Keycon 2010

I opted to go only to the Sunday of Keycon, since I wasn't in the art show and I don't have that much money (I did, however, buy my pass in advance for next year, so i wouldn't have this issue.)

This may have been a slight mistake; Keycon isn't usually a guest heavy con (usually 2 authors, 1 artist, 1 fan guest. I count six authors, one editor, one artist, two fan guests, one media guest, and a toastmistress. That's THREE TIMES as many...) and moreover, doesn't generally get people from the business end of writing in the non-guest listings (well, Canadian SF magazine editors sometimes). So I'd thought my main interest in the guests would be getting the lovely Nalo Hopkinson's autograph on books, and hearing authors talk in panels.

This year, they had Sheila Gilbert of DAW as a major guest. Also, Virginia O'Dine of Bundoran Press (A legit Canadian small press, but so new that their entire line-up is four novels by three authors, and one anthology). And what looked like at least two other small novel presses represented mainly in the dealer's room. Saturday, there was a pitch session, which netted at least one friend of mine genuine interest, albeit in a project she hasn't finished. (Huzzah, anyhow, crowdog66. I guess the next cheer is, "Now write!")

I got to the autograph session, and as well as talking to Nalo and another mostly-aspiring writer, I got into a conversation with the also charming Julie E. Czerneda, starting with my comment that the cover and title of her first book sold me on it completely (Which is true; the book was a decent read, albeit too much in the amnesia trope, but not one that caused me to want to own it or make me seek out her next ones. I've periodically considered the latter based on others' remarks about being her fans.) It continued into somewhat more writerly talk. When she asked me if I'd sold anything recently and I got to say yes, she asked me to e-mail her so she could let me know the next time she's editing an anthology. (Small squee - I admitted that i can't often write short stories to order - If I could, the Disco Dracula thing would be done - but that I've had luck sometimes matching theme with something already done, which is true; my first ever sale back in 2000 (This one) was from doing just that. So were some of the more polite and useful rejections.

I also made it to a kaffeeklatcsh with Ms. Gilbert, though, who was friendly and open to the lot of people, and I don't think I said anything dumb (Well, I TOTALLY pimped Jim C. Hines' recent first novels poll for the other aspiring writers as a source of fact vs. fiction info on what you "should" do. But the one other person who'd looked at it was right with me. I also ended up pimping Goblin Quest to someone else afterwards, with the utterly true statement that it's a book I've pushed on several of my friends, to the point where I still haven't my copy back.) However, I didn't put myself forward to her. MY friend Chris Q., an artist looking for more cover work, did so at the end of the kaffeeklatsch, since in the kaffeeklatsch, he was slightly outnumbered by writers :). It sounds like results were fabulous for him.

I then - thanks to my husband having managed with last-minute notice to get me a printed copy of the darn thing - entered the opening page to Bird of Dusk in the Writing Idol, with three editors (not Sheila Gilbert, alas - she commented that while she'd been asked to appear, it has been very last minute) and Robert J. Sawyer. The reader (author Hayden Trenholm, also a voice actor) was to read the first 250 words of a project, and the panel was to raise their hands where they'd stop reading if it came in through the slush (It would stop dead early if three people did), and discuss why they did so (Or didn't, as the case may be). This included seeded openings to novels by Ursula K. le Guin, China Mieville, George R.R. Martin (Sawyer raised his hand instantly on this one, on the basis that the first line, "The Dead man was coming", could be read two very different ways.), Stephanie Meyer (People will be glad, no doubt, to hear that it got voted down very fast), and Danielle Steele, whose opening line was actually decent, though it got awful very quickly. (One person said it was better than the le Guin one, which was rambling about jellyfish).

I don't think it was remotely a true slush-off; all the entries were in grammatical English, and the worst contenders were mainly a case of overuse of cliches.

Bird of Dusk made it to the end, with two hands eventually raised against it. There were two major critiques - one which would have been answered if the reader had read just two words into the next paragraph, which forced me to practice the all important lesson about biting my tongue and arguing with the editor. (I'm amused to note, doing a word count, that he stopped reading at word 243, not word 250).

