August 2008 Archives
We've been spending the last week before school starts out at my parents' cabin at Stinson Beach. (I say cabin because it is a tiny little two-bedroom house whose outer walls are literally made from round logs laid horizontally. Way cuter than Little House on the Prairie though.) Stinson has been our traditional holiday family vacation place for roughly 20 years now, although my parents only bought this cabin back in 1999 (we rented various places before that). When we're here we mostly just hang around, with a trip or two to the beach each day (especially important when you have crazy young kids who need to get their ya-yas out). I love it here, even when it's overcast or foggy (as it's been this whole week so far). I love the beach, the hills, the smells, the oysters, the sandcastles and shell collecting, the walks through the surf, the sitting around the cabin (sometimes with fire in the woodburning stove, sometimes not).
But what I've been thinking about this visit is how different vacation time is when you're sharing it with two little kids, as opposed to the times when we used to come out here as teens/young adults with my parents, or when Josh and I came out here by ourselves BK (before kids). For me, vacation time was always super slow time, where I'd sleep in late, and read all day, with perhaps a stroll or a game of cribbage or cards to break up the routine (or in later years, fiddling with pictures or music or writing on the computer). The time was completely my own; other than being expected to help with meal preparation and cleanup, I could entertain myself with those things I loved best (which were generally all passive, sit-on-your-butt type activities; I've never been much of a "let's go for a hike up the mountain!" kinda girl). I wasn't beholden to anyone else's entertainment needs. I could be relatively solitary and inward facing--not the usual state I operate in, but necessary a couple times a year for recharging my extrovert's batteries.
I know this is not exactly shocking news, but with two young kids (and a generalized feeling of parental guilt over kids watching too much TV), my time is just not my own on vacation anymore. I still get to do fun things and create precious memories (playing on the beach with kids is pretty awesome, for example), but my days are much more active, and much less solitary. From the moment I'm awoken (usually shortly after dawn) and throughout the day, I'm thrown into the maelstrom of food, entertainment, and referee needs. I can carve out a little time here and there while the kids are momentarily not pulling at me, but those big chunks of lazy reading time (let alone the work we're still trying to catch up on while we're out here)? Only after the kids are in bed. So I stay up too late and the next morning's dawn wakeup call is even harder. Josh and I take turns sleeping in, and the kids are getting more self-sufficient about getting themselves food and turning on the TV themselves, but I still get woken up several times by the sheer raucousness of everything happening nearby in a small and not very soundproof house. So vacation time is not really...well, relaxing anymore.
I know this will change, that there will be a point where the kids are more self-sufficient or at least more able to entertain themselves, but right now? I'm frustrated. And more, I'm guilty about being so frustrated--I mean, they're my kids, right? I love them and family time is a priority. And yet...I still wish I had more reading and writing and personal project time (let alone more sleep). Balance, as of yet, totally eludes me.
(I want to point out that this post took me a couple of days and much starting-and-stopping to produce. I rest my case.)
But what I've been thinking about this visit is how different vacation time is when you're sharing it with two little kids, as opposed to the times when we used to come out here as teens/young adults with my parents, or when Josh and I came out here by ourselves BK (before kids). For me, vacation time was always super slow time, where I'd sleep in late, and read all day, with perhaps a stroll or a game of cribbage or cards to break up the routine (or in later years, fiddling with pictures or music or writing on the computer). The time was completely my own; other than being expected to help with meal preparation and cleanup, I could entertain myself with those things I loved best (which were generally all passive, sit-on-your-butt type activities; I've never been much of a "let's go for a hike up the mountain!" kinda girl). I wasn't beholden to anyone else's entertainment needs. I could be relatively solitary and inward facing--not the usual state I operate in, but necessary a couple times a year for recharging my extrovert's batteries.
I know this is not exactly shocking news, but with two young kids (and a generalized feeling of parental guilt over kids watching too much TV), my time is just not my own on vacation anymore. I still get to do fun things and create precious memories (playing on the beach with kids is pretty awesome, for example), but my days are much more active, and much less solitary. From the moment I'm awoken (usually shortly after dawn) and throughout the day, I'm thrown into the maelstrom of food, entertainment, and referee needs. I can carve out a little time here and there while the kids are momentarily not pulling at me, but those big chunks of lazy reading time (let alone the work we're still trying to catch up on while we're out here)? Only after the kids are in bed. So I stay up too late and the next morning's dawn wakeup call is even harder. Josh and I take turns sleeping in, and the kids are getting more self-sufficient about getting themselves food and turning on the TV themselves, but I still get woken up several times by the sheer raucousness of everything happening nearby in a small and not very soundproof house. So vacation time is not really...well, relaxing anymore.
