julieandrews | Entries tagged with wiscon

I was worried I'd lose everything I typed in the last one if I didn't post it.

Okay, so, more thoughts.

Books - I bought the WisCon Chronicles and the chapbook thing with the two GOH stories in it at Room of One's Own, along with 2 used paperbacks. Then I got 6 ARCs at Galley Ho. Then I bought a book at the Circlet Press party. And that might have been the end of it, but then I put in bids at the Tiptree silent auction and won some paperbacks that Ellen Kushner had donated. (And a Riker yo-yo, because it struck me as ridiculous, and plus Star Trek.) I also got a rainbow flag at Room, which I haven't seen yet if it survived transport in my suitcase. And a Tiptree shirt. I think that's everything. I didn't get anything in the Dealer's Room this year. Partly because I was conscious that I only had so much room in my carryon luggage (since I didn't intend to check a bag).

Panel - I was on a midnight TV panel. I thought that went pretty well. I totally forgot to talk about Once Upon a Time/Wonderland, but we all know they're pretty awesome, right? I could have gone on about Doctor Who or Sleepy Hollow, but there were tons of panels specifically about them.

Missed People - Kater didn't go! (Booo.) Ellen Klages hurt her back and wasn't there. That was a real downer for a lot of people. Mary Robinette Kowal also wasn't there, and I was looking forward to running into her, since she'll be at the workshop I'm going to in a couple weeks.

Twitter/WiFi - The hotel wifi was suckier than it's ever been before. I would type up a tweet only to be told I was no longer connected to the wifi. It did improve after most people had left, but that's not much help, is it?!

Panels - Panels are awesome.

People - People are even more awesome. I met people I knew. I met people I sort of knew. And I met people that I should have known, if I'd had a better memory. And I met new people. Yay new people! I didn't meet any Clarion 2012 or 2013 people, but I heard y'all were adorable.

Um.. oh, I read the latest WisCon Chronicles on the plane. (Not all of it, but several bits of it) And it's always worthwhile to buy and read some or all of those. You learn about aspects of the con that you didn't experience yourself. Because you are not capable of being everywhere, and because you are not everyone. How you experience the con is always going to be different from how every other person experiences the con. And it can be eye-opening.

So definitely check those out. They're all still on sale from Aqueduct Press, and probably on Amazon.

I mean it when I say random. In the past I've been super-organized, with daily posts, and panel writeups and everything. But nope, you're not getting that this time.

SFRA - I went over to Inn on the Park to see the Tiptree panel. Glad I went over for that. That's the only thing I went over there for. It's a short 5-10 minute walk. The room was AWESOME. It has a 180-ish view of the capitol and the water and whatnot. And it's just quite a shock to find a panel in that room. The layout was odd though. The audience chairs were not centered with the panel table.

Flights/times/whatnot - I definitely think arriving in time to catch the readings at A Room of One's Own is sort of the latest time I want to arrive. Next year I might want to arrive Wednesday. Definitely leaving on Tuesday was a great thing this year. I got to extend the con with random conversations throughout Monday and even at Tuesday breakfast. The afternoon flight out also wasn't full. Though we did get a 1-hour delay because "all flights into Boston are delayed". And the plane wasn't going to be full, but they stuck some airline crewmembers on it and filled it up.

Delta - They charge 25$ for a checked bag, but then when you get to the gate they're begging and threatening you to check your bag (for free this time) because there's no room on the plane for all of them. Such a ridiculous policy. You're just causing more work for your employees at the last minute. And now how do the people feel who paid 25$ to check their bag ahead of time?

Food - Madison is awesome for restaurants and WisCon is awesome for going out to meals with people. And yet I didn't really do that this year (or last year), because the Governor's Club Lounge food is "free" and more convenient, and the consuite as well. I did get to Noodles & Co, because I had that in mind my whole trip there. 'Shuttle to hotel, check into hotel, go get noodles'. We're getting our own Noodles & Co this summer though, so that will be less a thing next year for me. And Keyan and I and someone she knew went to the Spanish tapas place. It was disappointing this year. Only 4 vegetarian tapas, and one was olives (gross), and one was goat cheese (not as bad as I was expecting), and one was sold out (zucchini). How can you not have some form of mushroom thing?! There wasn't even a vegetarian flatbread.