The other, too many characters in the room, was legit, but I thought I couldn't do much about it based on the rest of the novel, and it wasn't a dealbreaker for most of them anyhow.

This morning, I woke up knowing how to fix it. Yay!

(Now that we're done with flooring for today, that's my next project)

Anyhow, I did another panel (On living with a writer, by the spouses of writers, which made me appreciate my husband yet again; though almost everyone there *currently* had a spouse/SO who was supportive in some way.) Then hung around and talked with some friends upstairs in the consuites. Then walked home for dinner, and back afterwards, to find and hang out with friends until the filking could start.

Well, actually, since the Aurora Awards ceremony ran even later than expected, I ended up after a time working on the synopsis for Bird of Dusk, and at least making some progress. Then congratulating the artist who won and chatting with a photographer from Calgary I met at World Fantasy.

But we eventually sang and played the rest of the night away. I heard a lot of work, familiar and new, that was quite worth lingering until 3 AM. Dave Clement is always a treat, Lana was in good form, and Wolfgang, who I last saw in a music circle at Folk Fest 2008, has made huge strides of improvement.

I also had two moments that felt positively triumphant: First, I got through Death on Hennepin with mandolin without faceplanting - that song, as I admitted, can't be sung, at least well, without getting right into a particularly powerful headspace. As in, my hands were shaking a bit and I had to take a couple of minutes to 'come down' from it afterward.

But I also sang the Three Wolfen Sisters for the second time in front of an audience, and had someone request either the music (which I haven't ever written down, and is mostly a case of taking a Swedish folk song and warping the melody enough to fit a new scansion) or a recording, audio or video (we don't have the equipment. I'd actually like sometimes to do a recording of what i sound like, so that I can hear the mistakes I'm making as they sound from the outside.)

I also had a couple of weaker moments, mostly due to breath control not being what it should (Missed too much choir), but I generally felt I wasn't making a fool of myself, and the company was altogether worth it.

Overall, definitely worth being there for the day, and I mildly regret not being there Saturday, too.

Keycon 2010

I opted to go only to the Sunday of Keycon, since I wasn't in the art show and I don't have that much money (I did, however, buy my pass in advance for next year, so i wouldn't have this issue.)

This may have been a slight mistake; Keycon isn't usually a guest heavy con (usually 2 authors, 1 artist, 1 fan guest. I count six authors, one editor, one artist, two fan guests, one media guest, and a toastmistress. That's THREE TIMES as many...) and moreover, doesn't generally get people from the business end of writing in the non-guest listings (well, Canadian SF magazine editors sometimes). So I'd thought my main interest in the guests would be getting the lovely Nalo Hopkinson's autograph on books, and hearing authors talk in panels.

This year, they had Sheila Gilbert of DAW as a major guest. Also, Virginia O'Dine of Bundoran Press (A legit Canadian small press, but so new that their entire line-up is four novels by three authors, and one anthology). And what looked like at least two other small novel presses represented mainly in the dealer's room. Saturday, there was a pitch session, which netted at least one friend of mine genuine interest, albeit in a project she hasn't finished. (Huzzah, anyhow, crowdog66. I guess the next cheer is, "Now write!")

I got to the autograph session, and as well as talking to Nalo and another mostly-aspiring writer, I got into a conversation with the also charming Julie E. Czerneda, starting with my comment that the cover and title of her first book sold me on it completely (Which is true; the book was a decent read, albeit too much in the amnesia trope, but not one that caused me to want to own it or make me seek out her next ones. I've periodically considered the latter based on others' remarks about being her fans.) It continued into somewhat more writerly talk. When she asked me if I'd sold anything recently and I got to say yes, she asked me to e-mail her so she could let me know the next time she's editing an anthology. (Small squee - I admitted that i can't often write short stories to order - If I could, the Disco Dracula thing would be done - but that I've had luck sometimes matching theme with something already done, which is true; my first ever sale back in 2000 (This one) was from doing just that. So were some of the more polite and useful rejections.

