conventions

Sending Howard to a Convention

By / August 15, 2012

Wind rushed past the sides of the van as the wheels rumbled down the freeway. Howard and I were on our way to the airport so that he could board a plane to GenCon. He would be gone for a week, I wanted to spend the thirty minutes of drive talking. I wanted to be with him as thoroughly as possible to make up for having to do without him. But I was tired. I cast about in my mind for conversational topics and kept pulling up the equivalent of tin cans and old boots. It wasn’t that my head was empty. My head was over-full with thoughts about the convention he faced, the things which could go wrong, possible ways to address the things which could go wrong, and then further along the causal chain of could-go-wrong clear out beyond the bounds of rationality. I looked over at Howard. He gripped the steering wheel and occasionally expressed frustration with the drivers around us. He was as full of stress as I was, yet the only thing to do was drive Howard to the airport and deal with everything beyond that when it came. We’d spent all morning scrambling with last minute business tasks. This was our chance to shed all that and be Howard and Sandra together, if only we could dodge the business thoughts and talk about something else. I commented on how the smoke from distant fires collects in the Salt Lake valley. As we descended into the valley I peered across to the barely discernible mountain ridge on the other side. Then I sat back and realized that Howard and I had fallen silent again, surrounded by thoughts we weren’t saying. I could feel the edges of business anxiety in my head. I wanted to be chatting and laughing with Howard about something cheerful, but the best we managed was a mellow companionableness as we drove down the road.

Howard hugged me tight before rolling away with his two suitcases, one full of clothes to wear, the other full of merchandise which arrived too late to be shipped. I did not stay to watch him enter the airport, the curb was needed for another farewell. The drive home from the airport was also silent, until the fourth time I had to drag my brain back from a path filled with useless worry. Then I turned on music and sang loud enough to drown out my thoughts. I continued to distract myself until late in the evening because my brain was ready to believe that I’d committed a failure of paperwork which would render Howard’s convention trip into an utter disaster. I fell asleep convinced that I’d be awakened at six in the morning by a panicked phone call.

I woke at eight, no phone call had come. Email gave me a quick note from Howard “Nice hotel and a good night’s sleep. So far so good, off to the convention center in 20 minutes.” He’d successfully arrived using the flight I’d booked. He’d stayed in the hotel that I’d reserved. Neither of these things had resulted in catastrophe, my weight of responsibility felt lighter. All the various preparations I’ve made since last January will either work or they won’t. It is all out of my hands. I am so happy to have it all out of my hands. I’m certain the booth set up brought its frustrations and stresses, but I did not witness them or be stressed by them. Instead I get to see Howard’s tweet at the end of the day “Rocked the booth prep for GenCon today. Planning to totally rock the show tomorrow.”

In comparison with Howard’s day mine is tame. He helped assemble the miniature shop in which he will live and work for the next five days until he disassembles it and comes home. I spent the day putting things in order, building shelves to store t-shirts, stretching out in my spaces. Sometimes when Howard goes on a trip, I sort of gasp with relief and collapse into a pile of post-convention-preparation uselessness. It is a definite “cats away, mice will play” feeling. For the span of time while he is gone, I can take more time off of work. Sometimes it worries me that I feel relief to have him gone. Then there are other times when I miss him terribly and can’t go to bed before early morning because the house feels wrong without him here. Today I went about my work and in the quiet spaces I missed Howard in a quiet way. My meanderings kept carrying me back to the kitchen and the flowers he bought for me on Monday because Monday was a rough day. Then I discovered the treat he hid for me to find. I’ll be glad when Howard can come back home to relax with me. Though it is going to be several weeks more before that occurs.