More food - I didn't do the dessert salon this year, and I never saw chocolate mousse in the governor's club lounge! I didn't get any chocolate mousse! Might have to do dessert salon just to make sure I get some. Also it turns out you have to show up for dessert in the lounge at 9pm. They put everything out, and then only take away. They never replace or add. Unlike the appetizers/hors d'ouevres, which they will replace if something runs out. And they love putting booze and coffee in the desserts. Bleh.

Reading - So I repeated what I did last year and wrote my story at the last minute, at the con. Although not all in one sitting. I think I wrote it in 3 different stolen hours. Which is one more reason I did fewer 'eat out' things. I really should write what I intend to read before the con, so I have more time at the con. It was an idea I had been working on, and I tried to use what I'd learned at the Motivation Conflict Uh.. one other thing RWA workshop I attended about a week before WisCon. I think the story is reasonably good, but needs some work. Then I had some panic at the reading, because I was thinking it over and thinking I had been particularly unfair to my trans char for the sake of the main viewpoint char and her character/story arc. But actually I didn't get to that part in the reading. So I can fix it now without anyone seeing/hearing it first. :) I liked that people laughed at my reading. And two people came up to me after to say they liked it. Yay! And it gave me a sense that what I'd written was not just enjoyable, but actually important. (Which is a later theme addressed in the GOH speeches.)

I started my day of travel with a 15 minute walk across the street to the hotel, with all my luggage. (76$ to pick me up at my house, 33$ to pick me up at the hotel. :P )Though I packed light! Fortunately the shuttle was early and I was early, so we left 10 minutes before we were scheduled to. I was very sweaty by that point, because muggy and damp and uphill and luggage.

We hadn't gone more than 10 minutes when we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic. Like, dude! I was expecting that once we got within spitting distance of Boston, not 10 minutes from my house! I hadn't been worried about making my flight until then. When we were still not moving much after 20 minutes, well.. it ended up not quite as peaceful a shuttle ride as it could've been.

At some point the traffic magically cleared. Seriously. There was no reason for it. Just.. poof, we're moving again. Of course we did hit more later on and etc and yay carpool lane. It was a bit after 9 when we got there. I'd been hoping for sooner, but it was okay.

Got my boarding pass lickedy-split, then went to security. Got my bag checked because there was no one to remind me I had stuck a partial bottle of soda in there, whoops. But they didn't blink twice at my ID that's lacking in an expiration date.

Southwest, yadda yadda, I was C16 if that means anything to people. Basically means I was one of the last people to board, so lucky me got a middle seat. But it was over the wing, which I prefer. Got Cheese Nips, honey-roasted peanuts, and a cup of icy Sprite. (I prefer the airlines that give you a whole can.) Normally I don't like Cheese Nips, especially more than.. two. But they were like the best Cheese Nips ever. Altitude will do that to you. Or being awake far too early in the morning.

Midway. Once you leave their restaurant hub and the security checkpoint, there ain't much. So it was a boring wait for the bus. It was a double-decker! I didn't brave the top deck though. They had 2 fours of seats (I've been reading The Killing Moon) with tables and cupholders, so I picked one of those.

You can't really write on said table. You can really type on said table. You can eat on it if you don't mind things sliding. The table shakes more than if I had the computer in my lap shaking with me. It would've had my motion sick before long. And it was just plain annoying. I couldn't stand it. So mostly I read, watched the scenery, spaced out.

An hour and a half after we left Midway, we passed O'Hare. o.O It felt like little to no progress. (We had stopped at Union Station.) So, very long bus ride.

