I missed having a late lunch with
The internet panel was with Jeff VanderMeer. Of the 'big blogs' his is the one I've followed, pretty much since it began. And my friend
The what's up with Connie and boats panel was charming and the room was packed. And halfway through we realized that no one wanted to hear us talk. They wanted to listen to Connie, for the most part. So short of the occasional poke, we just let her talk. Nothing could have been more heart-warming than seeing her after a couple of years and getting a big hug. And then she denied knowing me. I had put excerpts of her works through Wordle to see if any of her 'themes' showed up, but they didn't. The words that were largest were the character names, which is as it should be. I got to say that I had met her first at a dinner in Scotland where she talked about renting coconuts at the castle where they filmed 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail.' And I got to play her straight man a couple of times. The other two panelists were the charming Jim Freund (Hour of the Wolf) and Doug Fratz.
So that was Friday, though I stayed up after that chatting with
Sat breakfast with klingonguy, his roommate Eric, and later,
Weatherdude came to keep me company on Saturday night and to hear me read in the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading. I haven't read aloud in 15 years to an audience. Alas, it sounded like it. It was fine that he was there, but I would have preferred to be brilliant. Luckily, no one else I knew was in the audience. The other four readers were just grand and for my first time reading in public, the most supportive and wonderful folks you can imagine. And then Weatherdude and I went to the author mass signing session and to a wedding reception, where we talked to many, many people.
Sunday morning was breakfast with Connie and Courtney because I had wanted to link Courtney and Weatherdude for years, both physicists in their own right. Along with politics and Your Government In Action, it was a lively discussion. No gossip, sorry. And not about genre at all. Srsly, it would have bored my readers to tears had they been there. They would have had to fix a frozen smile to their face and nodded as if they were following the discussion, all while consuming buffet breakfast food.
The rest of Sunday was more hallway conversations and a sit down with Peggy Rae where I learned much about what's up in the DC area, such as the Nebulas! I volunteered to research a tax issue for her. This was a really fun discussion because she knows everyone, whether they're backstage or onstage or inbetween, like me.
Whew. Driving home was relaxing, though I was aggravated at the Sunday drivers who were, ahem, going the speed limit on I-270. Who does that?
Frog Out