So I attended Worldcon 76, in San Jose, CA. It was my first Worldcon; the last one in my neck of the woods was Reno in 2011, and I was not in a good enough financial space to go to that one.
All in all, I enjoyed the experience, but as a baby writer whose book is not even out yet, it was … interesting.
I quickly learned that most of the writing craft-focused panels were not for me. They were saying things I already knew. The sort of “theory”-based panels were much better, though I didn’t make it into a few of them due to overcrowded rooms. C’est la vie.
I learned late on Saturday that the head of my publisher was in attendance, and I tried to arrange a meet, just to shake his hand and say hi, but we weren’t able to sync our schedules and get a minute. Ah well, there will be other chances.
I attended a panel titled “The Revival of Space Opera,” which included among the panelists my Viable Paradise instructor, Teresa Nielsen Hayden. I wanted to go talk to her at the end, but I didn’t feel like fighting my way through the press, and assumed I’d be able to find her somewhere else. Sadly, I didn’t, so I didn’t get to talk to her, which I regret. Teresa’s one of my favorite VP people.
I did learn that going to a con with my pre-teen daughter is difficult. Tegan is 10, which presents a problem: the child-focused stuff was too young for her, and she’s not old enough to go hang out with teens yet. So she spent much of her time being bored, though she did attend her first panel on her own at one point, and enjoyed that. She felt better once her mom arrived on Friday evening, though daughter spent Friday night visiting her Bay Area-based cousins. Tegan really wants to be my “assistant” if and when I ever do signings and the like, but I think we’ve both decided she’s not ready for that yet. We’ll see what happens as she gets older.
What I really enjoyed the most about the Con was visiting my tribe members who came to Worldcon. Through Beth Morris Tanner, who seemingly knows basically everyone in the SFF field, I also met Karen Osborne and Mary Anne Mohanraj, both of whom were delightful and I hope to see more of in the future. I didn’t get to talk to all the people I wanted to, but that’s the reality of Big Social Events. Dinner with my VP crew on Saturday was a high point, for sure. Let me tell you, if you’re ever in need of some great SFF anecdotes, K.G. Anderson is the person to sit with.
I’m delighted that most of my Hugo votes were for the winners, and I gladly give my congratulations to all the winners, even the ones I didn’t vote for.
Now it’s time to get ready for the school year to begin, and keep plugging away on the writing projects I have going right now.