Shirts take over my life

By / August 8, 2012

My day has been all about t-shirts and making five dozen little judgement calls about what to ship, how to ship it, and when to ship it. The fried brain situation is not helped by the fact that I’m actually managing four different t shirt priority streams. There are the shirts which have been pre-ordered and need to go into the mail as soon as possible. Then there are the shirts which need to go to GenCon. Similar quantities of shirts need to ship to WorldCon. I also have to sort stock for my storage room so that we have ongoing inventory. This means that I need to reorganize my storage room so that I have room for the shirts, water bottles, and shopping bags. New shelving may be required, but I have to finish clearing out mess first. Each of these different priority streams vies for my attention and as a result I often feel a bit frozen. I keep having to walk away from all of it to clear my head. So I go eat, or read, or watch fifteen minutes of a show until my brain pops up with: Do This Next. Then I get up and do that thing. Hopefully it leads smoothly into the next thing and I can keep going. If not, I’m stopped again. I’m watching Captain America in very small pieces.

I think I’ve finally got all the shirts sorted and arranged. This is good, because tomorrow the next shipment of t-shirts arrives.

Casting the Bones: Shipping Inventory to Summer Conventions

By / July 9, 2012

The process for deciding how much inventory to ship to a convention is very involved and always stressful.

Step 1: Look at numbers from last year
We’ve been in this business long enough that we have several years of prior numbers to consult. This is particularly true in the case of GenCon where I can look up how much we sold last year and the year before. Our GenCon team is amazing and keeps wonderful track for us. Yet looking at those inventory numbers shows me all the flaws in my convention inventory management systems. Without fail there is some number I want which is missing. This time it was magnet sales not being itemized out from other things. I know I had them itemized at some point, but I must have made a data entry error in my accounting software. Either that or I was tired and instead of looking up the specific number, rolled it into an additional book sale. This means that last year’s numbers over count on a book or two to account for the magnet money. Little bits of fudging on small ticket categories happens every time. Usually it reveals a flaw in my system rather than any fault of those who are on the ground running the booth. More often all the numbers line up perfectly the week after the convention, but then I fail to record them because I am tired and distracted. Or sometimes I record them and then file the record in an odd place. So the seemingly simple task of looking at numbers from last year gets time consuming.

Step 1b: Look up numbers from comparable conventions
WorldCon changes locations every year. The inventory sold numbers from the previous year are kind of useful, but only as a rough guideline because attendance varies. Also our sales vary depending upon whether the location of WorldCon is in a place with a strong Schlock Mercenary fan base. Reno was nearly home turf, Australia was largely new territory and in a foreign country. How much do I use those numbers as guidelines? Or would I do better to use numbers from another convention and multiply by number of attendees? I rarely know the answers, so I usually look up several sets of numbers to have them on hand.

Step 2: Adjust for new releases, cross promotion, and other factors
GenCon has a host of new factors this year. Our booth mates both have big new releases this year. We have our shiny new board game. Also Brandon and Mary will both be at GenCon doing Writing Excuses things with Howard. All of these factors will, in theory, drive additional traffic to the booth and thus lead to more sales. This leads me to round up on the inventory numbers. Also we have an established team and a place to store excess inventory, both very good things. But perhaps there is some other extremely shiny thing that will drive traffic and dollars in a different direction. It seems like WorldCon Chicago is completely made of factors for which I should adjust the numbers. Mary will be there and the convention is writer heavy, so more WE stuff should go. Except Brandon will be at Dragon Con and Dan will be in Germany. Usually we have them sign at our booth, thus luring in new people. We have a fantastic team, but perhaps most of the WorldCon regulars have already bought their Schlock books. I turn all of these things over (and over and over) in my head before moving on to step 3.

Step 3: Make a guess
This is when I write down how much stuff I need to send. It really feels like stabbing in the dark, though I can be reasonably sure I’m in the right vicinity. If I send too much, I’ll have to pay for shipping both ways. If we run out of something, we’ll disappoint someone who wanted to buy.

Step 4: Ship the stuff and fret
All the time I’m packaging and shipping I will worry that I’m sending too much. I particularly worry this when I look at the shipping bill. Once I’ve sent it, and during the booth set up process, I am always convinced that I didn’t send enough. Sometimes I will oscillate between too much and not enough at a rate of 10 minutes per oscillation.

Step 5: The convention
Things sell. We pay the bills for the show. Usually we end up in the black. We make a huge mental list of what we should do differently next time. Sometimes I remember to write down the list or parts of it. Sometimes I even keep track of the notes and file them where I can find them next year.