I also made it to a kaffeeklatcsh with Ms. Gilbert, though, who was friendly and open to the lot of people, and I don't think I said anything dumb (Well, I TOTALLY pimped Jim C. Hines' recent first novels poll for the other aspiring writers as a source of fact vs. fiction info on what you "should" do. But the one other person who'd looked at it was right with me. I also ended up pimping Goblin Quest to someone else afterwards, with the utterly true statement that it's a book I've pushed on several of my friends, to the point where I still haven't my copy back.) However, I didn't put myself forward to her. MY friend Chris Q., an artist looking for more cover work, did so at the end of the kaffeeklatsch, since in the kaffeeklatsch, he was slightly outnumbered by writers :). It sounds like results were fabulous for him.

I then - thanks to my husband having managed with last-minute notice to get me a printed copy of the darn thing - entered the opening page to Bird of Dusk in the Writing Idol, with three editors (not Sheila Gilbert, alas - she commented that while she'd been asked to appear, it has been very last minute) and Robert J. Sawyer. The reader (author Hayden Trenholm, also a voice actor) was to read the first 250 words of a project, and the panel was to raise their hands where they'd stop reading if it came in through the slush (It would stop dead early if three people did), and discuss why they did so (Or didn't, as the case may be). This included seeded openings to novels by Ursula K. le Guin, China Mieville, George R.R. Martin (Sawyer raised his hand instantly on this one, on the basis that the first line, "The Dead man was coming", could be read two very different ways.), Stephanie Meyer (People will be glad, no doubt, to hear that it got voted down very fast), and Danielle Steele, whose opening line was actually decent, though it got awful very quickly. (One person said it was better than the le Guin one, which was rambling about jellyfish).

I don't think it was remotely a true slush-off; all the entries were in grammatical English, and the worst contenders were mainly a case of overuse of cliches.

Bird of Dusk made it to the end, with two hands eventually raised against it. There were two major critiques - one which would have been answered if the reader had read just two words into the next paragraph, which forced me to practice the all important lesson about biting my tongue and arguing with the editor. (I'm amused to note, doing a word count, that he stopped reading at word 243, not word 250).

The other, too many characters in the room, was legit, but I thought I couldn't do much about it based on the rest of the novel, and it wasn't a dealbreaker for most of them anyhow.

This morning, I woke up knowing how to fix it. Yay!

(Now that we're done with flooring for today, that's my next project)

Anyhow, I did another panel (On living with a writer, by the spouses of writers, which made me appreciate my husband yet again; though almost everyone there *currently* had a spouse/SO who was supportive in some way.) Then hung around and talked with some friends upstairs in the consuites. Then walked home for dinner, and back afterwards, to find and hang out with friends until the filking could start.

Well, actually, since the Aurora Awards ceremony ran even later than expected, I ended up after a time working on the synopsis for Bird of Dusk, and at least making some progress. Then congratulating the artist who won and chatting with a photographer from Calgary I met at World Fantasy.

But we eventually sang and played the rest of the night away. I heard a lot of work, familiar and new, that was quite worth lingering until 3 AM. Dave Clement is always a treat, Lana was in good form, and Wolfgang, who I last saw in a music circle at Folk Fest 2008, has made huge strides of improvement.

I also had two moments that felt positively triumphant: First, I got through Death on Hennepin with mandolin without faceplanting - that song, as I admitted, can't be sung, at least well, without getting right into a particularly powerful headspace. As in, my hands were shaking a bit and I had to take a couple of minutes to 'come down' from it afterward.

But I also sang the Three Wolfen Sisters for the second time in front of an audience, and had someone request either the music (which I haven't ever written down, and is mostly a case of taking a Swedish folk song and warping the melody enough to fit a new scansion) or a recording, audio or video (we don't have the equipment. I'd actually like sometimes to do a recording of what i sound like, so that I can hear the mistakes I'm making as they sound from the outside.)

I also had a couple of weaker moments, mostly due to breath control not being what it should (Missed too much choir), but I generally felt I wasn't making a fool of myself, and the company was altogether worth it.

Overall, definitely worth being there for the day, and I mildly regret not being there Saturday, too.