Note for next year!! Leave from Manchester to mitigate the traffic issue. Arrive at Madison if it all reasonable, or Milwaukee if not. Or O'Hare third choice, though Southwest doesn't fly there. Also, move WisCon to Chicago to save us all some trouble. :)

Shuttle from hotel arrived pretty quick. I was afraid they'd all be busy going to the airport and back.

I am checked in. I even have my con badge. The governor's club lounge appetizer that's vegetarian is a chili cheese.. trumpet? And I'm not into spicy. I'm going to have to go scrounge up some real food before I end up in there again for dessert. :)

Did not make it in time for John Scalzi. Might have made it for the GoH readings if I'd hurried, but I didn't want to hurry. Okay. You're all caught up now!

* Finish my project for school that's due tomorrow. :} Half my grade!! Grr.
I did it. 47. That's a 97. That's an A. I hope. Official grade not posted yet.

* Book a shuttle to the airport.
Done. Have to walk across the street to the hotel or spend 43$ extra dollars both ways!!

* Charge up my camera's batteries and make sure there's an empty card in.
Done.

* Read.. what do I need to read? Stuff! I should really read the Jemisin duology for a start.
Um. Yea. Meant to read Heart of Thomas. Didn't even search for it. Started The Killing Moon. Should I bring the sequel on the plane? Too much? They're pretty big books.

* Watch Iron Man 3, or I'm going to be spoiled rotten. Facebook and LJ have already blown up!
Saw Iron Man 3 and the Doctor Who finale. Behind on Game of Thrones. Have not seen Star Trek. And everyone's talking about Star Trek. Grr.

* Watch and/or read some queer anime/manga for my panel?
See Heart of Thomas above. Yea.. not so much.

* Do some Fake Geek Girl research?
Um... yea, didn't do that.

* Eventually... pack.
Still not started.

* Print out travel info, particularly the bus from Midway.
Did that anyway. Yay.

Also, did not get the print version of the trivia book even started. Well, slightly started, but yea.

Also, do not know yet what I'm reading at the OA reading and thus do not have a printout of said non-existent thing. I could ask trivia questions from my book that are quiltbag or Wiscon-related? I have a copy on my ereader, so that might sort of work.

I fly tomorrow! Won't make it in time for the reception, unless I came straight from the union with all of my stuff.

I won't be arriving in time to go to Scalzi's reading. I'm not sure yet if I'll get there for the WisCon readings at A Room of One's Own. Once again I failed to send in a story to get critiqued. One of these years I will be in the writing workshop!

Saturday 1pm
It's Not For Girls II: Attack of the "Fake Geek Girl"
Over the past year, a lot of noise has been made about the terrible scourge of "fake geek girls" roaming through cons, game stores, comic stores, and the like, waiting for hapless male geeks to devour…except no, what? Exactly what "cred" do you need to be taken seriously as a geek and/or fan? Do "fake geek girls" actually exist? Should it matter? Who are the gatekeepers of geek culture? There have also been some excellent internet take-downs of this idea, from blogs to comics, Twitter feeds to Facebook. Let's discuss both the idea of "fake geek girls" and the conversation that has been developing on the topic.

-
I'm moderating this one. I'm glad they moved us out of the 6th floor room they had us in. I think it might be a popular panel! I could be wrong though.

Saturday 10:30pm
Gay & Lesbian Characters in Anime & Manga
Is the Boys' Love genre an appropriation of gay male sexuality, or an expression of female sexuality? Are there realistic series about gay men outside of BL that were written by/for men? What about realistic lesbian characters? Let's talk about the representation of LGB characters in anime & manga—what we've seen, and what we'd like to see.

-
Yea.. I should really do some research for that. Any suggestions? I'm hoping the Tiptree auction ends before this, because I like staying at the auction until the end.

Sunday 1pm
Outer Alliance reading
Outer Alliance is an organization for writers and readers of science fiction, fantasy and horror that advocates positive portrayals of LGBTQ characters. We will be reading from a wide range of fiction that fits this description.

