Eugie · Foster's · Self-Indulgent · Musings

Dragon*Con is over, and I feel like I've been hit by a Mack truck while hung over, a particularly sad state of affairs because nary a drop of alcohol passed my lips for the whole convention. I also forgot to take my Imuran three times and once walked the sixteen flights of stairs up to the (17th floor) Green Room--after waiting fifteen+ minutes for the elevator--on top of the regular stress/no sleep/poor eating habits of the convention. So I ache and I've got a low grade fever. Blah.

I'm still processing the weekend, and have lots to catch up on work-wise, so this will be briefish.

There was much that sucked about this year's con, most of which were things that I had no control over and could do nothing about--such as the Marriott doing renovations and knocking out half a hotel's convention space for D*C07, the rent-a-crap printers and copiers that made my job that much harder, and the Internet situation in 219 which necessitated that my computer not be networked with any of the others, leading to beaucoup version headaches and having to transfer all DD files using USB thumb drives. But I also dropped the ball on Friday, not getting the DD hardcopy printing before I left to do my guest talk for Ann Crispin's workshop, making it come out very late. My fault, and I can only plead brain spasm, as I forgot that I needed to get it running in the AM and only realized after I got back that Friday's edition isn't on the same timeframe as the rest of the issues.

There was also much that was great about the con, mostly to do with members of my staff. arkhamrefugee and dude_the did their usual awesome job, and also canadiansuzanne, reddherring1955, and Debbie were fabulous. Buckets of huzzah go to sfeley and cunningmix for putting out the DD podcast. And what possibly saved me from totally padded cell/strait jacket losing it, first-time staffer, noelleleithe's efficiency and skill, as well as her good humor and great attitude. I've had . . . problems with layout people on my staff before. So much so that I've sworn never to use one again. But when I heard noelleleithe's credentials, I knew I had to give it one more go. And gawd am I glad I did. She rawks and rawks hard. Not only could she do the layout professionally and quickly, but she's also a sharp editor, even at 3AM.

I also particularly enjoyed doing my talk for Ann this year. I think, after several years now, I might have it down now. And I also enjoyed my Saturday reading. Both surprising as they involved me doing solo talking.

But yah, Mack truck, feeling pained and feverish, and much work to do and catch up on. So that's installment 1 of my D*C '07 experience.

And also, the rumors of me reducing an ex-gunnery sergeant staff person (not my staff) to tears are vastly overstated. I did no such thing, although I was insistent and undoubtedly somewhat terse with him.

I did, however, forcibly evict several people off an elevator to make room for a guy in a wheelchair (edited to add: unrelated to the above ex-gunnery sergeant rumor). I probably could've handled that better--with greater politeness and poise--although I have no regrets on the end result. So yes, my fuse was short, and I might've gotten more ranty and rude than is my norm. But I didn't make anyone cry, much less a gunnery sergeant . . . I don't think.

   
Writing Stuff

Published:
- The audio reprint of "The Snow Woman's Daughter" is now up at Escape Pod. Read by the lovely and talented cunningminx.
- Anthology Heroes In Training, edited by jimhines, with my story, "Honor is a Game Mortals Play" is now out. And you can read more about the authors (including me) at Jim's Blog.
- This month's Writing for Young Readers column: Juggling Hamsters: Tips for the Busy Writer.