I know this will change, that there will be a point where the kids are more self-sufficient or at least more able to entertain themselves, but right now? I'm frustrated. And more, I'm guilty about being so frustrated--I mean, they're my kids, right? I love them and family time is a priority. And yet...I still wish I had more reading and writing and personal project time (let alone more sleep). Balance, as of yet, totally eludes me.
(I want to point out that this post took me a couple of days and much starting-and-stopping to produce. I rest my case.)
I meant to post about this yesterday, but both work and social life (gasp) got in the way. I went to my monthly book group meeting on Thursday night, and rather than our usual process of talking about the book for 20 minutes and then gossiping about our children, our spouses, and our recent activities, we actually spent nearly the entire meeting discussing the book (Accidentally On Purpose: A One-Night Stand, My Unplanned Parenthood, and Loving the Best Mistake I Ever Made) amongst ourselves...and with the author, Mary Pols. It said in tiny print on the back flap of the book that the author was happy to speak to book groups, so one of our members had emailed Mary on her website and asked if she'd be willing to speak to us, and Mary said yes. She was away for a vacation in Maine though, so she had to call in.
We were all a bit trepidatious about having the author join in our discussion--after all, what if we didn't like the book too much? And even if we did, oh the pressure of having to come up with something deep or witty to ask! But as it turned out, we all LOVED the book (which is somewhat uncommon in our group, often there are at least one or two dissenters) and Mary was a warm, open, interesting, and thoughtful person who was a delight to talk to. We talked about her process of writing the book, the difficulties of writing a non-fiction memoir where the people you're writing about can read the book (or will someday, in the case of her son), how she found her agent, anti-feminist trends in memoirs, and lots more. We spoke with her for at least an hour, and had to let her go since it was after midnight on the East Coast. It was a great discussion, and Mary seemed to be enjoying herself too. I have to say, I love the idea of being an author who talks to book groups--it seems like something that would be really fun (if occasionally embarrassing). So I'll add that to my personal goal list.
After having just come back from Worldcon and hearing from/talking with lots of SFF authors of varying stripes, it was really interesting to have a similar conversation with/get a feel for the career path of someone totally *not* in the genre. Some author experiences clearly transcend genre (e.g. getting an agent), some are specific to the type of writing (e.g. memoir writers have to have their manuscripts vetted by lawyers to avoid libel or slander suits). I know I definitely have a memoir book about my whole cancer experience queued up in me waiting to come out (though who knows when that'll be), and it was inspirational to talk to someone who'd written such a great one.
Inspiration, after all, is what helps me keep going through the slog slog slog of writing...it certainly helps to have role models.
We were all a bit trepidatious about having the author join in our discussion--after all, what if we didn't like the book too much? And even if we did, oh the pressure of having to come up with something deep or witty to ask! But as it turned out, we all LOVED the book (which is somewhat uncommon in our group, often there are at least one or two dissenters) and Mary was a warm, open, interesting, and thoughtful person who was a delight to talk to. We talked about her process of writing the book, the difficulties of writing a non-fiction memoir where the people you're writing about can read the book (or will someday, in the case of her son), how she found her agent, anti-feminist trends in memoirs, and lots more. We spoke with her for at least an hour, and had to let her go since it was after midnight on the East Coast. It was a great discussion, and Mary seemed to be enjoying herself too. I have to say, I love the idea of being an author who talks to book groups--it seems like something that would be really fun (if occasionally embarrassing). So I'll add that to my personal goal list.
After having just come back from Worldcon and hearing from/talking with lots of SFF authors of varying stripes, it was really interesting to have a similar conversation with/get a feel for the career path of someone totally *not* in the genre. Some author experiences clearly transcend genre (e.g. getting an agent), some are specific to the type of writing (e.g. memoir writers have to have their manuscripts vetted by lawyers to avoid libel or slander suits). I know I definitely have a memoir book about my whole cancer experience queued up in me waiting to come out (though who knows when that'll be), and it was inspirational to talk to someone who'd written such a great one.
