Talking about all the cool things at a convention like WorldCon is difficult. The list of amazing people that I spoke to is very long and if I attempted to list them all I would be sure to miss someone. The temptation is just to hoard the memories in my own head, but I know if I do that I will forget some of them. So, in no particular order here is a list of some convention Highlights:
Running into Jay Lake outside a party and standing next to him while he drags friends over and tells them that Howard writes the best long-form science fiction available today. He did the same thing again several more times throughout the event.
Meeting WorldCon attendees at the airport in Denver and then running into them again repeatedly throughout the convention. I even got to sit down and have fascinating conversations several different times through out the con before scheduled events made us run separate directions.
Eating Lunch with Lawrence and Valerie Schoen. This was the one appointment people made with us in advance. The food was good and the company was far better.
Watching Mary Robinette Kowal use her puppetry skills to make the audience sympathize with a shoe. Also learning about puppets and puppet construction. Mary has some hilarious puppetry stories.
Talking with Neil Gaiman’s handler (when Neil was not around) about the challenges of running interference for a person who is the guy everyone wants to talk to. She was another person I would have loved to sit down and talk to for hours.
Shaking hands with George R. R. Martin and being introduced by Howard as “The woman I talked so highly of in the Writing for a Living panel we shared.” Then seeing George’s face light up and he shook my hand more vigorously. He then gave Howard a Hugo Loser ribbon and regaled us with stories of early Hugo Losers’ parties.
Looking through the crowded Tor party and spotting Lee Modesitt’s friendly face in a crowd of strangers. We had a nice conversation and I was finally able to meet his wife, who does not usually attend the Utah conventions with him. Lee made sure that the Locus photographer got a picture of Howard and even chased her down to hand over Howard’s contact info.
The Schlock meet-up. I wrote a whole entry about this, but it definitely belongs on the highlight list.
Meeting Frank and Brianna Wu. We never did get the chance to sit down and let Brianna talk about process with Howard. They were fun to be around and I wish we could have talked to them more.
Sitting and talking with Emily Sanderson and Dawn Wells. They were among the few conversations that actually were long enough. Even better, they are both local to me and we can get together to talk more.
Eating Chinese food with the Writing Excuses crew. There was much laughing.
Having Schlockers come up to me and thank me for supporting Howard. Most of them said thank you and vanished before I could even learn their names. I’m sorry I was so distracted so often. Your thank yous really matter a lot.
Attending a panel talking about graphic design on covers. I have new knowledge to apply.
Running into John Scalzi just about everywhere. I think he may have cloned himself for this event. Good thing he’s always fun to talk to. Also he never failed to wave cheerfully at me when he saw me, even if Howard wasn’t around.
Talking with the folks from Spiral Galaxies. We met them last year in Denver and got to see them again. Mostly we just waved as we walked opposite directions in the halls, but it was good to see a friendly face.
Meeting folks from the Codex online writers forum. We had a lovely breakfast and then scattered conversations throughout the event.
Having Howard interviewed for an online gamer video site. We’ll post links when the segment is live.
Having Howard interviewed for a documentary film. This one will get an entry of its own because it was very cool.
Yogurt parfaits. I discovered these and ate a lot of them. I shall be making some here at home.
Being with Howard without also having to be a mom.
Being complimented on my hair and clothes. It happened just often enough to make me feel good without making me feel self conscious.
The big smile on the taxi driver’s face when Howard gave him a good tip. The smile transformed his face so much that I wish we’d given him a bigger one.
Being a secret agent for Anthology Builder and giving away free books. This one will also get it’s own entry.
Learning that the Foglio’s won the Best Graphic Story Hugo. Then watching their awards be accepted.
This list is incomplete. I know that it is. But I need to capture what I can before it all blurs.