Dragon*Con is over, and I feel like I’ve been hit by a Mack truck while hung over, a particularly sad state of affairs because nary a drop of alcohol passed my lips for the whole convention. I also forgot to take my Imuran three times and once walked the sixteen flights of stairs up to the (17th floor) Green Room–after waiting fifteen+ minutes for the elevator–on top of the regular stress/no sleep/poor eating habits of the convention. So I ache and I’ve got a low grade fever. Blah.
I’m still processing the weekend, and have lots to catch up on work-wise, so this will be briefish.
There was much that sucked about this year’s con, most of which were things that I had no control over and could do nothing about–such as the Marriott doing renovations and knocking out half a hotel’s convention space for D*C07, the rent-a-crap printers and copiers that made my job that much harder, and the Internet situation in 219 which necessitated that my computer not be networked with any of the others, leading to beaucoup version headaches and having to transfer all DD files using USB thumb drives. But I also dropped the ball on Friday, not getting the DD hardcopy printing before I left to do my guest talk for Ann Crispin’s workshop, making it come out very late. My fault, and I can only plead brain spasm, as I forgot that I needed to get it running in the AM and only realized after I got back that Friday’s edition isn’t on the same timeframe as the rest of the issues.
There was also much that was great about the con, mostly to do with members of my staff. arkhamrefugee and dude_the did their usual awesome job, and also canadiansuzanne, reddherring1955, and Debbie were fabulous. Buckets of huzzah go to sfeley and cunningmix for putting out the DD podcast. And what possibly saved me from totally padded cell/strait jacket losing it, first-time staffer, noelleleithe‘s efficiency and skill, as well as her good humor and great attitude. I’ve had . . . problems with layout people on my staff before. So much so that I’ve sworn never to use one again. But when I heard noelleleithe‘s credentials, I knew I had to give it one more go. And gawd am I glad I did. She rawks and rawks hard. Not only could she do the layout professionally and quickly, but she’s also a sharp editor, even at 3AM.
I also particularly enjoyed doing my talk for Ann this year. I think, after several years now, I might have it down now. And I also enjoyed my Saturday reading. Both surprising as they involved me doing solo talking.
But yah, Mack truck, feeling pained and feverish, and much work to do and catch up on. So that’s installment 1 of my D*C ’07 experience.
And also, the rumors of me reducing an ex-gunnery sergeant staff person (not my staff) to tears are vastly overstated. I did no such thing, although I was insistent and undoubtedly somewhat terse with him.
I did, however, forcibly evict several people off an elevator to make room for a guy in a wheelchair (edited to add: unrelated to the above ex-gunnery sergeant rumor). I probably could’ve handled that better–with greater politeness and poise–although I have no regrets on the end result. So yes, my fuse was short, and I might’ve gotten more ranty and rude than is my norm. But I didn’t make anyone cry, much less a gunnery sergeant . . . I don’t think.
Writing Stuff
Published:
– The audio reprint of “The Snow Woman’s Daughter” is now up at Escape Pod. Read by the lovely and talented cunningminx.
– Anthology Heroes In Training, edited by jimhines, with my story, “Honor is a Game Mortals Play” is now out. And you can read more about the authors (including me) at Jim’s Blog.
– This month’s Writing for Young Readers column: Juggling Hamsters: Tips for the Busy Writer.
Holly mentioned she got a chance to hang with you.
Yeah, we had a panel together on Friday. I’m afraid I was rather stressed and strung out that day–Thursday and Friday were bad-evil days for me–so I’m concerned that I came across as manic and short-tempered. Not to mention I don’t remember what I said during the panel. But it was a pleasure seeing her again.
She never mentioned anything you said evil other than you had bouts of Tourette’s where you would interupt the other panelists by shouting out “That Berman is a $%@# of an editor!”
So that’s what I said during my mysterious black out moments. That does explain why the other panelists kept peering nervously at me . . .
Feel better soon pretty lady.
🙂
*smooches* That’s the plan. Or the hope, at least.
Awww … *blushes*. Glad to be of help, and I will definitely be back next year. 🙂
You were amazing, and I greatly appreciate all your help.
“and I will definitely be back next year.“
A bazillion hurrays!
i am certain that you were polite and dignified at all times, but for the record, i am fine with reducing anyone to tears who fails to yield to a person in a wheelchair.
“i am certain that you were polite and dignified at all times
Hah. Pretty to think it, but I’m certain there were times where I was snappish and manic. But thank you for the vote of confidence.