Inspiration, after all, is what helps me keep going through the slog slog slog of writing...it certainly helps to have role models.
Now that I've gotten the blow-by-blow out of the way, I want to reflect a bit (as long as I can stay awake, anyway) on what I got out of Worldcon. Forthwith, and in no particular order, some thoughts on lessons learned, connections made, and epiphanies experienced.
The best thing that came out of Worldcon was the (re)experiencing of the writerly "tribe" feeling, especially with fellow VP'ers, who on the whole seem like some of the most open, supportive, helpful, creative and interesting people I know. More than once there was the out-loud acknowledgement that we felt like we were the new generation of writers coming up, and that we were different in our fandom than the Old Guard. I know there's been a whole discussion over on tor.com and in LJ lately about the generation gap in fandom and in particular in the written SFF canon, and I don't want to rehash it. But I will say that although being at Worldcon made me feel close and connected to my new gen writer peeps (and that was AWESOME), I still came away feeling ignorant overall of the genre and peripheral to what felt like the Grand Old Tradition(s) of "fandom" (whatever that really means) and Worldcon itself. And not in a "oh goody look at all the fun stuff I get to learn about, bring it on" kind of way, but more of a despairing "how am I ever going to learn all this/read all this/fit in/be a knowledgeable geek (a term I prefer to 'fan')?" I actually had the same fits of insecurity around my "geek cred" before VP, where I kept wondering if I was going to be geeky *enough* to fit in with the rest of the crowd. (Turns out to have not been any sort of an issue, and those of you who actually know me can quit laughing now.)
I also, once again, had it driven home quite forcefully (by circumstance and surroundings, not by individual conversations or comments) that I need to keep (re)prioritizing the writing in my life or I will never actually achieve any of the dreams I have of being a published writer. In order to publish anything, I must write. In order to write, I must have regular, sacred time set aside for writing. Shocking, I know. So simple, and SO DAMN HARD for me to keep up a regular writing practice in this whirlwind period of my life. But I must. I must. Or the dreams will die. And really, did I survive the first 39 years of my life (not to mention cancer, hel-LO) only to settle for mundanity? I did not.
I do see the end of the first novel in sight now (thanks in no small part to the late night brainstorming talents of Kim and Heather--thanks gals!) and I *think* I am mostly mentally fortified enough to face the inevitable next phases of the process (revision, query, and submission), but I'll admit I also have a niggly little critic voice in my head now that says "why is this novel taking so damn long? You're way behind your peers! You haven't ever published a damn thing in the genre! Get on it or they'll leave you behind!" And that's leading me to consider also perhaps writing (and submitting) a few short stories, just to see what that process is like. Of course, that'll likely just be good practice in gathering rejections, but might as well get that particular practice going sooner rather than later so that when it *does* come time to submit the novel, I'll have tougher skin.
I certainly learned/had reinforced some good practical lessons about the submitting process as well--how to deal with query letters, agents, and publishers' slush piles, why you should aim high when you first submit--all sorts of nuts and bolts stuff that I mostly already knew but it was good to hear again. And I am almost at a point now where this stuff is going to be less and less theoretical knowledge and more and more practical applied knowledge. I just need to keep slogging.
I realized that I need to recommit to reading. It used to be my favorite activity in the world, reading. But with all the other demands on my time, I have mostly lost that comforting bookworm behavior. And even when I do read, I'm not reading genre mostly. That needs to change. I love reading SFF and I feel wildly ignorant about the current state of the genre because I haven't read much within it for the last 20 years or so. So: more reading time, and more SFF in my reading.
I also learned (again) that just like in my "mundane" business world, it's crucial to keep networking (the good kind, not the scary schmoozing used-car-salesman kind) and building up relationships with other writerly people. Relationships are important to me anyway--I'm a diehard people collector, mostly because I find people as individuals and groups just so damn *interesting*--but the practical epiphany I experienced here (again) is that, within reason, keeping up on LJ and blogs and Twitter is not just self-indulgent cat waxing (ok sometimes it is, but not all the time), it's actually the best way for me to keep relationships alive in this time of my life. Hence the once again staying up too late, playing with Live Journal.
