(I meant to put this up right after the con, but … oh, well, better late than never.)
More or less in chronological order:
1. Sitting in the Governor’s Club Thursday night listening to Ellen Klages tell stories and having chocolate martinis and flourless chocolate cake.
2. Friday’s panel on “Cultural Appropriation,” which was excellent.
3. The dealer’s room, where I scored big: Nisi Shaw’s Tiptree-winning Filter House, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu’s The Shadow Speaker, Ellen Klages’ The Green Glass Sea,Ursula Le Guin’s latest, two of Australian writer Sylvia Kelso’s titles, and a couple of nonfiction titles for research. It’s a good thing I drove to the con; if I’d flown, I’d be paying a fortune in over-weight baggage charges.
4. The Haiku Earring Party, with sockpuppets (not the Internet kind; the kind that are hand puppets made out of socks). I did not attempt a haiku, as I have the writer’s equivalent of a black thumb when it comes to poetry, but I enjoyed everyone else’s.
5. Doing the Saturday Farmer’s Market with my jeweler friend Jules. It sprinkled, off and on, but it was warm, so we didn’t miss having an umbrella toomuch. I had a hard time passing up the plants, but they’d never have survived six days in the trunk of my car until I got them home.
6. The woman who was giving out chocolate to panelists. You rule!
7. Sneaking out to the yarn store with Beth, where I managed to resist two sock yarns, a multicolored lace-weight, and some gorgeous heather sweater wool, but succumbed to the third sock yarn and a lace-weight yarn in winter hues called “Crazy Woman.” (It’s to make a shawl for a friend! Honest!)
8. The panel on “Kick-Ass Moms in SF,” which has expanded my to-read list AGAIN…in a good way. It was more of an audience discussion than a panel, and everyone really got into it, which was a lot of fun.
9. The Sunday panel on “The Rules” (of writing), which was loads of fun to do, and (I hope) informative, too.
10. The Desert Salon and Guest of Honor speeches. I always end up sitting at a huge table with maybe one person I already know and seven or eight strangers, which turns out to be a really good way to meet new people.
For future reference, the hotel has a number of umbrellas you can check out. When I headed out Saturday morning it was raining substantially so I borrowed one, though by the time I returned it was down to just a sprinkle; just ask at the front desk.
Good to know!
It wasn’t actually raining when we left the hotel; by the time it started, we were two blocks away. Not that I’d have thought to check at the desk anyway-I never remember to do that, no matter how many times people tell me.
My cousin posted a comment on a previous entry and told me about it so I decided that I’d comment too. I read. A lot. My mom says I read too much, but some people say that’s not possible. I loved the Enchanted Forest Chronicles! I’m reading Sorcery and Cecelia right now. I would have finished it ages ago, but I’m borrowing it and my cousin kept forgeting to bring it to me. I’m going to be an author oneday. Well, I’m sort of already one. I shouldn’t say ‘going to be’ because I already write.
I just want to say thank you so much for writing books! Can you imagine if there were no authors in the entire world? I’d die! I definitely need my books! Do you read a lot?
I’m glad you liked the Enchanted Forest Chronicles so much! Thanks.
Every author I know reads a lot. My Mom used to get mad at me because she’d have to call me three times for dinner. I didn’t hear the first two times because I was reading. But it was her fault, really. She’s the one who made sure we all had lots of books!
Would you be willing to share some of the titles/authors you got at the “Kick-Ass Moms in SF” panel?
Sure…as soon as I find where I put the list.
you guys sound alot like me I read books constantly Im even reading one right now! anyway, i have a question, do you create the title for your books before you write them or is it at the end?
Yes. That is, sometimes, I have a title right from the beginning (“Talking to Dragons” was like that-it started with the title). Sometimes, I give a book a provisional title because I can’t think of anything, and then work out something better when I’m finished. And sometimes, my editor hates whatever I came up with, and we negotiate something new that works for both of us.