Okay, so yes, a good blogger would post frequent con updates and reports while at a con, especially if it was, say, a big con like World Fantasy, and even moreso if it were pretty much the only con that said blogger attended during the year.
Fortunately, I have never claimed to be a good blogger.
However, I will do my best to at least hit the highlights now for both of my loyal readers. (Though I think that perhaps my readership has grown slightly in the past few weeks? I might have three, or perhaps even four loyal readers!)
Short version: I ate too much, slept too little, met tons of extremely cool people, had a marvelous time, was very ready to come home to my darling family by the end.
Longer version:
Got into Saratoga Springs Wednesday night. Thought briefly about going down to the conference center to see if anyone I knew was around yet, but then considered my fatigue factor and thought better of it. Instead curled up in bed and watched Transformers on the hotel pay per view. (The plot had more holes than a fishnet, but the effects were good and the actions scenes were entertaining.)
Thursday morning I had my one brief shining moment of discipline, and actually put on workout clothes and went down to the hotel fitness center and slogged it out on the cardio machines for 40 minutes. That was the last time the fitness center factored into my schedule for the remainder of my stay there.
I made it down to the conference center around ten-ish on Thursday, and started running into people I knew. Many hugs ensued. A short while later I saw L.E. Modesitt, who promptly stole me away for lunch. Lovely lunch, fantastic company, delightful conversation.
Met and/or reacquainted myself with many more people throughout the day, including Ken Scholes who was walking about a foot off of the floor throughout the entire con. (He just sold five books to Tor.) Exceedingly nice and cool guy. Met many other Codexians (online writer’s group) and I was going to try to name the ones I met, but I realized that I would most assuredly leave some names off, so I am just going to skip that entire attempt. Met lots and lots of really cool people. Um, same disclaimer as before re the attempt to name you all. It was great to meet all of you!
Other highlights:
Rob Sawyer noticed that I’d lost weight. Woo! What a guy! (He then tried to introduce me as “Denise”, but since he’d noticed I’d lost weight I wasn’t all that put out.)
An Editor who has not yet seen my book wanted to hear more about my book after hearing a brief precis from Lee Modesitt, and I had the chance to sit down with said Editor and give him my pitch. (By the way, just as a note to up-and-coming writers, when an editor asks you the title of your book, it’s probably a good idea if you can remember it! Jeeeeeeeeez. But apart from that one brain fart, I think I managed a fairly decent pitch. )
Had a really fun dinner with Tim and Serena Powers, and Walter Jon Williams and Kathy Hedges. Had a really fun lunch with Doug Cohen and Jetse de Vries. Had many other fun meals throughout the weekend, and shockingly was still able to fit into my clothing on Monday. Also did lots of hanging out and catching up with Daniel Abraham. Always an utter delight.
Spent some time (not nearly enough!) with the very lovely Jae Brim. Later she and I took our annual “Walter and his Witches” picture with Walter Jon Williams.
Had breakfast with an enormous passel of Codex members. Very much fun to finally put faces/personalities with the names.
Attended a number of the parties but had little patience for the press of bodies, so did not stay long at any of them.
Bounced ideas for my next novel off of Blake Hutchins, and then bounced more ideas off of Daniel Abraham. I now have what I think is a really great core/premise for a book that has the potential to be extremely good enough that I am now going through the “Holy Crap, am I good enough to pull it off?” angst.
Met Jack Dann. Learned that he was wearing blue and white striped boxers. Learned that Gardner Dozois was wearing white and blue patterned boxers. “HooterVision” became the new catchphrase.
Called it a night by midnight or close to it every night, which I think contributed greatly to my overall enjoyment of the convention since I was not completely exhausted by the end of it. Just mostly.
Ran into John Picacio, Ted Chiang, Lou Anders, and Edmund Schubert at the Albany Airport on the way home. I experienced some brief panic over whether I would make my connection in Newark, since the next flight out of Newark to New Orleans wasn’t until 8pm, and I really wasn’t looking forward to a nine hour layover in Newark. I had decided, though, that if I did miss my flight I would find a way to go into NYC for a couple of hours. Unfortunately I had already packed my coat, so I was debating purchasing a new one. Fortunately, the pilot on the Albany to Newark leg decided to fly at about Warp 6 and I made my flight without having to do more than a very brisk walk between gates. This was also helped by the fact that Edmund Schubert spoke to the flight attendant on my behalf and arranged for me to switch seats from the back of the plane to the front of the plane, which probably bought me another ten minutes, easily. Good thing that he did, since my alternative plan was to mug John Picacio for his seat (1A.)
The rest of my journey back to New Orleans was uneventful, though I was disappointed that there was no in-flight movie. (There was one on the flight up there, and it really helped pass the 3.5 hour flight quickly.)
Picked my daughter up from daycare, and had the utterly delightful experience of her running into my arms and squeezing me in a three-year-old version of a bear hug. It was friggin’ awesome. Reintroduced myself to my husband later in the evening.
Very good con. Can’t wait until next year!
Pictures are forthcoming.
We went ahead and cooked a small turkey on Friday and ate off of that for the weekend.