July 2:
Brian Thao Worra is doing a poetry reading tomorrow on the theme of giant lizards. He felt he was short of poems, so I wrote one, beginning it in the hotel lobby while watching at car ad that featured a happy, white, middle class family going to the beach. So the poem is about a happy family at the beach and giant lizards.
This is not going to end well for the family.
July 3:
I spent much of the evening at CONvergence. 6,000+ people is too many people. Every communal space was way too loud, full of excited young people. Some of the costumes were fantastic. Many were okay. The giant lizard poetry reading went very well. I then listened to a panel on made-up languages. Ruth Berman was on the panel and enjoyed it. I was not crazy about it, but maybe I was tired and ready to go home. So that's my con report.
My giant lizard poem went over well. People laughed at all the right places.
July 4:
As I went to sleep last night, I thought about what I'm going to wear today. I am still considering, though it doesn't matter. The only way to stand out at CONvergence is to be covered with flashing lights. The range of hair colors is amazing. No one can notice my stylish blue. There are ladies in corsets that push their breasts up under their chins. There are young women covered with jingling metal. There is purple hair, red hair hair, blue hair, pink hair. There are high heeled boots to die for. I would die in them, crashing down like a felled tree. So I will wear my modest New Balances and a nice outfit that no one will notice, except me.
Anyway, one more day at the con. I plan to clean house on Sunday, rather than going back. The commute across the Metro Area is too long. My panels today are Psychological Survival for Writers and Georgette Heyer. These are two separate panels, though Heyer is one way of coping with setbacks in one's writing career. Both panels are full. I think I will try to lean back and let other people hold forth.
In spite of my reluctance at the start of cons, I really enjoy them. I can feel myself coming out of my post-Wiscon funk, which lasted a long time this year. CONvergence is the perfect way to recover from Wiscon: a hotel jam-packed with costumers, oohing and aahing each other. And in among the costumers, friends...