-
Two at 1pm. Guess I can't have any extraordinarily long lunches. Also.. need to write a story for this. Can't read the same one from last year!

I have to leave the con on Monday sooner than I probably actually want to. But what with buses to Chicago and the timechange and not wanting to get home /incredibly/ late at night.. not much I could do. I don't mind missing SignOut and all, but there's an anthology panel I wanted to go to!

* Finish my project for school that's due tomorrow. :} Half my grade!! Grr.
* Book a shuttle to the airport.
* Charge up my camera's batteries and make sure there's an empty card in.
* Read.. what do I need to read? Stuff! I should really read the Jemisin duology for a start.
* Watch Iron Man 3, or I'm going to be spoiled rotten. Facebook and LJ have already blown up!
* Watch and/or read some queer anime/manga for my panel?
* Do some Fake Geek Girl research?
* Eventually... pack.
* Print out travel info, particularly the bus from Midway.

Oh yea.. and write a story appropriate to read at the Outer Alliance reading. Piece of cake.

Addendum: Er, yea.. totally forgot I was trying to get a print copy of my trivia book done. School seemed to be the priority, so I was assiduously procrastinating that.

The LJ/DW sticker post has gone up! Go check it out and add a comment if you want a sticker.

Linky link

The WisCon Chronicles books are just awesome. Bring a piece of Wiscon home with you, whether you attended that year or not!

This year's "will focus on disability issues, disability in SF/F/H, and fans with disabilities."

Go here for the full details!

So this Wiscon I felt like I was always talking to a different group of people! For me, I get all these intersections at Wiscon. Wiscon itself and the people running it, Broad Universe, Outer Alliance, Clarion, people I met in previous years, people I met online (usually _because_ of Wiscon in some way). And this year in particular, I really felt that.

I helped out with Access, though not as much I should have. Though perhaps as much as I could have without feeling stretched extra thin. And I had wanted to attend a panel that was being interpreted, but too many conflicts.

I was on a panel about Broad Universe. Where the panelists exactly numbered the audience members. Except that one of the audience members could've been on the panel. It was a bad timeslot. Not because it was early in the morning or late at night, because it wasn't, but because it was the most crowded timeslot, like, ever. There were a least a dozen other things going on. The panel went well even with the low attendance, and it was fun to talk about BU.

I was on a reading for Outer Alliance. That was well-attended for its timeslot -- the parties were all in full swing. The room felt full, even though there were technically empty seats. I read one of my Clarion stories. Well, part of it.

I went to the Outer Alliance party, but had a panel conflict at the start of it. That also seemed to be going well, as people would stick around for the book giveaways. And I saw many people take the reading list there and at a later panel on YA dystopias.

Speaking of Outer Alliance, Julia Rios recorded several panels (I think all ones I went to!!) for the OA podcast. So if those recorded well, you can look forward to hearing those in the future.

I ran into Emily Jiang, or rather she ran into me, who was in the Clarion class after us. I felt all.. big brotherly.. no wait, that sounds sinister.. but like, I wanted the 2008 class to do really well and enjoy Clarion as much as (I think) the 2007 class did. They were the second class to be in San Diego. So if we were the guinea pigs, they were the capuchin monkeys.

As previously mentioned, I went to the gender variant dinner, despite not knowing anyone! (Tried to convince some people I _did_ know to come, but didn't manage it. Three times I tried!) It turns out I did sort of know some of the people I ate with, from seeing them on panels (or they saw me on one) either this year or past years, or from LJ.

But yea, I'm all brave and extroverted and stuff now. Because I _also_ sat down at a table in the dessert salon with nobody I knew. A whole table of strangers! Met Vanessa, who does horror movies, and later we chatted in the Arisia party as well.

I was generally comfortable joining a group if I knew someone in the group, and would join in if I had something to say. Although a lot of the time, I won't have anything to say, so I might still come off as quiet or shy. It really is just as fun listening to a conversation go on, really! You can learn so much at Wiscon just doing that.

