Yesterday we came to Walnut Creek for the con. I was seriously under slept — woke up at 4 a.m. local time, and was going to be programming until 10:45 p.m. Should’ve napped, but I am very bad at napping. Powered through with caffeine instead, and survived, but it was definitely a little rough.
Still, the day went well. Saw a lot of old friends, of course, met new people, taught a few people how to play Terraforming Mars in the break, and participated in two panels that went well.
We got through a lot of really good and thorough information on the submitting short fiction panel, that should be really helpful to the host of new writers in attendance. And we had a complex and nuanced discussion on the writing sexual assault panel, although I definitely felt completely wrung out by the end of it. Tough stuff.
We (Jed, KJ, and I) also taught a few dozen people to sing Creation of Éa at opening ceremonies. I think Alex took a few photos; will post them soon. We weren’t super-professional, but it went pretty well regardless, esp. since our two Guests of Honor at this con (Ada Palmer and Andrea Hairston) are gorgeous singers and were able to carry a third part all on their own, sitting with a mic at the front of the room. Good practice for doing it with a larger group at WisCon; I think it’d help to have a few more lead singers to anchor sections in a larger room. Ideally with mics. And a piano. 