And speaking of staying up too late (again!), let me sum up: VP peeps are made of shiny fabulosity, I need to reinstate a regular writing practice, I am going to consider writing some short stories, I need to start submitting stuff ASAP, I am recommitting to reading and specifically to SFF reading, and I want to be more involved on LJ and other online communities. Whew. Sounds like a lot. But it's good to have it all written down so I'll remember later when I need the touchstone again.
The best thing that came out of Worldcon was the (re)experiencing of the writerly "tribe" feeling, especially with fellow VP'ers, who on the whole seem like some of the most open, supportive, helpful, creative and interesting people I know. More than once there was the out-loud acknowledgement that we felt like we were the new generation of writers coming up, and that we were different in our fandom than the Old Guard. I know there's been a whole discussion over on tor.com and in LJ lately about the generation gap in fandom and in particular in the written SFF canon, and I don't want to rehash it. But I will say that although being at Worldcon made me feel close and connected to my new gen writer peeps (and that was AWESOME), I still came away feeling ignorant overall of the genre and peripheral to what felt like the Grand Old Tradition(s) of "fandom" (whatever that really means) and Worldcon itself. And not in a "oh goody look at all the fun stuff I get to learn about, bring it on" kind of way, but more of a despairing "how am I ever going to learn all this/read all this/fit in/be a knowledgeable geek (a term I prefer to 'fan')?" I actually had the same fits of insecurity around my "geek cred" before VP, where I kept wondering if I was going to be geeky *enough* to fit in with the rest of the crowd. (Turns out to have not been any sort of an issue, and those of you who actually know me can quit laughing now.)
I also, once again, had it driven home quite forcefully (by circumstance and surroundings, not by individual conversations or comments) that I need to keep (re)prioritizing the writing in my life or I will never actually achieve any of the dreams I have of being a published writer. In order to publish anything, I must write. In order to write, I must have regular, sacred time set aside for writing. Shocking, I know. So simple, and SO DAMN HARD for me to keep up a regular writing practice in this whirlwind period of my life. But I must. I must. Or the dreams will die. And really, did I survive the first 39 years of my life (not to mention cancer, hel-LO) only to settle for mundanity? I did not.
I do see the end of the first novel in sight now (thanks in no small part to the late night brainstorming talents of Kim and Heather--thanks gals!) and I *think* I am mostly mentally fortified enough to face the inevitable next phases of the process (revision, query, and submission), but I'll admit I also have a niggly little critic voice in my head now that says "why is this novel taking so damn long? You're way behind your peers! You haven't ever published a damn thing in the genre! Get on it or they'll leave you behind!" And that's leading me to consider also perhaps writing (and submitting) a few short stories, just to see what that process is like. Of course, that'll likely just be good practice in gathering rejections, but might as well get that particular practice going sooner rather than later so that when it *does* come time to submit the novel, I'll have tougher skin.
I certainly learned/had reinforced some good practical lessons about the submitting process as well--how to deal with query letters, agents, and publishers' slush piles, why you should aim high when you first submit--all sorts of nuts and bolts stuff that I mostly already knew but it was good to hear again. And I am almost at a point now where this stuff is going to be less and less theoretical knowledge and more and more practical applied knowledge. I just need to keep slogging.
I realized that I need to recommit to reading. It used to be my favorite activity in the world, reading. But with all the other demands on my time, I have mostly lost that comforting bookworm behavior. And even when I do read, I'm not reading genre mostly. That needs to change. I love reading SFF and I feel wildly ignorant about the current state of the genre because I haven't read much within it for the last 20 years or so. So: more reading time, and more SFF in my reading.
I also learned (again) that just like in my "mundane" business world, it's crucial to keep networking (the good kind, not the scary schmoozing used-car-salesman kind) and building up relationships with other writerly people. Relationships are important to me anyway--I'm a diehard people collector, mostly because I find people as individuals and groups just so damn *interesting*--but the practical epiphany I experienced here (again) is that, within reason, keeping up on LJ and blogs and Twitter is not just self-indulgent cat waxing (ok sometimes it is, but not all the time), it's actually the best way for me to keep relationships alive in this time of my life. Hence the once again staying up too late, playing with Live Journal.