Step 6: Post Convention accounting
This is when all of the stuff comes back home to me. In theory I conscientiously count everything and make copious notes. I’m also supposed to write up a post convention report which includes all those mental notes. The notes and reports go into a file neatly labelled for next year. All the convention gear should be neatly put away in places where I can find it again. Perhaps this year most of those things will happen because I’ll be staying home and thus not convention exhausted during this phase. In past years the boxes, reports, and gear get shoved out of the way as I scramble to recover and handle other things. Then a month or so later I finally get around to cleaning it all up, by which time some of the thoughts and pieces have been moved or lost. I do muddle through, I do at least shove the relevant information into file folders so I can find it the next year. I have folders full of GenCon papers for the past four years. I have WorldCon papers for a similar length of time. If I at least shove all the papers into a single location, I have a hope of making sense out of it later when I need to.

It always feels messy. I always feel like I’m doing it wrong. Yet I don’t think I am. I think the guessing and mess are part of the nature of the work. Which is why I write this blog post to let everyone know when I make jokes about casting the bones to guess how much to send to summer conventions, I’m only partially joking. Its how it feels.

My Deep South Con 50 Experiences

By / June 19, 2012 / 7 Comments

The lobby chairs were pulled into an irregular circle and we slouched in them comfortably. It was Sunday night and all the events of DeepSouth Con were complete. Many of the guests and most of the attendees had already departed for home. Those of us who remained clustered together talking. In many ways it was like the closing scene of the pillow fighting episode of Community where two characters keep hitting each other with pillows for hours because they know the minute the pillow fight is over, then so is their friendship. We sat there and talked late into the night because once the talking stopped, DSC 50 would be done.

Conventions are hard to sum up in a single blog post, because a convention is not a single narrative, it is a multiplicity of interwoven stories. Many of them rely on in-the-moment humor which is hilarious, but can’t be retold because the context is no longer present. This convention’s running joke for Howard and I was Rosie’s Cantina, which was recommended as a restaurant choice on our first night. Our liaisons, Robert and Laura Nigg, attempted to find it, but multiple cell phones came up with multiple locations and driving directions, so we went somewhere else. However Rosie’s Cantina did not go away, We saw signs and advertisements just about every time we left the hotel. Huntsville was taunting us with the existence of this Mexican restaurant. Two different concierge’s recommended it, so on the third day we resumed the quest and succeeded.

In the end the food was solid Ameri-Mex fare, nothing particularly special, but we felt satisfaction in finding the place and eating there. Rosie’s Cantina was an oft referenced source of humor for us and the others who shared our quest. Conventions are made of stories like these, small experiences which become shared contextual humor between the people who experienced them. Since the convention-going population is fairly small, we’ll run across these same people again in a few years. Then we will regale others with The Quest for Rosie’s Cantina in such a way that reconnects us and brings others into the laughter. Many times over the weekend I played audience while others shared their mutual remembrances. This is how communities are made and reaffirmed.

One of my treasured parts of the convention was meeting Lois McMaster Bujold. I’ve read every book she’s written multiple times. Lois’ words and thoughts express some of my experiences so well that it is simpler for me to reference her words rather than finding my own. I very much wanted a chance to talk to the person who created those words. I was pleased that more than one opportunity arose.