So yea, nice putting faces to LJ names! See if I can actually remember them all now. :}

If anyone I met at Wiscon is following me now and wants me to friend them, I can totally do that. I don't really write friends-locked posts though, so you're not missing anything.

(Note: Please don't anyone feel bad if I didn't mention you by name in this post. I may mention you in a later post. Or not. And if anyone I _did_ name wants their names redacted or altered, just let me know.)

I'm also over on Facebook. Oh no, internet platforms colliding!! It's http://www.facebook.com/juliemandrews. Because I'm that cool.

On the way to Wiscon, I bought a hummus sandwich at the Cosi in the airport. It has leaves of basil on it, which was odd. I would've preferred spinach. I also bought a bagel at DD. The fate of the hummus sandwich -- I ate most of it on the bus, discarded the rest eventually. The fate of the bagel -- turned hard and got thrown out, but I used the cream cheese on a later Starbucks bagel.

I got off at Memorial Union and walked down State Street with my luggage. So to reward myself, I stopped into Noodles & Co and got a pad thai with tofu and a fizzy peach drink. I thought I'd get back to Noodles & Co later, but I didn't. These got consumed in their entirety once I reached the room.

Had a fancy local root beer in the bar that night. Then went up to the Governor's Club lounge for desserts. A strawberry cupcake that was hard and dry and not very good, and a chocolate coffee trifle that was very good. (The con hotel does better with chocolate than other types of dessert.)

Breakfast was also in the Governor's Club lounge. Scrambled eggs (sometimes these seemed to have cheese, other times not), fruit that's mostly melon and pineapple, and various breakfast pastries. (They also have yogurt, cereal, bagels, english muffins, etc.)

I may forget the order of things after this point.

Restaurants

Mirch Masala(?) It's sort of around back of the hotel. I think I ate there last year, but if so, they've remodeled and might be under new management. Ate here with Kimberly, who reminded me we had the ASL dinner together last year, and with people she'd gathered. Some of them were new to Wiscon.

Decided I like (* is a wildcard):
paneer *
* korma
* pakoor (if that's the chick pea batter)
samosas are okay

They serve a buffet earlier in the day, so that might be a good option for some. Someday I will try Indian drinks, such as lassi.

The Fountain

For the gender variant dinner, we ate here. It's really close to the hotel and is probably new this year. It's a burger and sandwiches place, but it has not only one veggie burger option, but two! I had a portobello mushroom, but I could've had a black bean burger. They were a little slow. Our party was about a half a dozen, so not so terribly large. Fortunately its proximity to the hotel meant I didn't miss the start of the Tiptree Auction. Also had sweet potato fries.

Got a smoothie from the farmer's market. Pineapple. Mmm.
Had a free piece of Ian's mac and cheese pizza at the appdev meeting. So I never got into Ian's on my own and got my card punched for another year. Woe. Also, they moved across the street.
Bought a cheesecake chocolate brownie thingee from the Tiptree bakesale. Yum.
Lucked into a fresh batch of popcorn at the consuite once. Got soda and water there on other occasions.

Never had dessert again in the governor's club lounge. Did have breakfast most every day there. Had hors d'oeuvres once. Tortilla chips and black bean dip, veggies and bleu cheese dip, and veggie dumpling things that I didn't very much. Also a Shirley Temple.

Various chocolates from the reg desk or parties. Really knew better than to stick any in my pocket, but did it anyway. I had to throw my mp3 player's earbuds out (they were old anyway) and clean the player as best I could.

Looked at the pasty shop's veggie options, decided I wasn't interested. Failed to find the food cart at the farmer's market that last year had great Thai wraps.

Dessert salon, I had the chocolate mousse, because that's consistently good. Had the wrong shaped spoon for it. The pecan pie thing had a hard crust that wouldn't cut with my fork, so I just ate the topping off of it. Went back later for a chocolate decadent cake thing that gave me a good shot of sugar and caffeine. Not sure if it had coffee in it or not.