And speaking of staying up too late (again!), let me sum up: VP peeps are made of shiny fabulosity, I need to reinstate a regular writing practice, I am going to consider writing some short stories, I need to start submitting stuff ASAP, I am recommitting to reading and specifically to SFF reading, and I want to be more involved on LJ and other online communities. Whew. Sounds like a lot. But it's good to have it all written down so I'll remember later when I need the touchstone again.
Home again, home again, jiggedy jig. Worldcon (plus extra day of family visiting) is over and I am finally here in my own living room, recumbent upon my own couch, laptop in its familiar position. I'm exhausted from too little sleep, too much socializing and too many things to think about. But! Before I crash out in my own beloved and much-missed bed, I feel I should do a con wrap-up for posterity.
First, the physical facts of what happened when. I'm putting in as much detail as I can remember: bear with me. (Or skip this part if you just don't care.) Lessons learned and epiphanies experienced to come in Part 2.
Day 1: I flew in on Wednesday afternoon (flight uneventful), and was met as I walked towards baggage claim by fellow VPXI'ers Kim and Pam. (I think I may have mentioned before how much I love being met at the airport...turns the whole experience into something much more pleasant). After a few minutes of squee and catch up, Pam left to fetch another VPXI buddy (Heather) while Kim and I waited for my luggage. More squee when Heather showed up. Then we all piled into Pam's Awesome Airport Expressmobile and drove off to Denver, with a brief stop at Target for party supplies and miscellaneous food. (As a side note, this was the first Super Target I've ever been to, and it was just...obscenely large and overwhelming. No wonder the world hates us. Ugh.) Heather, Kim and I were rooming together at the Grand Hyatt, so Pam dropped us off with promises of a dinner meetup after we'd gotten our bags dumped and had gone to register at the con. We did in fact go out to a big family style Italian dinner with a bunch of VPXI buddies including Pam, Pat, and Chris, and a few friends. Afterwards we walked over to the Sheraton to check out the con suite and a few of the bid parties (where the fan groups from various cities that want to host Worldcon try to show off their coolness so you'll vote for them), but it didn't seem particularly interesting so we bailed back to our own hotel to unpack, check the schedule, and plot the next day's activities.
Day 2: Panels, panels, and more panels, starting with a panel showcasing Hadley-Rille's current line up (Hadley-Rille is the small press that published the anthology containing Kim's first short story sale). Kim got to read from her story, and we got to meet Eric the publisher and a bunch of the other fun Hadley-Rille authors. Most of the panels were on the level of "interesting, with occasional epiphany-inducing comments". It was great to put faces to some famous or semi-famous names. I screwed up my courage to go to talk to a couple of the VP instructors (Scalzi and PNH) and invite them to our "Room 50 Redux" VP reunion party. Neither of them wound up coming, but I'm proud of myself for trying (even though I probably got way too much joy out of the fact that when I approached PNH and said "you probably don't remember me, but..." he cut me off and said "of course I do!"). Thursday post-panels we ran around on last minute party errands and grabbed food at the nearby foofy gourmet market to gobble down before the Viable Paradise Reunion party started.
Ah, the VP party. It was definitely one of the highlights of the whole con for me. We lucked out in that our VPXI buddy Chris had been upgraded to a suite, so we decided to host the party there. (Way nicer than some of the skanky party rooms we went to in the Sheraton.) We had expected maybe about 20 people would show, if we were lucky; I think we had close to 40 overall. There was a strong showing from VPXI, of course, but also from VPX, and a smattering of other years as well (even one from the upcoming VPXII!). TNH graced us with her presence for quite some time as well. We also had invited some "VP-friendly" folks (friends, publishers, fellow writers), so it turned out to be a nice mix. I poured Beowulf Mead for anyone who would try it, and I think it was well received.
Maybe it was the mead, but people were so enthusiastically chatty that somewhere around 11pm or so we got a visit from hotel security asking us to tone it down or they'd shut us down. A few people took this as an opportunity to leave, but the rest of us grabbed snacks and bottles and we all trooped down to the hotel bar, where we sat in a big circle and chatted some more. We even wound up telling origin stories (how you met your significant other) again, which was as much fun this time as it had been back in Room 50 at VP. At some point before the origin stories though, hotel security made another appearance (there were 4 or 5 of them to our dozen and a half, which was kind of funny--what did they think we'd do, start a writerly rumble?) and told us to go put the booze away, which we did.