Here is Lois talking with Dr. Demento while Toni Weiskopf of Baen stands and speaks to David Drake. Yes, that is a total name-dropping sentence. Yes I had the opportunity to converse with all of those people. This is part of the attraction of conventions, particularly smaller ones. Everyone there is in awe of someone else. These admirable people are all people who are quite happy to sit down and talk about writing, music, food, exercise, pets, and a host of other topics. While I was feeling honored and pleased to be included in conversations with Toni and Lois, they were both feeling fangirl squee about getting to speak with Dr. Demento. I found Lois to be a wonderfully pleasant person. Our conversations tended to be short, as there were many people around, but each time it felt as if I’d picked up a long-running conversation with a long-time friend. It almost certainly did not feel that way to her, which did lend an imbalance to the conversations. I did get to ask her about the narrative structure of the Sharing Knife series which is so very different than her other books. The structural differences threw me off during my first reading of them because I’d expected the familiar structures of her other books. I’m pleased to know that these differences were a conscious and deliberate exploration, rather than a result of being lost in the story. I was certain that had to be the case, but she confirmed it. I also noticed that Lois attended panels all the time. Many of the pros I know are busy at conventions and rarely attend a panel unless they are participating in it. I know that is the case for me. I have a hard time sitting in the audience listening when I feel like I could add to the discussion. I’m reconsidering that. If Lois, with all her experience in writing and fandom, finds things to learn in panels, perhaps I should try to be more teachable as well.

I did attend some panels at DSC. I even got to moderate for a panel where Howard was one of the panelists. It is always a little odd for me to moderate Howard, rather like long-time dance partners switching which partner leads. I felt the panel went well and several people corroborated that opinion.
Howard was, of course, on many panels. Conventions schedule their GoHs pretty thoroughly. One of his panels was about designing aliens, his co-panelists were Tedd Roberts, Travis Taylor, and Stephanie Osborn. I’m told that video of this panel will hit the internet after a quick editing pass. I’m also told that it was fantastic and that everyone will want to see it.

Howard and Travis Taylor of Rocket City Rednecks hit it off really well. After listening to Travis’ stories, we’re convinced that we need to get our hands on all the episodes because it is like Mythbusters with more materials science and physics. Plus, Travis made us laugh all weekend long. Some of that funny must end up in the show too.

Howard and John Ringo did a joint panel, which has also been recorded for future internet viewing, though I’m told that one will take longer to clean up and prep. They hauled almost the entire audience from that panel into the dealer’s room where The Missing Volume was selling both John and Howard’s books. This made Glennis quite happy, and us happy too. Howard and John even stole the autographing table from the hallway. No one minded because it was empty at the time and we un-stole it forty minutes later when John and Howard had to head off for a panel.

This convention was one of the few where Howard was able to announce a Watch Howard Draw event. Fans gathered around while Howard scribbled out comics. Howard was quite glad to get some work done (He always feels behind) and he loved having the relaxed environment to converse while doing it.

One fan even had a Schlock themed birthday party


Yes that is a cake. There was also a little sculpture for the birthday guy. Howard signed it.

I knew that DeepSouth Con had a hard science fiction, history of southern fandom, and funny music focus. These are not areas of expertise for me, so I expected to mostly drift through the weekend in observational mode. I did play observer quite a bit, and I paid more attention to photography, but then I was pulled in. I had several long and deep conversations which left me thinking new thoughts to think. There was a small group of attendees who gathered around me after a panel and we held our own mini panel/discussion about organizing life to support creativity. It was extremely gratifying to be sought out that way, and I’m very glad that some of the things I said seemed useful to them. There is nothing better than turning one of my experiences into something useful for someone else.

A particular shout out is owed to Gray Rhinehart here. I’d never met him before this event and knew him only slightly online. But we talked for hours. This is also one of the hidden treasures of conventions, when I meet someone new and their current concerns intersect with mine. Conventions give me friendships which last long after the convention is over. Conventions give me chances to renew friendships begun at a previous convention. I’m learning to be patient and play the long game in building a writing career. I don’t have to push to have the critical conversation with a particular agent / editor/ author, because there will be another chance. This chance is not the only one.

Huge thanks are due to Toni Weiskopf. This show was her baby. She pulled together a dream team of Southern convention runners. I think this may have been one of the smoothest-run convention I’ve ever experienced. I did not hear any of the usual politicking or kvetching which I’ve come to believe is inevitable when highly stressed people care very much about something but have different opinions about how it should be done. We are so glad that she included us. This was exactly the weekend we needed it to be.
To close out this very long convention post, I leave you with a photo of Dr. Demento dancing on stage with a pair of belly dancers.

