Conestoga 11: Day Three: Sun.
It’s been a great weekend. We had breakfast in bed, delivered by room service. I was surprised there wasn’t an exorbitant charge for room service. Oddly, as much time as I spend in hotel rooms, I’ve never ordered room service when I’m paying the hotel bill.
I’m much more extravagant when I’m spending a man’s money. There is really only one reason to go to a hotel with a man. Wrong. It’s to be pampered.
We caught another Laurell K. Hamilton panel. It seems that the Anita Blake series may have been the forerunner of the paranormal romance lines that are currently so popular. One thing that struck me about the panel’s remarks was the recurring theme that publishers tell an author there is not a market for their material.
Readers are looking for something new and extraordinary and the writer that offers a change will have an audience. Some readers get attached to formulas and balk at change. You can’t please all readers, so don’t even try.
The most exciting thing I discovered this weekend, from the Academia and SF panel, is that Steven E. Wedel is teaching science fiction at a local high-school. College professors have included science fiction books as required reading for years. Suzzett Haden Elgin stated that her Native Tongue is required reading in many college’s linguistic courses. When she taught, she used science fiction books in her own linguistic classes. Other members of the panel have used science fiction material in women’s studies, literature, history and even science and math courses. But it’s great to discover they are using science fiction as a part of a high-school curriculum.
Miss Elgin talked about a creative writing course she taught. Her students were assigned to write an entire book in sixteen weeks. She insisted they hand in one chapter every week and they had to complete the book in order to pass the course. What a nightmare. Wish I could write that fast. Dion and I decided that we are going to use that time frame for all first drafts. Let’s see how long it last.
I sat in on a panel about organizing Science Fiction conventions. I think I volunteered for World Con when it comes to Kansas in a few years. I’ve volunteered at a couple of SF conventions in the past, and of course I’ve got a lot of experience working on writing conferences.
All in all it was a great weekend. I had Hot Sex, it’s a drink, at Susan Satterfield’s drive-by party. I learned a few new writing tricks from authors like Laurell K. Hamilton, Robin Wayne Bailey, Elizabeth Moon, and many, many others, saw some fantastic art by artist like John Picacio, David Lee Anderson, and a talented lady, whose name I’ve forgotten but I will recognize her work the next time I see it and I’ll let you know then, got to hear some wonderful readings, and spent a lot of time with some of my favorite people.
I wish I could have attended every session, met every author, artist, and musician, attended every party, and said hello to every attendee. I wish I had the powers of that X-Men character that can make unlimited copies of himself, for no particular reason, and then they all go back to being one person. Then I’d never miss anything. That would be a right good thing.
