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Wiscon 36 Report
May. 29th, 2012 10:23 pmWriting this now while it's still hot in my mind.
This year's Wiscon was unique because I volunteer as GoH Liaison to Andrea Hairston. Which is funny because she has been coming to Wiscon far longer than I have, so she had the routine down pat. So it felt at times that I was really doing much other than checking in with her occasionally. But it was a joy to get to share in Andrea's happiness of both being GoH and the Tiptree winner, and to meet Pan and hang out with her. And man, was Andrea awesome, both in her readings and in her speech!
Also, I apparently did a good job introducing Andrea during the GoH speeches Sunday night. Which I composed 30 seconds before I went up on stage. Luckily, I've had experience in doing introductions on the fly from doing Chapel at work, but man, I was a little surprised at how well it came together. And I'm not boasting. Really. I had no clue on what I'd say until 30 seconds before I went up to the podium. But it went well...so....yay!
It was interesting to see how the con works behind the scenes. In a seeing-the-sausage-made way, doing the liaison thing made me appreciate all the hard work the con committee put in-- without being paid, mind you--before the con.WHICH IS WHY IF YOU'VE ATTENDED WISCON OR ANY OTHER CON, BE SURE TO THANK THE CON COMMITTEE. A good way to thank them and to even help them is to give them feedback for the con you attended. And OH HEY LOOK: Wiscon36 is asking for feedback. Go give it!
I kept my panel load real light, this year: I moderated "Religious Agenda in SF" on Friday along with Alex Bledsoe, Naomi Kritzer, and Heidi Waterhouse. Fun panel that was actually pretty civilized! I took some notes, but I should have thought to ask someone to write down all the books that were mentioned. I'll draw up the list I got and put it at another post at some point. I also did a reading on Saturday called "Exotic Worlds", with Brad Beaulieu, Holly McDowell, Derek Silver and Michael Underwood at Michelangelo's. I read from my short story, "Sun-Touched", which is currently in submission mode. People showed up at it, so I count it as a success.
The rest of my time was spent hanging out with writer friends, which is getting too numerous to count, and making friends with new ones, which is an awesome sign. I had a mini-Viable Paradise XV reunion with some classmates, as well as our instructors, Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch. I did some Carl Brandon Society activities, including getting more information on how to get more involved. And man...the parties...had the best time at the "Riots of Bloom" party, and I was seriously tempted to elope with the best rose petal ice cream I've ever tasted. Luckily my sense of propriety prevailed. Plus, the servings were tiny.
I'll be seeing a lot of people from Wiscon at Worldcon this year, which gets me excited because I'll get to see my writer friends twice this year, as well as make new ones. Until then, I'm be working on my novel, because my goal is to have it done by Worldcon, which will be in my hometown! Yippee!!!
