I had a blast today. So much so that summing up is hard. I started the morning by having breakfast with Ron Serdiuk, Pamela and Diana Rowland. Conversation ranged from Diana’s stories about living through Katrina to vampires as lovers and the problems inherent with that. ((They’d be cold. Ick))
I trotted off from there to the SFWA booth in the dealer’s room. Now I know this doesn’t immediately seem like “fun!” but it actually was. I got to hang out with John Scalzi and then later Jay Lake, two of my favorite people.Plus I met all sorts of new folks who dropped by the booth to pick up one of the anthologies or find out where the SFWA suite was. ((Sheraton 3654, sixth floor, shorter building.)) I don’t know, I just like chatting with folks and this was an easy way to do it.
Alethea Kontis and Evil Ed made sure that I had lunch, because I had to go straight from there to my signing. Since I don’t have a book out, I took a stack of anthologies that I had extra copies of to give away to the people in line. The strategy seemed to work well. One person came to chat, because she knew me. The people in the line next to me, perked up win they heard “free anthology” and popped over to my line. So, yay! New people reading my fiction.
I had a little downtime with Doselle Young, while I tried to get my stories printed for my reading. FYI the business center in the convention center was really great, but the Kinko’s in my hotel — while the staff was nice — is crazy-overpriced. $2.50 just to open a file. Not even to print it.
The reading was a lot of fun. Scalzi and I alternated stories. I had picked one to open with and then let the audience pick the others based on their first lines and titles. It was interesting to see which ones they gravitated towards. I also got to read the first chapter of the Sagan Diary for them. I love this book and made Scalzi cry, which was gratifying. In all fairness, we both teared up.
Had dinner with David B. Coe, Doselle Young, Alethea Kontis, David Louis Edelman, Misty Massey, Evil Ed and Eric James Stone at a sushi place. Mmm… sushi. I spent the rest of the evening in the bar. Made a sale. Oh, and the funniest part of the evening was when Paolo Bacigalupi saw my folding keyboard. His expression was like a cross between a kid with a new model train and Gollum with precious. I’ve been warned that he may knock me down to take it later.
All in all a good day.
Presently trying to find someone, anyone who will be simulcasting tomorrow night’s ceremony online. Fast Forward’s doing videos but they’re canned and uploaded later. Or even anyone who’s willing to call me right before they give out the Campbell and hold the phone out so I can listen. (Man, I am pathetic.)
It sounds like you’re having tons of fun, and you deserve to!
Hi Mary,
I just friended your LJ – I hope that’s okay! It was great to meet you, and congratulations again on the win. The tiara sits well upon thy brow. *grin*
Misty, it was wonderful meeting you as well. I’ve friended you back. And thank you for letting me know what your LJ handle was.
Hi Mary,
Denvention was my first SF Con, and your session was my first RealLiveAuthor reading. Talk about setting the bar high! Thanks for the excellent hour and congratulations on the award.
Thank you! I hope we were gentle on your first time?
Reasonably so, although I’m not sure the words Scalzi and gentle are often heard in the same sentence 🙂 I was still suffering from author awe in general when I saw you at the Tor party or I would have thanked you in person. I was heckled mercilessly for the extremely uncharacteristic lack of nerve.
Aw. Scalzi is a total gentlman. Albeit, a crazed one, but still.
Next time, I trust that you’ll say hello?