Convention arrival and Huntsvile Alabama

By / June 15, 2012 / 2 Comments

I stood on the shore of the pond, watching the geese sail across.

The wind caught stray hairs on the back of my neck and also seemed to lift the damp blanket of Alabama air. It was not too hot or humid. In the shade the air felt lovely, in the sun I began to understand why I associate light colored, flowy clothing with southern fashion. At least I was wearing sandals. Standing on the shore of Big Spring Park in Huntsville Alabama was the first truly restful moment I’ve had in weeks. I wandered in a little patch of time that had no requirements attached. All the shipping was done on Monday. Tuesday was the day when my brain responded to the lack of shipping project by deciding that I really needed to re-arrange my shipping / storage room. Wednesday was made of sleeping off insomnia and driving kids to my brother’s house. Thursday was full of airplanes, airports, meeting new people, and eating out at a couple of restaurants with delicious food. Friday needed me to help set up Howard’s panels in the art show, but then there were a couple of hours before the convention really gets under way. So I walked to the park.

I sat for awhile on a bench, looking for cardinals. I didn’t see any, but I was greatly amused that the geese kept sidling closer to me and watching just in case I might pull a sandwich out of my bag and feed them some. They did not venture too close, but by the time I’d been sitting for ten minutes. I was surrounded by a ring of geese pretending to take naps.

They were quite polite about it, so I did not mind their company. Instead I breathed in the smell of pond, watched the koi who occasionally leaped out of the water, and tried to get a feel for the place that is Huntsville. It feels like a good place. I love seeing the evidence of rockets and space engineering. A store in the airport sells astronaut jumpsuits in sizes from toddler to adult. Huntsville is the home of space camp and rocket design. It is a science-y place while also being very southern. I’m picking up a bit of drawl just by being here. It comes to me naturally, my father’s parents both had southern accents. I grew up hearing them.

I’m not sure what else this convention weekend will bring to me. I’m quite happy with whatever comes, since I’ve already gotten to hang out with Howard. I was greeted warmly by Toni Weiskopf of Baen, who is responsible for us getting this invitation. Then last night as we departed for a late dinner, our group was joined by Lois Bujold. Both Howard and I managed to dial back the squee. Instead we got to just talk. More talking with Lois would be lovely, because she has a head full of amazing thoughts.

But for now, I’ve been pinged by Howard to deliver something. The convention begins

DeepSouth Con 50

By / June 10, 2012 / 1 Comment

Howard is a guest of honor at DeepSouth Con 50 and I get to go with him. I’m really excited about this trip. It gives me a chance to travel to the South near where many of my ancestors lived. I’ll also get to just be with Howard while the kids are elsewhere. It is icing on the cake that I’ve been invited to participate in programming.

On Saturday at 11 am in Madison, I get to moderate a panel about the Meeting of Art and Science Fiction: Incorporating Hard Science into Art. I’ll get to moderate for Howard, which is always interesting. He’s pretty easy to moderate, but in group conversations I tend to let him take the lead. For this event it will be my job to lead. The other panelists are Krista Wohlfeil, Dr. Demento, and John Picacio. I’m looking forward to it.

Sunday afternoon at 1 pm in Madison, I’ll be a panelist participating in the Podcasting vs. Print Fanzine Smackdown. I expect my print-based layout and design experience to come into play. Panelist for this event are: Guy H. Lillian III, Howard Tayler, Sandra Tayler, and Curt Phillips. Should be fun.

Not officially part of my schedule, but something I do not intend to miss is the Saturday 9 am walk around Big Spring Park with Toni Weisskopf and Lou Anders. I’ll bring my binoculars and keep my eyes peeled for cardinals or other eastern birds. Yes, I intend to let my inner birdwatching geek out to play. I also expect to commit photography.

If you’re anywhere near Huntsville AL, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello. We’ll have copies of all the Schlock books and Hold on to Your Horses for sale in the dealer’s room. Look for The Missing Volume table run by the lovely Glennis LeBlanc.

