Welp, I have signed up to attend FogCon, which will be the first con I will have ever gone, too. I am most excited,* especially as I will be doing a reading and participating in a couple of panels.
My schedule for FogCon:
Saturday, March 31
9-10:15 a.m. – I shall be doing a reading with Alyc Helms and Norm Sperling. (Have no idea what I’m going to read yet, though.)
4:30-5:45 p.m. – Panel: You Are Not Your Rejection Slips
Sacramento Room
Learn techniques for coping with the inevitable ups and downs of a writing career. How can you maintain a sense of self-worth after a hundred rejection slips? How do you handle the feelings of being simultaneously the most brilliant writer ever and the biggest pile of s*** in the field?
Moderator:Â Â Â Cassie Alexander
Panelists:Â Â Â Andrea Blythe, Gabrielle Harbowy, John Joseph Adams, Christie Yant
Sunday, April 1
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel: Loving Something Problematic
Salon B/C
Most of us have at least a few books, movies, or TV shows that we love that are also problematic in their depiction of race, gender, class, or something else. How can we be fans of these things while still acknowledging their flaws? How can we discuss the flaws in these works without incurring the wrath of devoted fans?
Moderator: Liz Argall
Panelists:Â Â Â M. Christian, Andrea Blythe, Carolyn Cooper, Nalo Hopkinson
I am superbly nervous about being on panels. I think I have enough to say about each topic that I won’t sound like a total dunce, but we’ll see how it goes.
Learn more about the various panels going on here.
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In other news…, I have been doing things.
Orlando, FL – My work trip for my day job went well. Saturday was spent lounging by the pool, getting some sun, drinking cocktails, reading, and generally being lazy. Sunday it rained all day, but it was that lovely warm tropical rain, so my coworker and I still went down to the pool. We went for a swim in the rain, had some cocktails, and spent the rest of the day generally being lazy.
So, the vacation part of the trip was successfully vacationy and the work portion at the exposition was also successful. I made a lot of good contacts and my boss seemed pleased when I reported back.
Cirque du Soleil: Totem – I took my mom to go see the Cirque last night under the big top. It was dazzling and awesome. Amazing costumes and performances, feats of strength, twirls through the air, and so forth. I won’t try to describe the amazing trapeze artists or the cup tossing unicyclists. (As a side note, the only thing that lessened my enjoyment was the obvious appropriation and over simplification of indigenous cultures for the sake of entertainment. I suppose it’ll give me something to talk about at the “Loving Something Problematic” panel.)
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*I shall get to check something off on my massive list of goals! For joy!