Dragon*Con 2006

Dragon*con happened. Feet hurt. Voice stripped. Brain sloggy. But I had a great time! At least, I’m pretty sure I did . . .

dire_epiphany and astralfire, in their infinite wisdom, ordered me a backup copier for the Daily Dragon, something I could definitely have used last year. And lo, Copier One died an ignominious and dismal death on Saturday during the wee hours of the morning in the middle of the print run. The Copier is dead. Long live the Copier. lord_darkseid got dude_the up; they tinkered with Copier One, declared it moribund, and dude_the made an executive decision to activate Copier Two without further pokings at its defunct predecessor. They moved C2 into place and resumed the run, all without waking me from my comatose slumber. My staff rocks!

In addition to dude_the, who did his usual amazing job as my assistant director, and lord_darkseid who seems to have, once again, lived in Daily Dragon headquarters this year, a huge THANK YOU goes to sfeley for doing the DD podcast, and my sterling reporters: yukinooruoni, canadiansuzanne, reddherring1955, arkhamrefugee, and those folks who don’t have an LJ: Claire, Charlie, and Matt.

On the Eugie-guest front, my short story marketing lecture for Ann Crispin went fabu. I got chuckles in the right places, and her students seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say, as well as glad to have me there to say it. I did, however, totally drop the ball (or hamster as the case may be) on the handout front. I normally email Ann the handout that accompanies my talk, but this time I’d emailed it to her after she’d already left for the con, and therefore she didn’t have it. When I discovered this, I promised her students that I’d print out and bring them copies of it after lunch. But then, after lunch, a few minor crises occurred, and I promptly forget.

Oops.

So, uh, if any of y’all were paying attention to that section on “networking” I was talking about, and actually come visit this LJ, drop me a comment and I’ll email you the handout. Also, Ann said she’d email it.

My panels went great, although I managed to be late to ALL of them. I think my favorite might have been the horror one on Friday, “Shriek! Finding the Horror in Horrible,” that I had with Sherilyn Kenyon, Holly Black (blackholly), and Cherie Priest (wicked_wish). I actually had the foresight to bring my copy of Tithe for Holly to sign. Fangirl squeeing! And oliver_dale popped up afterward to introduce himself and say the nicest things. The fine folks of Aberrant Dreams also came up to say “hi,” as did Jason Sizemore of Apex Digest. And Jason gave me an Apex mug! It is the coolest mug evah! I recommend that everyone get one. I am taking it to work so that I may have my cup of world domination every day.

My “The Power of the Old Stories: Mythology and Folklore in YA” panel was also jam packed with luminaries. Josepha Sherman was there in addition to blackholly again (I think Holly and I were in three panels together). I was on panels with Jo last year, and I absolutely lubs her. Unfortunately, I was very late to that one (I think there’s some sort of time sink between the Marriott and the Hyatt), and scampered in after they’d finished doing intros and were already discussing topics. Urg. I remain mortified. My two YA panels—one for bevlovesbooks YA track, “So You Want to Write a Kid’s Book?”, and one for Nancy Knights Writer’s Track, “YA and Children’s Literature”—went fantastically too. I got to be on a panel with Brad Strickland! Although I always feel sort of inadequate on the “Write a Kid’s Book” one since I don’t actually have a kid’s book, just short story sales. Meep.

My reading, which I stressed and fretted over, went absolutely great. palmerwriter was there for moral support—and I’m rather bummed that I missed his reading–as were j_hotlanta, rigel_kent, and britzkrieg. And ericjamesstone was there, and he brought three things for me to sign: a copy of Hitting the Skids in Pixeltown, an issue of Realms of Fantasy with one of my stories in it, and my Inspirations End/Still My Beating Heart chapbook. *smooches* Eric. That totally made my day.

Other people sightings include Jetse DeVries, who came by Daily Dragon headquarters to say “hi” and drop off some Interzone and TTA Press swag, Keith DeCandido, who I got to help schedule a reading and signing for, and reudaly at her booth in the Marriott selling pretties. While in the exhibitors area, I also got to meet Frank Fradella (newbabel) who totally amazed and flattered me by calling me over to his booth by name! We had a lively chat and shared our Harlan Ellison experiences (his was, by far, more interesting than mine). And he signed and gave me a copy of Valley of Shadows!

On the see-panels front, I wanted to see the Firefly/Serenity folks, but the stars did not align. I also wanted to catch the Junior Mythbusters, and again, it was not fated to be—especially since they had major mechanical difficulties with their plane and arrived to the convention much later than their original ETA. But I did get to try out the Rocket Simulator . . . which I crashed. Whee.