I think that was everything. Never enough opportunities to eat at all the cool places. Plus I felt I should eat in the governor's club lounge when I could, since I was paying a premium for the privilege.

Turns out a shuttle from the hotel across the street from where I live is cheaper than the cab to the bus station + bus ticket. So I'll be doing that more often in the future. The downside is no wifi on the shuttle, but it's a shorter trip.

Flying into Chicago and taking a bus from there worked okay. Except that I arrived a bit later than I wanted to and left earlier than I wanted to. Pricewise, it was the right decision. I left the hotel around 9:30am on Monday. I could've taken the 11:30 bus instead of the 10, but it would've cut it close at the airport. If traffic was heavier or the line at security longer, I might've been in trouble. And I would've worried the whole time that I'd miss my flight.

If I do the bus thing next year, I'll probably just pay for the bus when I get on the bus, rather than buying an e-ticket ahead of time. That way if there's a plane delay until the next day, I won't be out the cost of the bus ticket. But seriously, I need to buy plane tickets sooner and just fly straight to Madison. (Well, not straight, there'd be at least one plane change.)

On the flight back, I was across the aisle from a baby. Which was mostly a problem when the presumed father stood up in the aisle to jiggle the baby. At the exact time all the flight attendants and people going to the bathroom decided they needed to walk by. All elbows and butts for like 10 minutes.

Also there was a dentist or oral surgeon a few rows ahead of me and I could clearly see (could hardly avoid seeing) the powerpoint presentation he was working on. Teeth and mouths are gross.

American Airlines is very alienating. I was 'group 3' both times. How I ended up 'group 3' and not 'group 1' or 'group 2', I have no idea. But after they board all the super awesome people who bought super awesome crazy expensive tickets, and the super awesome veterans, and the super awesome I don't even know what, they boarded group 1 like 10 minutes later. Then group 2. Then me. And it's not based on where I was sitting either. You know, load the back of the plane first? No. For 9$ extra, I could've boarded sooner. Screw that. They also want you to pay more for super awesome (not really) seats. Like, the exit row? Hello? Since when was that a prime spot? (I always go for one over the wing, but not the exit row. I can't handle responsibility.)

Also, the chick taking boarding passes was delusional about carryon luggage. She thought my backpack wouldn't fit under the seat, I assured her it would. She said then my feet wouldn't. I assured her they would. Hey, I'm short, my feet don't even rest flat on the floor of the plane. I think I can handle sharing the footspace with part of my backpack. Not that I needed to. She also made me test my other carryon in the metal space-testing thing. It slid right in neat as you please. See, chick? It's fine. The only difficulty was my right arm got tired lugging the bag up the aisle of the plane and then I needed help getting it into the overhead bin. (I had done it fine on the bus.) Books, y'know. Heavy things. :)

American Airlines clearly states on their board while you're waiting to uh.. board, that first class people get a meal. And regular slubs get 'beverage'. And they mean it too. No snacks. And they ran out of ginger ale!

Southwest and Jetblue are definitely my top choices for airlines. Next time I might even pay a bit extra for them.

Lessons learned: Southwest or Jetblue if at all possible. Fly into Madison if at all reasonable. Take shuttle to airport. Pay for buses on the fly, not ahead of time.

Also, I think I'll arrive on Wednesday or leave on Tuesday next year. I haven't decided which.