After the party finally broke up around 1am, Kim, Heather, Chris and I were cleaning things up and starting to ferry them back up to Chris' room when someone with a familiar name on his badge walked by: Ken Scholes. We wound up talking with him for a few minutes, which led to inviting him back up to Chris' room for some mead, which led to an impromptu kaffeeklatsch (meadklatsch?) where Ken told us about his meteoric rise to fame, fortune, and a five book deal with Tor and dispensed a tremendous amount of sage writerly advice to our eager ears. It was a perfect little after-party gathering. We stumbled back down to our hotel room at around 1:30am, full to the brim with writerly goodness.
Day 3: Another day full of panels, panels and more panels, with a break for lunch. We also got to visit the dealer's room and watch Kim sign books at Hadley-Rille and shop around for interesting treasures (I had a fun time at the rocks and crystals booth). We spent some time talking to the very nice guys at the Night Shade booth too (Night Shade is a local Bay Area genre publisher that publishes some really cool stuff, including our VPXI buddy Mark's first novel, coming out next month!). We were pretty wiped out from the night before, so after a delightful chinese dinner with our new friend Jax (and being caught out in a freakish thunderstorm) Kim, Heather and I went back to our room to chill and catnap before going out again to the Making Light party and the Tor party. Both ultimately proved to be disappointing (huge lines to get up the elevators, then the parties themselves were crowded, hot, stinky, and difficult to meet or converse with people), so we collected up a bunch of our VP buddies and all defected to the Weird Tales reception, which was at least in a more comfortable room, and sat around and hung out there until around midnight, when things closed down. Back to the hotel room to rest up for another busy day!
Day 4: Kim slept in while Heather and I ran off to a panel or two. After that we were pretty burnt on panels so we went up to the dealer's room and browsed the art show (we all wound up bidding on and winning some great things) and the booths. I spent quite some time talking with Jacob, the publisher of Tachyon Press, another totally excellent Bay Area genre publisher with some truly fascinating anthologies. Kim, Heather and I went out to lunch with PJ, an aspiring VP-er (and friend of VPX folks), then after a quick trip back to our hotel to retrieve all the leftover snacks from our VP party, we headed to the Sheraton to go to the Abyss & Apex party at the con suite. We hung out there with a bunch of our Hadley-Rille and VP buddies (and even one Clarion buddy) until it was time to head back to the convention center to meet up with more friends to go out to dinner.
Once at the convention center though we decided to pick up the things we'd won at the art auction earlier in the day, which wound up taking far longer than anticipated. But the silver lining to the whole experience was that Kim (with Heather and my vehement encouragement) wound up approaching and chatting with her "dream agent", who was not only super nice and gracious, but actually invited Kim to send her a query. It was really exciting! So by the time we got out to dinner we were all abuzz, even though we were practically an hour late. The highlight of that dinner was getting to hang out with Dorothy, who had been Kim and my roommate at VP but whom we hadn't gotten to see much at the con before that. After dinner, Kim, Heather and I decided to bail on the Hugos and go back to our room with the intention of writing. After an hour or so of fooling around on the internet (we tracked the Hugos as they happened, and celebrated for Bear and Scalzi) we did start writing, although it degenerated into interesting conversation as we all began getting stuck in our respective WIPs. I will be eternally grateful to both Kim and especially Heather for talking me through a bunch of thorny plot issues I was trying to resolve (all around the theme of "how the hell do I end this novel?). By around 2:30 am I had whipped the outline of my remaining chapters into some semblance of decency and I went to bed terrifically pleased and excited (albeit exhausted mentally and physically).
Day 5: It was the last day of the con, and I woke up early, still so full of excitement about my novel from the previous night's conversations that I felt practically high (and no, it wasn't the altitude). Kim, Heather and I packed up and went out to breakfast, where we talked a whole bunch about Heather's current novel and helped her work through her own thorny plot issues (this is how writers have fun, believe it or not). Then we took Heather back to the hotel and put her on the airport shuttle (wahhh) and Kim and I walked back to the convention center for one last trip to the dealer's room to get presents for our family members. We also talked to the Broad Universe people (Broad Universe is an organization that supports women SFF writers, so of course we were interested). While at the convention center of course we ran into plenty of people to say goodbye to, and finally left with Pam and her friend Cheryl at around 1pm. Thus Worldcon ended, and it was on to the next phase of my Colorado trip.