Pre-Orders, Shipping, and Travel

By / May 26, 2012


Pre-orders for Sharp End of the Stick close in just five days. That is also when we’re expecting a truck to show up with four pallets of books. The arrival of those books will usher in the next stage of book shipping work. Howard and Travis will spend a day signing covers while the kids and I stamp the sketch editions. Howard will begin sketching and I will begin shipping. This time we’re changing our shipping process. Instead of having a single big shipping day, we’re going to have many smaller shipping days. It will spread out the work and thus lower the pressure, rather like spreading out weight over a larger surface prevents breakage. It is possible that we’ll hate this new shipping method, but we’re committed to trying it this time. I’ve got two teenagers to help me in addition to my regular shipping second in command. I think that the end result will be all the books shipped by June 12th. Which is pretty important because on June 14th Howard and I depart for DeepSouthCon in Huntsville Alabama. If you’re in that area, hope you stop by.

For this Memorial day weekend, I plan to catch up on sleep and watch entirely too much Sherlock.

Pretty Things in Washington D.C.

By / May 23, 2012

One of the things I hoped for in attending the Nebula weekend was to see beauty. There was lots of it, which is to be expected in a city as consciously created as Washington D.C. There was also much consciously created beauty on the night of the Nebula awards. The dressy clothing was a feast to the eye and part of me wishes I’d spent my evening playing photographer. Another part is quite glad I spent my time talking instead.

Nancy and I both dressed up for the evening.

I’ve discovered that I love dresses where the motion of them is part of the beauty. This means that static shots such as this one do not show the dress to best advantage. That top flowed as I moved. It also had the advantage of being incredibly comfortable, always a plus on a high-tension night.

Nancy also posed with other lovely people, such as Mary Robinette Kowal and Sheila Williams.

After that photo, my camera was put away for the evening. However my day touring in D.C. was filled with photography. When I say that D.C. is a consciously created city, I am not kidding. There is attention in every detail. I need to write up a separate post about the monuments, but I was out walking and I would see things like this entrance walkway to the Federal Triangle metro station.
I could just picture carriages being pulled along those cobblestones. I love that the lanterns were freshly painted with black and gold.

Another of the places I went was the botanical gardens, again there needs to be a whole post about why that stop was important to me, in the meantime here are a couple of small pretty things I saw while there.


The bumblebee was quite obliging. He went about his business and let me get my camera mere inches from his head.

I also went the the National Museum of Art, which is completely full of pretty things. I’m afraid I frustrated our docent, though. She rattled of information about paintings to explain their significance and why they were impressive. I kept pausing to take pictures of floors, frames, and random architectural details. In part it was a rebel streak which was irritated by being instructed what to find impressive, in other part, the details were fascinating.
This table was not a work of art on display. It was just a table that had been placed into the room to provide furniture.

Many of the frames fascinated me. They were works of art in themselves, particularly the ones which were obviously custom made for the piece in question.

I wonder what went through the mind of the artisan who made this frame. Was it a sacred commission or just a job?

Even in the most famous paintings, my eyes were drawn to little details.

Everywhere I looked all weekend long there were small beautiful details, earrings, lamps, smiles, curls, flowers, the scent of honeysuckle in the air. Then I came home to my pretty things here and that was good too.

Nebula Weekend and Going Home

By / May 20, 2012

I am at the airport. My Nebula weekend is over and I’m waiting for my flight home. Once I get there I’ll have to unpack my suitcases full of clothes and my brain full of thoughts. At this very moment my brain is trying to do post-convention imposter syndrome where I rethink half of my conversations and decide that people were just being nice to me because they are nice people rather than because I was actually interesting. Fortunately I am too tired for these thoughts to gain much traction. They just start to get rolling and then slip away as I stare out of the airport windows and various memories parade across my consciousness. Keeping a train of thought for a coherent blog post faces similar challenges, so I give you scenes instead.

The keynote speech at the Nebula banquet was given by Mike Fincke who is an astronaut. He’s spent a year in space. He showed us some video which amounted to the astronaut version of home video. However my favorite moment was when Mike stood at the podium and said “We at NASA actually believe every single thing you write. Then we try to make it happen in the real world.” Mike’s tone of voice and demeanor clearly showed that he was in awe of those who write the fiction which inspired him to become an astronaut. At the end of his speech all the writers in the room gave him a standing ovation. To us he was a rock star. To him, the writers were. It showed me the power of ideas and that writing matters.