Books I failed to buy, that I had intended to:

Steam-powered 2 -- Didn't find it in the dealer's room.
Are You My Mother? -- Decided it was too heavy and also that I didn't want to pay full price. Sorry, AROOO!
a & e 4ever -- Intended to buy it from Lethe Press, but they weren't there(!) I saw it at one point somewhere, but then when I realized Lethe Press wasn't there, I couldn't find it again.
Diamond Eyes by aa bell -- I admit I didn't search assiduously for this one.
Courier's New Bicycle -- This is only out in Australia, but since it's on the Tiptree list, I thought AROOO might have it. If they did, it wasn't in the dealer's room. I asked. I never did get over to the actual store.
Legends of Australian Fantasy -- Also only Australia. I didn't ask, since if they didn't have one, they didn't have this. It's older, I think.
Subscription to Cascadia Subduction Zone -- I tried to get a deal, but Aqueduct Press seemed a little thrown by the idea. They had a new checkout system. I'll consider subbing online.

ARCs acquired at Galley Ho! at the Gathering:
Zombie Stories - Kelly Link and a few other people were in it. Otherwise, zombies, meh.
Losers in Space - Had this on my wish list, so score!
I'll Get There, It Better Be Worth the Trip - The 'first' gay YA. I read it recently, but thought it'd be nice to have a copy.
Buffy and the Heroine's Journey
wow, the resolution on this photo is bad...
Vampire ???.. I can't read it. Have to check the actual book later.
?? by Alex Sanchez - An Alex Sanchez I haven't read. (I've only read a couple, so it's not that unusual.)
Shadow Heir by Richelle Mead - This is like book 3 of a series I haven't read, but I like her other stuff.
Seven Princes by ??? Fultz - I walked by this a couple times, then finally got it. I like the title more than anything.

ARC won at Outer Alliance Party, yay!!
Adaptation by Malinda Lo - Yay!!

( More books under cut! More more! )
Yay, books!

Nearly an hour after I left my house, 35.50$ poorer, I am now a 5 minute car ride away from my house. But, hey, free wifi. Anyway, it turns out an airport shuttle is cheaper and while it wouldn't pick me up directly at my house for that price, it would pick me up at the hotel across the street. This bus is more crowded than I'm used to seeing it.

So because I procrastinated and because airlines go under and restructure and whatnot, I couldn't get a reasonably-priced plane ticket straight to Madison. This year I'll be flying into Chicago and taking a bus from there. It's not ideal, but I couldn't justify the ~300$ otherwise. Maybe when I'm rich and famous. Or at least rich. Although if you're famous, it's easy to be rich. Funny how that works.

Have now run out of things to do to take advantage of this free wifi and am contemplating turning the comp off and reading a book on the ereader.

Plan tonight is to get to the hotel by 6ish *fingers crossed*, check in, get some food, and see if Access or any other con department needs some help tonight.

Still don't know what I'm reading at the OA reading, but I printed out two Clarion stories if I fail to write a new story in the next 48 hours or so. Turns out I really gayed it up at Clarion. :)

In other news, I submitted two things to markets yesterday. Should hear back in a few weeks.

While I have your attention, I'll be doing the Clarion write-a-thon again this year. So be ready to support a great writing workshop!

Do you want a livejournal or dreamwidth userpic sticker at the Livejournal party? Say so here.

Also, Wiscon will have ASL interpretation this year! A few more details here. If you have questions, do contact the access email address! Please let any ASL users who are sf/f fans/writers know. Wiscon will also have CART captioning at the Guest of Honor Speeches/Tiptree Award ceremony for the second year in a row.

I've also seen people posting trying to give up and/or share a governor's club room, so if you're looking for a room, there's probably one available. Governor's Club is more expensive, but you do get some free food.

Oh yea, and the schedule is up! I'm afraid of looking to see what I'll be missing Monday as I board a bus for Chicago. :(

Because all the cool kids are doing it, here's my Wiscon schedule:

Friday 9pm - 10:15pm
YA Love Triangles - Cultural Advance or Retreat?
A common theme in popular YA novels, spec fic and otherwise, is the ongoing love triangle—usually one girl who is in love with two boys. So far, she always chooses just one of them. Why is this so popular right now? Does it support at least thoughts of polyamory, or does the average reader refuse to consider that option? Is the love triangle meant to demonstrate conclusively that only heteronormative couples are acceptable? Have any YA writers been specifically working against this trend?

