What If?

Last weekend, I attended Demicon, a science fiction convention held in Des Moines, IA. While there, I gave 5 panels and 1 reading. So far, readings have not brought me loads of fans, but I don’t think I’ve ever given a reading where nobody has shown up, so those who do come get a taste of my writing style.

The panels were better attended. As I explained to the audiences as each panel broke up, I generally like to introduce a subject, and let the ‘talk’ turn into a discussion. In that case, the audience members might participate as much - or more! - than I do, although I will attempt to guide the conversation from time to time. I really like that formula, because being an introvert, I tend to sit at my computer for long periods of time, and that can lead to thinking in a circle... no new ideas. But when I get other people lending their thoughts and knowledge to a conversation, I wind up with a whole batch of new (to me) ‘what if’s to ponder.

One of these discussions was on planet building. This subject is not just for science fiction; I have one fantasy universe set on a world with 3 moons. But we tended to compare our ideas to situations we’ve heard about within our own solar system, and when the talk moved to dwarf planets, I mentioned that one of the dwarves living out beyond Pluto is not spherical, as the definition states, because it spins so fast, it has flattened itself. That brought up the question, what if you had an actual planet, roughly the mass of Earth, but also spinning so fast that it is flattened quite a bit. Would the gravity be different at the equator than the poles? What an interesting idea! Of course, nobody had an answer for that.

The side subject of moons - If you don’t have a relatively large moon, you probably won’t have tides in your oceans - brought the question, if your planet had rings like Saturn, would they exert enough gravimetric pull to effect your tides? Another stumper! If I had been giving out prizes...

These particular questions both came from James C Hines, who poked his head in the door half-way through this panel. I invited him to join us, without realizing who he was. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put a name to the face until the talk was breaking up. Thank you, James. I now have specific questions to pose to my brother-in-law, the astrophysicist.

Every sf writer should have access to an astrophysicist.

Post Convention

I apparently fall apart the day after a convention. I sleep until noon, or there-abouts, even though I know sleeping so long will make me feel crappy when I do get up. And sure enough, I get up with a splitting head-ache, a body that wants me to eat anything in sight (I can’t do that anymore), and a desire to mark the day a complete failure and crawl back into bed - which I’m pretty sure would not help.

Why do I do that? I’m not positive, but I’m thinking I am trying to make up to myself for spending 3 days at a convention. Don’t get me wrong; I LIKE conventions. I like costumes and shopping in the dealer’s room, attending panels. I even like giving panels, when the panels are of my choosing. Hospitality suites have become something of a no-no, because the convention’s finances often dictate that they are full of candy, chips and other things I should not be eating (no matter how much I want to), and few of the types of things I can eat without guilt. I’ve started taking my own fruits and vegetables to help me get through the weekend.

Still, much as I like conventions, they are 3 days spent in fairly close quarters with lots of people, when - as an introvert - I am only comfortable interacting with one or two at a time. [So if you see me at a convention, and you try to get my attention but can’t, it’s probably because in order to maintain my sanity, I ignore everybody but the one I’m talking to, or the item I’m looking at.] Even though I take breaks during those 3 days to ‘hide’ in our room (as my hubby says), I am still worn out after the con.

Just to complicate things, I also spend those 3 days trying to semi-keep up with my extrovert hubby, as well as take care of my own things. When will he need to get into costume and have his makeup applied? And how can we fit that around my schedule of panels? Inevitably, when I have a break and am looking for a late lunch, he’s already eaten (probably with friends) and suggests I go check out the Hospitality Suite - where all those no-nos are. The same can be said for supper, a lot of times. By the time I get home from the con, my meds have been skipped more than they’ve been taken (because I need to take them with food).

So. That all gives me some ideas on how to hopefully avoid this Monday-morning reaction to conventions. First, get up at a decent time and try to treat it as a normal day; if anybody is at home with me, it won’t be more than the younger son and the dog, and they tend to leave me alone; take a short nap later if I’m still tired. Second, take charge of my own well-being at a con. If hubby has already eaten, or isn’t ready to eat, I’m perfectly capable of going to a restaurant myself. I’m a grown woman, and this inability to cope punishes me. Not eating regularly and not taking my meds regularly threaten my health. Not getting up at a decent time deprives me of that day’s writing time.

I deserve better than that. Right?

Constellation Report 2014

This past weekend, John and I attended Constellation in Lincoln NE. I had a blast, more fun than I’ve had at a con in years, probably because I was feeling better than I have in years. Still, when we got home Sunday evening, I was too tired to write a blog. And today, I tried to catch up with some things, which took way longer than I thought it would. So I decided this week’s blog would be an edited version of my daily journal entries from the weekend:

4/25/14, Friday - got up around 8. John had said he wanted to leave around 1 pm, then at some point in the morning, he said that in order to get on the road by 1, we should probably leave the house around 11:30, to give us time to go the Credit Union and have lunch. That gave me time to print some things for panels. My first panel was 6 that evening, Exoplanets, and although the group was small, and my notes only produced a half hour panel, I think it went pretty well. I took my blue wig off before the end of the hour, it was sliding around on my head so much. If I’m going to do any costuming, I’ve got to figure out how to put on a wig properly.

4/26/14, Saturday - got up around 7 feeling good. After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, went back to the room and watched tv for a time while John was on the computer. Made John into a Klingon for the day, then went downstairs for my reading. An audience of about 6 (numbers are growing!) and at least one of them took notes on where to find my work! Again, about half an hour of reading, but I stretched it out a bit by talking to the audience about the types of books they like to read, favorite authors and so forth. Then down to the basement for my panel on alien archeologists digging up Lincoln NE and needing help figuring out what some of the items they had found were. Not a big audience, but once they understood the concept of ‘audience participation’, I think they had some fun. Again, need to find more items, as I ran out of pre-thought items, and was drawing random items on the white board, in order to get past the 1/2 hour mark.

4/27/14, Sunday - had a harder time getting up this morning. John got me up at 8, and I told him I needed another hour. That extra hour did help. When I got up, I finished packing up, then went to the con suite in search of breakfast so I could take my pills. By then, the elevators were overflowing with people trying to check out, so I walked up to our room, thinking I heard John below me in the stairwell. John had given up on elevators, and started taking suitcases to the car without a cart. Smaller items were all that was left, so I started taking them out into the hall. Couldn’t carry them all at one time, but thought I could move them down the hall towards the stairs little by little. Then John showed up and took most of it to the car, while I took my stuff down to the basement to wait for my next panel time. Bought 3 books from Tyree, and it sounds hopeful that he’s going to publish Cali. ‘First Americans’ was, again, a smallish audience, but I managed to get some comments out of them. Again, need more material, only lasted half an hour. The next panel in that room never showed up, so people wandered in and out, and everybody farbled their way through the hour. Then my last panel - Dissecting Dragons. HUGE audience! Filled up all the chairs in the room, and then some. Lots of audience participation, lasted 52 minutes (thanks to the audience participation), and many people told me they had enjoyed it.

A great weekend, for me.