WFC Roundup 2009

Usually I feel driven to rush home after WFC and write a post about everything I did and everyone I saw. Not so much this year. Not that it wasn't a great con, because it was, but I think because I'm more balanced this year than I have been in the past. For the last few years I was miserable in my daily life and absolutely ecstatic in my con life. Now, my daily life is pretty good. Not perfect, certainly, but the range between Tuesday morning commute and Saturday night con party is much less than it used to be, emotionally.



Also, I've learned not to drink as much. I just really hate trading most of the next day for a decent night. And I don't really trust myself to not be an idiot while drunk. So even though I was staying up until 2 most nights, I was in fine mental and physical shape each day, and getting back to work has been a breeze. I don't know if this means I'm settling into being a boring person, or if I'm just not that into lying in bed with a killer headache and wondering what I said to whom the night before. *shrug* Call it business.



But it was WFC, and there was business. Couple things I'm following up on that might lead nowhere, but I'm excited.



For those of you wondering what con you should go to if you're a young hopeful, let me give you some stats. At WFC I met my agent and the editor who bought my second book. I can trace both of those contracts back to, respectively, a conversation at Tor's party in Madison and a breakfast in Calgary. Business gets done. Maybe once you're established the other cons become more important for the doing of business, but I haven't gotten to that point.

Of course, the most important thing that happened in San Jose was that I got to meet Colin Peters, whom I've known for years online and never thought I'd see because of the whole "he lives in Japan" thing. But he's on temporary US assignment in San Jose, so we got to shake hands and drink beer and, you know, be human to one another. Non-electronic. It was marvelous.

Anyway. Next year is Columbus (OHIO!) so I'll be able to drive down and actually buy all the books I want rather than just the three books I can stuff into my bag. And maybe this time around I'll try to get on some panels. Sure. That could happen.