But as this has gotten to be an incredibly long entry, and it's already way past my bedtime, I'll save the rest for the next post.
First, the physical facts of what happened when. I'm putting in as much detail as I can remember: bear with me. (Or skip this part if you just don't care.) Lessons learned and epiphanies experienced to come in Part 2.
Day 1: I flew in on Wednesday afternoon (flight uneventful), and was met as I walked towards baggage claim by fellow VPXI'ers Kim and Pam. (I think I may have mentioned before how much I love being met at the airport...turns the whole experience into something much more pleasant). After a few minutes of squee and catch up, Pam left to fetch another VPXI buddy (Heather) while Kim and I waited for my luggage. More squee when Heather showed up. Then we all piled into Pam's Awesome Airport Expressmobile and drove off to Denver, with a brief stop at Target for party supplies and miscellaneous food. (As a side note, this was the first Super Target I've ever been to, and it was just...obscenely large and overwhelming. No wonder the world hates us. Ugh.) Heather, Kim and I were rooming together at the Grand Hyatt, so Pam dropped us off with promises of a dinner meetup after we'd gotten our bags dumped and had gone to register at the con. We did in fact go out to a big family style Italian dinner with a bunch of VPXI buddies including Pam, Pat, and Chris, and a few friends. Afterwards we walked over to the Sheraton to check out the con suite and a few of the bid parties (where the fan groups from various cities that want to host Worldcon try to show off their coolness so you'll vote for them), but it didn't seem particularly interesting so we bailed back to our own hotel to unpack, check the schedule, and plot the next day's activities.
Day 2: Panels, panels, and more panels, starting with a panel showcasing Hadley-Rille's current line up (Hadley-Rille is the small press that published the anthology containing Kim's first short story sale). Kim got to read from her story, and we got to meet Eric the publisher and a bunch of the other fun Hadley-Rille authors. Most of the panels were on the level of "interesting, with occasional epiphany-inducing comments". It was great to put faces to some famous or semi-famous names. I screwed up my courage to go to talk to a couple of the VP instructors (Scalzi and PNH) and invite them to our "Room 50 Redux" VP reunion party. Neither of them wound up coming, but I'm proud of myself for trying (even though I probably got way too much joy out of the fact that when I approached PNH and said "you probably don't remember me, but..." he cut me off and said "of course I do!"). Thursday post-panels we ran around on last minute party errands and grabbed food at the nearby foofy gourmet market to gobble down before the Viable Paradise Reunion party started.
Ah, the VP party. It was definitely one of the highlights of the whole con for me. We lucked out in that our VPXI buddy Chris had been upgraded to a suite, so we decided to host the party there. (Way nicer than some of the skanky party rooms we went to in the Sheraton.) We had expected maybe about 20 people would show, if we were lucky; I think we had close to 40 overall. There was a strong showing from VPXI, of course, but also from VPX, and a smattering of other years as well (even one from the upcoming VPXII!). TNH graced us with her presence for quite some time as well. We also had invited some "VP-friendly" folks (friends, publishers, fellow writers), so it turned out to be a nice mix. I poured Beowulf Mead for anyone who would try it, and I think it was well received.
Maybe it was the mead, but people were so enthusiastically chatty that somewhere around 11pm or so we got a visit from hotel security asking us to tone it down or they'd shut us down. A few people took this as an opportunity to leave, but the rest of us grabbed snacks and bottles and we all trooped down to the hotel bar, where we sat in a big circle and chatted some more. We even wound up telling origin stories (how you met your significant other) again, which was as much fun this time as it had been back in Room 50 at VP. At some point before the origin stories though, hotel security made another appearance (there were 4 or 5 of them to our dozen and a half, which was kind of funny--what did they think we'd do, start a writerly rumble?) and told us to go put the booze away, which we did.
