On Sunday morning I had a bit of a bet with VP alum Eric Griffith that I couldn't get up at 7 AM and haul my ass into the con for the first 9 AM panel. I didn't quite get up at 7 but due to a fortuitous ride into the Palais des Congrès, I did make it into my panel. I was feeling a bit hoarse in the morning, but chalked up the scratchy throat to all the shouting at the party the night before.
How Not to be a Jerk Online (Cat Valente, Kate Nepveu, John Scalzi, Michelle Kendall)
I think I mostly know how not to, but having not had a whole lot of experience with moderation and large communities (given the <100 comments on this blog) I found a few things quite interesting. I now understand that there is a difference between livejournal and other blogging communities, due to comment-threading and other community aspects of the site. Other good tips were on how careful one has to be if one has a following not to appear to be siccing said following onto others who have a difference of opinion with you.
Science for SF Writers (Julie E. Czerneda, Alison SInclair, David Clements, David D. Levine)
Mostly about resources available for researching the scientific aspects of SF. But I did get to chat briefly with Ms. Czerneda afterwards and ask her a question about pitfalls of amnesia stories (near and dear to my heart given my current WIP), which was cool since my Kafeeklatsch with her got canceled on Saturday (or rather, it was never on, but the Con staff hadn't been informed so had put out the signup sheet anyway. Oh well. I got what I needed so all's well that ends well.)
Author Reading (Daniel Duguay, Frank Roger, Mary Robinette Kowal, Tony Pi)
Lots of interesting work read here but the treat for me was getting to hear Mary Robinette Kowal read her Hugo-nominated short "Evil Robot Monkey".
Writing for a Living (Cat Valente, Howard Tayler, Mandy Slater, George R.R. Martin)
Very interesting to hear the perspectives from authors with wildly differing career tracks.
Kaffeeklatsch - Jay Lake
Technically I wasn't signed up for this one but as one VP alum had to bow out due to illness, the 2 others roped me into taking her place (which I wound up doing in more ways than one, cough cough). Jay Lake's a really interesting guy and I just boggled to find out he can write 2500 words an hour, in hunt and peck mode on a keyboard. I've really got to get my word count up.
Economics of the Star Traders (James Alan Gardner, James Cambias, Steve Miller, Larry Niven)
I was starting to be more bothered by my cough and ducked out of this one to find lighter fare.
Introduction to Klingon (Lawrence M. Schoen)
Not the best session to go to if one is nursing a sore throat. Was really coughing after this one.
I didn't go to any more panels as I'd agreed to meet my VP friends for an early dinner so we could all attend the Hugo Awards presentation. I was really looking forward to the awards because I'd taken the time to read quite a few of the nominees, had voted for the very first time and really wanted to see who won. However, during dinner I started to really cough up a lung, and feel very achey. By the end of the awards ceremony I was feverish and decided to skip the afterparties (so choked!).
And, it then turns out this was the end of the Con for me, because I woke up feverish on Monday and decided not to spread my con crud even further. A Tuesday visit to the emergency ward when my fever spiked produced an H1N1 scare (ie, doctor says "you likely have H1N1" even though he did no throat or nasal swabs). And thus, the rest of my vacation (we were in town for some family festivities later in the week) became a complete bust as I wound up in self-quarantine and all festivities got canceled.
That said, what I did see of Worldcon was a blast and I'm definitely looking forward to my next one. The panels were excellent, the workshop was incredibly useful, and the parties rocked (even though I missed a few).
I have now added one more checkmark in my list of geek creds. Oh, and VP rules!
