'm back, I'm diving into grant review season and trying to finish my novel. We'll see how this goes. Fingers crossed!
My two panels at virtual LA Con went pretty well. One of the panelists decided that the anthology editing panel wasn't for her and, as I suspected, Asimov's editor Sheila Williams' daughter Irene was there to assist her mother in participating (more on Sheila's Go Fund Me for her care after her aneurysm and stroke here) so it was less huge than it appeared initially and Irene did a great job keeping her mom on track and participating. I hope the other panels she was on went well too. My other panel went well and I enjoyed the panels I attended, I need to try and watch at few more of the other streamed ones. And, oh hey, I made the Hugo Awards Long List for Best Long Form Editor! Squee!
My friend Jody and I took off for Atlanta on the Wednesday before Labor Day. No issues coming in and we were able to take the subway (MARTA) direct from the airport to the general vicinity of our hotel. After some wandering in the heat (which was dire), we eventually got to our hotel (about 20 minutes on the train from the main Dragon Con sites) only to discover that their system was down. We grabbed comfy chairs in the lobby and ate the goodies they bribed us with until we could check in. The hotel turned out to be conveniently located for less expensive breakfasts and a nearby supermarket so we stocked up on snacks and water and fruit.
Thursday we headed down to the main hotels and I went off to go pick up my registration stuff from the fancy VIP area and Jody went to go get hers at main reg. This turned out to be quite the Thing. I got my stuff within 30 minutes and had time to hydrate. Jody was stuck in line (outside in the sun and the sweltering heat), but declined my offer of company or respite, so I went to go check out the first of the hotels where I had panels. Then the second hotel where I had panels. Finally, after 2.5 hours, Jody was able to get her reg stuff and meet me. Throughout the weekend, we heard about people who had fainted in line, waited 3+ hours for preregistered badges, got sent back to the regular line if they had a disability sticker but no wheelchair or scooter, etc. It was not a great start to the con and I hope that Dragon Con sorts this out for next year.
At any rate, we grabbed lunch and went to a panel and wandered around some more. The cosplays were pretty stunning - if you do cosplay, this is definitely a con for you. The crowds were quite large and the lines for many things, quite long. The Vendor hall had a 2 plus hour wait every time I tried to go and I never got to see it. We did make it to the Art Show however and that was quite good. We eventually grabbed dinner and went back to our hotel. Friday began with a delightful breakfast with author Darrell Grizzle, his husband and some of their friends. We roamed a round for a bit, separately and together and then I went off to my 4PM panel, which went well. Then I had to race like the wind through ridiculous crowds to a different hotel for my 5:30 panel. It worked out, but I was almost late.
Saturday, we went to the parade and actually got a spot to sit in the shade, thanks to a tip from one of Darrell's friends. The parade was a lot of fun and the costumes were great - we loved the marching band wearing the colors and pattern of the old hotel carpet in one of the main hotels. We split up after this, me to meet my friend Sara Amis and her husband George for lunch. George meant to go do something else, but he and I got into a lively discussion of Minneapolis politics (he's a journalist) and we all ended up hanging out.
Then I had to head to my 1PM panel, which went well. It was a panel on editing and I brought up She Who Will Not Be Named as an example of writers who let the middle of their stories sag and clearly needed editorial help. Got wild cheers and applause at that. After that, I found a reasonably quiet chair and a cup of hot tea and vegged out for a bit. Then I met up with Jody again and we walked walked a few blocks down to a lovely historical hotel and had a delightful dinner in the restaurant before my 10PM panel on Women as Werewolves. This was glorious fun and one of the attendees showed up cosplaying a female werewolf (in the company of her girlfriend, Mothman) and it was a delight. Lots of fun to be had, though I was sorry we had to leave in a hurry because our Lyft was coming. If you were the person who wanted me to signed her sweatshirt, a. apologies and b. let me know if you would like a signed bookplate.
Sunday, we tried to be tourists, after a failed attempt to get to the art museum a few days before. This time, I figured out the hotel shuttles and we took one over to the Aquarium. It is a a great aquarium, but packed on a holiday weekend and we were both pretty exhausted when we got out. So we got on the shuttle back...and then spent over 45 minutes trying to get to the hotel across the street through the skyway. Only to discover that after we survived that and made our way downstairs that we were in the wrong tower for the panels we wanted to attend. Sigh. So we hit the art show again, then wandered out to grab dinner in the food court, then back to hotel. By then we were so wiped out, we laid around watching the Hallmark Channel for a while before going to bed. The trip home was incident free and our friend Tony was kind enough to pick us up from the airport and drive us back to our respective homes.
Things that went well:
- The costumes and cosplay!
- The panels that I was on and that we made it to
- People were quite friendly.
- I love how into it Atalanta gets. We even got badge ribbons for riding on MARTA and the hotel carpet jokes were pretty brilliant.
- The Art Show.
- Crowd management, particularly with regard to registration. I'm told the Vendor Hall line went through a parking garage so there was shade, at least.
- So much walking! Both of us were wiped and had very sore feet and backs by the end of the trip.
- Connecting with people that I knew and hoped to see down there.
Now that I'm back, I'm diving into grant review season and trying to finish my novel. We'll see how this goes. Fingers crossed!