I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Monday, October 22, 2007

Cons for Fun and Profit (but mostly for the fun)

Via all around cool guy, Dave Kletcha, comes Diana Rowland's How to Network at Conventions. This has been a topic of conversation the past year among several people I know. Diana (whom I don't know, yet) does an excellent job of summing up the major points. It's also been on my mind as I gear up for World Fantasy.

The most important point, IMHO, is her second bullet, "Have Fun and Make Friends." Yeah, howdy, hallelujah, sell it sister! I was a complete idiot at my first con (World Fantasy in Madison, 2005, I hereby appologize to everyone I was a dick to). Now that I've gotten over myself, and embraced this concept, I enjoy cons a whole lot more.

Cons are really fun places, even bad ones. If you write or enjoy any genre that holds cons (SF/F/H, Romance, Chick Lit, etc) you owe it to yourself to try one out. One good place to start looking for SF/F/H cons is the Locus Magazine Convention Lists. Not all cons are listed every year, but most cons have websites and you can check previous year lists and click on the websites to see if they're continuing.

2 comments:

Camille Alexa said...

And anyone coming to OryCon 29 here in Portland, OR next month, look me up. I'll buy you a drink. For serious.

Wish you could make it, Steve.

Steve Buchheit said...

Camille, I'd love to visit the Pacific NW again. I had a week in Seattle visiting a friend back in the 90s and I loved it.

Unfortunatelty I'm saving up for next year's World Fantasy in Calgary.