After the party finally broke up around 1am, Kim, Heather, Chris and I were cleaning things up and starting to ferry them back up to Chris' room when someone with a familiar name on his badge walked by: Ken Scholes. We wound up talking with him for a few minutes, which led to inviting him back up to Chris' room for some mead, which led to an impromptu kaffeeklatsch (meadklatsch?) where Ken told us about his meteoric rise to fame, fortune, and a five book deal with Tor and dispensed a tremendous amount of sage writerly advice to our eager ears. It was a perfect little after-party gathering. We stumbled back down to our hotel room at around 1:30am, full to the brim with writerly goodness.
Day 3: Another day full of panels, panels and more panels, with a break for lunch. We also got to visit the dealer's room and watch Kim sign books at Hadley-Rille and shop around for interesting treasures (I had a fun time at the rocks and crystals booth). We spent some time talking to the very nice guys at the Night Shade booth too (Night Shade is a local Bay Area genre publisher that publishes some really cool stuff, including our VPXI buddy Mark's first novel, coming out next month!). We were pretty wiped out from the night before, so after a delightful chinese dinner with our new friend Jax (and being caught out in a freakish thunderstorm) Kim, Heather and I went back to our room to chill and catnap before going out again to the Making Light party and the Tor party. Both ultimately proved to be disappointing (huge lines to get up the elevators, then the parties themselves were crowded, hot, stinky, and difficult to meet or converse with people), so we collected up a bunch of our VP buddies and all defected to the Weird Tales reception, which was at least in a more comfortable room, and sat around and hung out there until around midnight, when things closed down. Back to the hotel room to rest up for another busy day!
Day 4: Kim slept in while Heather and I ran off to a panel or two. After that we were pretty burnt on panels so we went up to the dealer's room and browsed the art show (we all wound up bidding on and winning some great things) and the booths. I spent quite some time talking with Jacob, the publisher of Tachyon Press, another totally excellent Bay Area genre publisher with some truly fascinating anthologies. Kim, Heather and I went out to lunch with PJ, an aspiring VP-er (and friend of VPX folks), then after a quick trip back to our hotel to retrieve all the leftover snacks from our VP party, we headed to the Sheraton to go to the Abyss & Apex party at the con suite. We hung out there with a bunch of our Hadley-Rille and VP buddies (and even one Clarion buddy) until it was time to head back to the convention center to meet up with more friends to go out to dinner.
Once at the convention center though we decided to pick up the things we'd won at the art auction earlier in the day, which wound up taking far longer than anticipated. But the silver lining to the whole experience was that Kim (with Heather and my vehement encouragement) wound up approaching and chatting with her "dream agent", who was not only super nice and gracious, but actually invited Kim to send her a query. It was really exciting! So by the time we got out to dinner we were all abuzz, even though we were practically an hour late. The highlight of that dinner was getting to hang out with Dorothy, who had been Kim and my roommate at VP but whom we hadn't gotten to see much at the con before that. After dinner, Kim, Heather and I decided to bail on the Hugos and go back to our room with the intention of writing. After an hour or so of fooling around on the internet (we tracked the Hugos as they happened, and celebrated for Bear and Scalzi) we did start writing, although it degenerated into interesting conversation as we all began getting stuck in our respective WIPs. I will be eternally grateful to both Kim and especially Heather for talking me through a bunch of thorny plot issues I was trying to resolve (all around the theme of "how the hell do I end this novel?). By around 2:30 am I had whipped the outline of my remaining chapters into some semblance of decency and I went to bed terrifically pleased and excited (albeit exhausted mentally and physically).
Day 5: It was the last day of the con, and I woke up early, still so full of excitement about my novel from the previous night's conversations that I felt practically high (and no, it wasn't the altitude). Kim, Heather and I packed up and went out to breakfast, where we talked a whole bunch about Heather's current novel and helped her work through her own thorny plot issues (this is how writers have fun, believe it or not). Then we took Heather back to the hotel and put her on the airport shuttle (wahhh) and Kim and I walked back to the convention center for one last trip to the dealer's room to get presents for our family members. We also talked to the Broad Universe people (Broad Universe is an organization that supports women SFF writers, so of course we were interested). While at the convention center of course we ran into plenty of people to say goodbye to, and finally left with Pam and her friend Cheryl at around 1pm. Thus Worldcon ended, and it was on to the next phase of my Colorado trip.
But as this has gotten to be an incredibly long entry, and it's already way past my bedtime, I'll save the rest for the next post.