“but for the record, i am fine with reducing anyone to tears who fails to yield to a person in a wheelchair“
Whoops. Those two episodes were unrelated. I did indeed evict–rather forcibly when no volunteers stepped up–people from the elevator, but the gunnery sergeant incident was related to donuts.
I suspect I could’ve handled the elevator thing with more grace and politeness, but I was pretty fed up and stressed by then. I mean, geez, there was a huge sign right there which asked people to be courteous and get off the elevator when handicapped people needed on.
Hey, Eugie. This is Austin, from Ann’s basic-level workshop. I don’t think we were ever formally introduced, but I was the one wearing the Frank the Goat hoodie, if you remember. It was sort of rushed, there at the end.
I thought you did just fine in your little talk, by the way. 😉
Anyway, since I added you on LJ, I just thought I’d let you know who I was. Also, I want to take a moment to let you know that just about everyone I know really appreciates all the work that the staff does for the con, even if they spend all their time bitching about it. Most of the things that people are complaining about this year seem to be administrative decisions, not the behavior of the staff. I certainly haven’t heard anyone complaining that the DD wasn’t out on time on Friday. <chuckles>
Rest up, and I’m sure you’ll feel better in a few days once the stress of DC has a chance to drain away. =)
Thanks for swinging by to drop me a line. Actually, I do remember you and your LJ mascot garb! Interesting apparel always help with the face recog
.
I’m so relieved my talk for y’all came off reasonably well. I’m never sure if I’m going too fast, too slow, or just babbling. Thanks as well for the assurances on the running the convention side. This year was pretty chaotic. But it should be better in ’08, once the Marriott finishes its renovations and we have all that convention space back again.
I did offer you alcohol as a sop to having to drag you back into 219 for the internet issues. If only you were without ethics and a sense of responsibility, and could have taken it!
I know, I know. Stupid sense of responsibility getting in the way of my fun. I need to work on that . . .
But hey, I wanted to say mega, uber thanks for everything you did to troubleshoot our little Internet snafu on Saturday, and actually for being a solid go-to person in our various and sundry times of technical distress and mayhem the whole weekend. I’m not so good with teh hardware.
You bet! I did feel bad about having to drag you back, and wished we’d been able to figure out the problem faster.
On our side, thanks for putting up with us, since as a group we manage to be both loud and boisterous while simultaneously saying, “Keep it down! We can’t hear the radio!” I did manage to get Matt and to come drink with us for a bit, and saved my sanity by dealing with a stroppy director right after a major stress-inducing incident on the techops/security side.
The Ann Crispin presentation
Thanks, Eugie, for your informative talk on Friday. I think we received so much info over that 2-day period that our brains are still trying to process it all. As I’m interested in the children’s end of the fantasy spectrum and also short stories, hearing what you had to say was exactly what I needed that Ann didn’t address. (Good move on her part to have you fill in those gaps)
Re: The Ann Crispin presentation
I’m so glad you found my talk helpful. It seemed like Ann’s workshop and workshop-goers were both pretty novel-heavy this year, so I’m relieved that folks found my spiel on the short story/kid’s lit. side of things of use.
Ex-Gunnery Sargeants are notoriously wimpy. That’s why they are ex;).
BTW, that is a tease. Marines are scary. 😉
(Again, a tease).
I must say that your reading was very enjoyable. I hope it is not presumptuous to tell you that you were showing much more poise and confidence than last years reading. You may still hate it, but your performance was great!
And we will “Buy the BOOK”!
Not presumptuous at all! Quite welcome to hear, actually.
I didn’t have as much time to prep for this reading. I ran it through one and a half times in my hotel room while worked on uploading DD website updates. For me, that’s almost like coming to it cold. I’m so glad it came off well. Maybe I’m getting the hang of this reading thing . . . nah.
Thanks so much for coming by for it. I really appreciate the support. It means much to me.
I missed all the fun again. *sniffles*
Eh, at least I got to see Timothy Zahn at MarCon earlier this year…even if I did end up sounding like a babbling idiot.:(
Oh, and Yay! for giving wheelchair dude the VIP treatment.
There’s always next year! Sigh. I didn’t get to see Timothy Zahn or any of the other celebs I wanted to. Scott Westerfeld was there as was Jack Ketchum and Jack McDevitt. I heard about other people seeing them and their panels, so I got to experience their presence vicariously . . .
Well, vicariously is better than not at all…okay, granted, not much better…
Heh. I still got that one workshop to look forward to.