And on the see-people front, I got to hang out with sara1221 and wave at sruna and pleroma as they flitted by between working shifts for fosteronfilm’s Inde Film Track. I also got to take pictures of all the gorgeous costumes of glenn5 and see elemess out of the office environment (he also walked me from the Capitol to the Hyatt on Thursday, after we discovered the MARTA was broken—which was a good thing too as I wouldn’t have any idea how to get to the Hyatt otherwise). And jackzodiac swung by to say “hi,” early on, and invited me to party with him in the Green Room, but I was too busy to party (wah!) and didn’t see him for the rest of the con. Sigh. D*C is so much my working con. But at least I’ll get to party with him at Mobicon. No working there, all play. *nods*

Dragon*Con happened. I sleep now.

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18 Responses to Dragon*Con 2006

  1. Sounds ab fab, Eugie!!! I would’ve loved to have sat in on your short story workshop. 😀

    P.S. I *want* one of those mugs!!! 😉

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Thanks, Maggie! Y’know, it really is getting easier to do these public talk thingies. I would never have believed I’d ever say type those words just a few years ago. Who knew being a writer would be the thing to alleviate one’s fear of public speaking, huh?

      And yah, the Apex mugs rock hard, don’t they? *squee!*

      • I know what you mean! In a couple of weeks, I’ll be going to Ottawa to do an all-day workshop with *adult* writers, not my usual kid audience. But, you know, I just don’t feel that gut-wrenching fear anymore. It (the fear) really does lessen with time (and practice). 🙂

      • melissajm says:

        Thanks for the con report! Isn’t Josepha fun? Wish I could’ve seen that panel.

  2. keesa_renee says:

    Eugie’s back! :hugs: I’ve got to get to Dragon*Con one day. Sigh.

    ooooh, getting a second copier was so smart!! I seem to remember your post about the copier last year… 😯 Eeeevil things, copiers!

    Glad to have you back. 🙂

    • Eugie Foster says:

      *hugs* I’m glad to be back too! Or at least “mostly” back. My brain’s still at half mast, dazed and blinking from the lack of sleep, the irregular and questionable meals, and the barrage of stimuli I subjected it to, but at least now I can start getting caught up without the humongous specter of Dragon*Con looming overhead.

  3. donovanj99 says:

    Small world

    Hey Eugie. I was talking to my wife about hearing your name again from Vandy Beth, etc, etc, and then she says she recognized your name from some of the writing stuff from Dragon*Con. Wow, very strange. I wish I had found all this out a week ago. It would have been nice to see you at D*C.

  4. airikblade says:

    Dragon*Con

    As one of the students in Ann’s workshop, I can totally back up Eugie’s claim that it went fabu. You rock, Disco Eugie.
    Seriously, though, I do appreciate your making time to swing by and talk to us about short story marketing. It was really helpful and encouraging.
    By the way, I downloaded Sonar, like you suggested. Cool program. Once I start submitting stories, it looks like it will be a huge help in keeping track of everything. So thanks.
    As for the handout, I’d love to have a copy. Would you mind sending one along to bchrisner AT gmail DOT com?
    Thanks bunches, and I’ve friended you. I hope you don’t mind.

    Brett

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Re: Dragon*Con

      Aww, thanks so much for the kind words! I’m so glad you found my talk worthwhile. I’ve friended you back, and a copy of the handout is winging its way to you.

  5. pyanfar says:

    i kept meaning to wander by and say hello myself, but i don’t think i ever managed to set foot on the second floor the entire time. doh. so i missed the con suite, too. doh, again.

    as long as nothing major changes between now and May, i will definitely see you at MobiCon next year, though!

    :o)

  6. newbabel says:

    Hello! Frank Fradella here! Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me at the show. It was such a great pleasure to meet you both. I hope you find some downtime to enjoy the book. 🙂

    I’ve friended you, miss. I hope you don’t mind too terribly. 😀

    • Eugie Foster says:

      Hi Frank! I’m so glad you swung by my LJ. Thank you for the lovely book! I very much enjoyed our chat, and I hope we’ll get a chance to hang out and gab again sometime.

      I’ve friended you, miss. I hope you don’t mind too terribly.

      Of course I don’t mind ! And I’ve friended you back.

      • newbabel says:

        I enjoyed meeting you so very much. I’m already looking forward to next year. We’ll definitely have to put aside some time to chat some more. From this point on, it just wouldn’t be Dragon*Con without it. 🙂

  7. Drat, I’m sorry I missed the Folklore and Myth in YA panel; I would have loved it. Any short tips you can recall? And while you’re busy emailing handouts to newbies, can an oldie, but slow, have one, too? I think you have the address. Mucho bueno!

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