A Week’s Worth of Insanity

Actually, it’s a bit more than a week. Things started at Stellarcon last week. It was great fun and a great convention. I got to spend a lot of time with Aaron Allston and Timothy Zahn, which is always a pleasure. Not only do I love their writing, but both men are very sharp, and have killer senses of humor. Truly killer. I still bear bruises from some of those puns. I got to see a lot of other friends there, too (Hi, Bill, Zeynep, Rich, Vicki, Pamela, Allen, Steve, Regina, Doug, James and Tera…) and just had a wonderful time. I even read my latest story, Chance Corrigan and the Tick-tock King of the Nile. I’ll be reading it again, this Thursday evening, in Second Life, as part of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. (Details to follow.)

The only negative on the whole convention experience was that the hotel’s wifi, while free, was very spotty. Reminded me of the early days of dial-up—back before there was a web per se. Downloading podcasts for the trip home took forever and in one case only worked when I used my iPod Touch to snag it from the lobby (using the restaurant network) before I left.

Conventions generally mean a lack of sleep, and Stellarcon was no exception. I hit the ground midday Monday after an uneventful series of flights back to Phoenix, had lunch with friends as I wended my way home. Tuesday I headed to downtown Phoenix to meet a photographer for an art project that I’ll blog more about later. From there I wandered over to the Sheraton to meet Dr. Fayneese Miller, Dean of the College of Education and Social Services at my alma mater, the University of Vermont. I’d never met Dr. Miller before. She turned out to be a very charming and intelligent woman. We chatted about all sorts of stuff and during the conversation she mentioned that she enjoyed swing dancing.

It was Tuesday. I go swing dancing on Tuesday nights, so she changed her shoes and headed out with me to go dancing. That was a brave choice, since I was driving. Not that I’m not a responsible driver. I am. But you never know when you hop into a car with someone for the first time if you’ll make it to your destination. We did make it, however, caught the last half of the lesson, and had a good time. When I dropped her back at her hotel, she noted that the “Alumni contact report” she had to fill out would definitely be unusual.

Wednesday was perhaps the most normal of days, so I got work done. Ditto Thursday morning, but then I reported to the doctor’s office for a physical. I’m fine, save for blood pressure high enough that if I bled on Mount Rushmore the four Presidents would be juiced enough to start chattering away like TV new analysts. (I do think they’d make more sense, though.) After that I dropped by Heather Hill’s photo studio for some new pictures. Then dinner with friends and a lousy night sleeping (the food was delicious, but consuming carbohydrates late in the evening generally results in my sleeping poorly).

Friday resulted in more work, and then a meeting with Jose Granados and Doug Kondziolka, aka Don Juan and Miguel, a nationally renown act from the Arizona Renaissance Festival. I’ve known the both of them for years, though this was the first time we’d met outside the festival. Time flew as we chatted about all sorts of things. The two of them have succeeded in building on the base offered by Ren Faires and expanding their available income streams. Their model is one I think all writers would do well to study and emulate. They are wonderful entertainers, and writers need to get back to identifying themselves as entertainers. Once we make that mental transition, we will be better able to spot and exploit opportunities to make a profit.

While it was chaotic and nuts, it was a good week. Here’s hoping the next one will be a bit more orderly, and even more productive.