N4 Report: Rock Two

[rolanni]

This'll be the Cliff Notes version, as I'm teetering on the edge of post-con depression.



Thursday morning we were up early; Steve went down to the lobby to hunt and gather Starbucks coffee while I took a shower. We breakfasted in the room, then betook ourselves to the Marriott, where we gathered up the boxes of SRM Publisher stuff that Lawrence Schoen had graciously received for us. The next while was filled with distributing things between the freebie tables and the Meisha Merlin booth. My contribution was to lean on the handcart, goof off with the camera, and nod at folks.

Noon was my first panel, moderating a discussion of plot holes. Fortunately, my co-panelists -- Grant Carrington, Louise Marley, Connie Willis, and Tamora Pierce -- all I had to do was sit back, smile, and acknowledge the five-minute flag.

After, I met Steve at the SFWA table in the Dealers Room, we wandered about a little, talking to people we knew and eventually wound up at the right time and room for our reading of Crystal Soldier. The room was full, which was gratifying, and the audience patient -- always a plus.

After the reading, I headed off to dissect the uses, if any, of Cardboard Characters with Laura J. Underwood and Steve Saffel. We were down a panelist, and I fear the panel suffered for it -- three is not, IMHO, an optimum number for discussion. Still, I think we were informative and entertaining.

Returned to the room to dine and eventually wandered down to the First Night activities. kinzel went off to contribute to the one-shot fanzine in progress in the fan lounge and I mooched about the hall, getting to know the camera.

Friday dawned early. Too early. We staggered downstairs for a breakfast meeting with Madame the Agent. Much plotting and conniving took place, helped along by liberal applications of caffeine.

kinzel went off to his Kaffeklatsch and I shopped, acquiring a nice pair of oval cut smoky quartz earrings and a button ("I'm not shy, I'm studying my prey," if you must know). A headache was building, but I decided to ignore it. Bad idea.

A little before noon, I took off for the Green Room, there to do my moderately duty of picking up name tents and spying out my co-panelists, if any.

Happily, Melissa Scott and Laura Resnick were before me, and we were able to chat a bit about the panel ahead of time. We also saw msagara, who was looking for her panelists for "The Princess Alone." She offered to trade topics, but we decided to stay with ours.

By the time the panel started, alas, my head was rotten and my stomach was considering joining the protest. The room was small, and packed, and hot. Once again, my co-panelists were a joy and with a little help from the audience, we all made it out alive, informed, and in good cheer.

After, I went back to the room, took drugs and asked kinzel to please present my excuses to Ruth at the Pandemonium table, where we were supposed to sign. The drugs overtook me and I slept for four hours, waking just in time to dress and head out to the Friends of Liad Open House at the Liaden Lounge.

ellayn, Thuy, debmats, Adam, Myles and their legions of gnomes and elves had outdone themselves. The party was wonderful -- busy without being a crush. We stayed 'til midnight or a little after, mooched our way back to the room, and so to bed.

Sunday, we slept in, missing thereby the SFWA meeting and a panel I'd wanted to see -- "How Language Influences Thought" -- had a leisurely breakfast and went off to do our duties to the con -- kinzel to the Death of Copyright panel and I to the SFWA table.

zara_elis and C.J. Mills did a wonderful job with the SFWA table, for which they cannot be thanked enough. It was fun standing behind the table and harassing people to buy books -- and sometimes they even did. The big surprise of the con was Ro Nagy walking up to the table to say hi -- we hadn't seen each other for sixteen years, I'm guessing, between his various moves and ours. Amazing.

Met kinzel for lunch in the fan hall, then went with him to his "Tough Love for Writers" panel, which was excellent, though I'm not sure I saw anyone in the audience throw down their keyboard and swear off the cursed telling of stories.

After, a lightning tour of the art show, and kinzel headed for the SLOFs panel and I to the discussion/presentation of the Spectrum Awards.



More on next rock.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

It just stinks to be betrayed by a damn headache at a con. One hates to lose precious fun time to something that could as well be done at home.

Sounds like good panels all round. (And I strongly suspect those who went to the "Tough Love" panel were all dedicated writers...)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

The table duty was fun. I'll have to volunteer for it next time I do a Worldcon (which won't be Glasgow--too far!). And I still can't believe you're the shortest person in your family. :)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Sympathies on the headache--I picked up something bizarre at a Westercon once and had to literally lay down on a booth seat while people finished their dinner and could then get me back to the hotel. Absolutely ghastly, and I was there for a big biz push, too.

Have you ever tried strong peppermint tea for headaches? Or are you a member of the migraine club? {There's depression and then there's depression--mine is a mineral dip, and I found something that helps, but the other variants are a b****.... Hope the sunshine lures you out tomorrow for a walk with the outdoor gang of cats-- }