Saturday 10am-11:15
Introduction to Broad Universe
Broad Universe is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror and other speculative genres. Come meet some of our members and learn more about this amazing organization.

Saturday 10:30pm-11:45
Outer Alliance: New Writings in LGBTQ SF/F/H
We'll be reading from recent work featuring LGBTQ protagonists and themes. Outer Alliance is an organization created to combat homophobia in sf/f and provide greater visibility for positive portrayals of LGBTQ/Quiltbag-themed work.

There are people more awesome than me on all of these things, so come check 'em out!

I'm not much of a party person, but I plan to stop in at the Outer Alliance one and the Beyond Binary one. And probably the video one, because watching videos is more my speed party-wise. And if there's a Buffy sing-a-long, I've practiced this year! I know the words!

I have a dessert salon ticket. I don't ever want to miss the Tiptree auction. And I'll probably swing by the BU Rapidfire Reading.

I have some ideas on the YA love triangles panel. Obviously, or I wouldn't have volunteered for that one. But I'm taking recs! I have about a month to read some more.

Know of someone who'd make an awesome Wiscon GOH? Have someone you're dying to see? Nominate!

Instructions on how

If you're going to Wiscon and you have an lj or dw account and want a sticker with your userpic to add to your Wiscon badge, go here!

The awesome Shweta Narayan is co-editor of an upcoming issue of Stone Telling, so if you've got some sf/f poetry, send them it!

That's all.

Things I want to read before Wiscon:

Carmen Dog, by Carol Emshwiller
Steam-powered, edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft
The Secret Feminist Cabal, by Helen Merrick
Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor (I asked for this on librarything and 'won' an arc, but I never received it. So I don't think I own it yet...)
Half-Life, by Shelley Jackson
"Eros, Philia, Agape", by Rachel Swirsky

Man, that's a lot of reading, and I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. I requested at least 2 of the Tiptree honor/long list books through ILL. They should come in this week.

On top of that, I need to read the following for Triple Take before Wiscon:
Turing book, Science of Doctor Who, A Spy in the House, Flowers for Algernon, The Einstein Intersection, and I am J.

I should also make a list of books to buy at Wiscon, so I don't end up buying books I already have and just haven't read yet. Or I could just buy books I haven't even heard of until Wiscon. That might be safer.

It'll be my first time doing Wiscon with a smartphone. I can have lists in my pocket! Er.. wait, I could always have lists in my pocket, couldn't I? Well, um.. yea.

If there's something else I should read before Wiscon, or buy at Wiscon, let me know in the comments!

Current Mood: list-making

I got my tentative assignments. One panel on 'sciency fiction' and the Broad Universe RapidFire Reading. I would've wished for at least one more panel, but.. oh well. I don't remember how many I actually expressed interest in being on. It wasn't too many.

They say it's based partly on bio. I wish I'd known that earlier. I did/do plan to edit my bio, and just hadn't done it yet. I should probably do that ASAP.

More time to attend all the cool stuff!

I'm also on Access, so I expect to be wielding blue tape on Wednesday or Thursday.

Must. Buy. Plane Tickets.

But I just filed my taxes like 10 minutes ago, so that's enough accomplishment for one day.

Do I also want to do the writing workshop? I never manage to sign up for that in time.

Today is the final day to sign up to be on programming, to create a reading, and to indicate interest in attending specific panels.

You don't have to have a paid membership for this year's Wiscon to have a look at the panels and mark which ones interest you. You _do_ have to create a (free) account.

Even if you're just curious in what sorts of panels get suggested for Wiscons, or this Wiscon in particular, well, now's your last chance to check it out! Some of them are going to get cut as the programming people hammer out the schedule.

http://syndicated.livejournal.com/wiscon_news/21851.html

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Wiscon 36 Con Report - Food Edition

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Things to Read Before Wiscon

Wiscon Programming

Wiscon Programming Signup Ends Today!

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May 2014

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