Neil Gaiman showed up for the event. Once again I did not meet him. He was always surrounded. Perhaps I should keep count of the number of events that we mutually attend where I do not meet him. The truth is that I don’t actually have anything I need to say to him. I just suspect he is a fascinating person to converse with. Rather than futilely attempting to have that conversation, I spoke with people around me and found dozens of fascinating new people and conversations instead. This is one thing that new writers often get wrong. The person on the stage is not the most fascinating person in the room. In fact you’re more likely to find good conversation and career help by talking to whomever you end up standing near. I did not expect to forward any business purposes during this trip. I’m coming home with leads on half a dozen things simply as a result of talking to people. Some of these leads are career related, but I’ve got at least three parenting ideas to apply, new knowledge about care of the elderly which may be helpful for my grandma, and some recommendations about foods. My life is going to be improved and changed in lots of small ways because of conversations at the Nebula weekend.

At one point during the Nebula evening I stood back from talking with people and surveyed the room. Like at the Whitney Award ceremony this represented a chance for me to assess how award ceremonies as events impact me emotionally even if nothing is at stake for me. The impact is significant. There are lots of emotions flowing around the room and I pick up edges of them whether I want to or not. Once we exited the hall, this effect was much reduced. By this morning people had either accomplished what they’d come for, or they’d given up on it. The vibe was much more mellow and relaxed. I spent a leisurely morning wandering around and talking with people.

Next I go home and as good as Nebula weekend has been, that will be even better.

Nebula Weekend Thursday

By / May 17, 2012 / 2 Comments

I expected to make a mad dash through the Detroit airport. I only had an hour lay over. Instead I discovered that I’d landed at gate A74 and my departing flight was at A75. I mozied over and sat down. This left me plenty of time to observe how very different the crowd on the DC flight was from many of my previous flights. There were lots of suits, expensive ones. I tried to play “spot the Geek” to see if anyone on my flight was also headed to the Nebulas. I didn’t see anyone. I keep hoping for a repeat of the fortunate circumstance that landed Howard and I in a seat next to Paulo Bacigalupi during our flight to Montreal. We had a marvelous conversation the whole way to WorldCon. Failing to spot any geek tribe members I spent time watching at least thirty people who were carrying red passports declaring “People’s Republic of China.” I decided they were tourists. I ended up sitting next to a nice gentleman from this group. We didn’t talk, his English was limited. I didn’t really talk to anyone during my flight travel. I spent the time deep inside my own head. Plenty of thoughts to sort there. I also spend some flight time with Calcifer. He is my new laptop, named after the fire which powers Howl’s magical moving and transforming castle. Hopefully this laptop will be the heart of a castle in the sky for me too. So Calcifer and I produced some words.

Virgina has a law where hotels are not allowed to kick out guests once they have checked in. This matters because a large tour group decided to stay for an extra day and half of the Nebula attendees were relocated to another hotel. Nancy and I were among those who’ve been relocated. The Hyatt was quite apologetic and comped the night’s stay along with providing free cab vouchers and free internet. They also ran shuttles after events ended this evening. So instead of being in a Hyatt we’re in the Gaylord. As near as I can tell the Gaylord is a hotel designed to allow rich people to impress each other. The last time I was in a space so consciously lavish was the Casinos in Reno. But Casino hotels feel like a tarnished lavish and this one feels like it means the lavishness. Interestingly, I don’t feel intimidated by it. It is a hotel. I have a bed to sleep in. All is well.

Nancy and I came back to the room early. She is still recovering from jet lag, having come from Germany two days ago. I, on the other hand, am on Utah time. Thus I am blogging while Nancy sleeps and while I wait for my biorythmic clock to decide that sleep is possible.

Word from home is that all is going well, which makes me glad. Tomorrow I go touring.