(Deliberate homage to E. R. Eddison, A Fish Dinner in Memison, for the title)
So I’m thinking big thinky thoughts about the past Orycon. I had a good con, with my first significant participation in panelage there and the first time for Orycon’s Writer’s Workshop as a critiquing professional (I’ve been on the other end at Orycon and a critiquing pro at other cons). Good stuff all around, even with a few glitches.
Of course, it didn’t hurt that the news about Alma Alexander’s River anthology earning a Finalist slot for the Epic Awards came out just before the con. Or, at a panel with Ken Scholes, where Ken and I both had the happy moment of mentioning stories and had audience members suddenly squeeing about the Kewlness Of Teh Story.
The other piece, though, was that many of the panels I participated on had an eager and intensely satisfying audience participation, more so than panels I’ve been on before at other cons. A function of the con attendance? Co-panelists? I’m not sure. But at the end of each panel I felt like (and tried to remember to do it) applauding the audience for their participation was entirely appropriate. I like panels much better when we hit that freewheeling riff between panelists and audience. We had good energy fairly consistently and that is something that requires both sides to make it happen.
I also had good barcon time, yakking with friends and fellow writers.
What was meh for me, for the most part, was party time. Oh, I had good conversations and I met some friends I hadn’t seen for a long time. Nonetheless, I’m not sure if it’s me or what, but the parties just didn’t pop out. Probably just me as I think some parties got livelier later on in the evening, after I’d gone home for the night. I’m now an old lady who needs her down time, I guess.
But…there are some other Big Thoughts that came out of discussions and a certain particular incident at that con. I’m not really ready to share those yet, except for a couple of nibbles.
First of all, maybe I really DO need to find a way to articulate how my particular perspective differs from a lot of my day job professional peers with regard to disability, coping strategies, and attitudes toward difference and othering. Some of these thoughts sharpened during the panels on “Geek v Nerd v Freak” and “When does a society stop being civilized.”
That whole thing about “what is ‘civilized'” is also a big thought.
I also had to defend my choice to go indie from someone who told me he viewed indie pubbers as scabs. The analogy….doesn’t fly for me, especially looking at the power dynamics. I want to write more about that.
Finally, I really do need to make more time for writer socialization and interaction. I don’t do enough of hanging out with my writing tribe, and it does affect how I think and process. I feel like I’ve finally fought my way out of the cobwebs of the nastiness of the past year or so. Sadly, I don’t get the same sort of positive jolt from my day job, even in parts of it I’m passionate about. My perspective is just different enough that I find myself keeping quiet and–well–I’ve got to do some thinking.
Off to write now.
