Diversacon Report

This was written over several days and posted at facebook. Diversacon is a small local con with interesting programming, full of people I really like.

I stayed at Diversacon only a few hours -- to have lunch with friends, attend one panel and be on another. Then I went home and bought The Hostage Prince by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple via nook. I've read one chapter. So far, so good. I will now settle down and read more. Tomorrow I have two panels, so will be back at the con. I enjoy this business of dropping in to conventions, then going back to my own home to watch a DVD or read.
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I spent six or seven hours at Diversacon yesterday. Very pleasant, though I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone I wanted to. I was on two panels and attended a couple more and spoke with a number of people, including the GoH Jack McDivitt. A very enjoyable, quiet convention.

Then I came home and watched a DVD. Today I feel tired and slow, due mostly to a poor night's sleep. But slow is not bad. I will hang around home and do a little reading and watch a DVD tonight.
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Nice things at Diversacon, other than seeing nice people... Russell Letson said he had been thinking of reviewing Big Mama Stories, but discovered three other Locus reviewers had already signed up to review it. My friend Ruth Berman told me her favorite Big Mama Story was the Brer Rabbit one. "The others are fun, but that has heart." It's the story I like the best, but what makes me happy is the various reviews I've seen have all picked different stories as their favorite.

I am talking rather too much about Big Mama Stories, but I am always a bit worried after something I have written comes out. Is it any good? Will people like it? I have said for years that a writer needs a cast iron ego. Unfortunately, I don't have one. I just have the ability to keep trucking, in spite of my doubts. In addition, I really like the Big Mama stories -- I guess because they are in many ways silly, the way tall tales are. Silliness can be a lot of fun. It also can go badly wrong. Serious is easier to pull off. As the man said, "Dying is easy. Comedy is difficult."

For me the master of silly is probably P.G. Wodehouse -- a wonderful stylist with almost perfect pacing, and I have never been able to find any content in his work, except for silliness and style.