Nobody, darnit

Oof. I wore down after like an hour. Possibly because I rushed down here just in time for my workshop where The Blood Rose was ripped apart. I think my favorite advice was from Leah Cutter, who said I should keep the omniscient parts of the narrative serious, and keep the snark for the characters. I suspect that's another ding against my failed attempts at voice. Everyone hated Bree and loved Ianto. Everyone pronounced Dann's name differently than me. (I say "Dan" they say "Don") Everyone loved the worldbuilding but wanted to know what Hell was doing open to earth. Basically, they confirmed worries I've had, and gave me ideas for new ways to go and what things to focus on.

It was awesome, but it drained me. Then we went to a panel, and then on to the small press party, which was of course loud and crowded. I barely knew a few of the people, Keffy had been to Rainforest two weeks ago with a bunch and was on embracing terms.

And yet again we come to me wishing I was better at making small talk and conversing with people I barely know in ways I don't feel embarrassed by. I kind of babbled to Caitlin Kittredge.

So now Keffy's still at the party, and Chelsea and I are in our room, happily being introverts together. She's crocheting, and I'm about to write.

Amendment, Keffy just walked in the door. :-)

Today was the day we rounded up the members of our workshop and did a take 2. I'm grateful everyone was willing to do this, and I never cease to be amazed at how helpful pros can be. They're not required to help anyone, but they do. I got a lot of great feedback from jaylake and L. Timmel Duchamp and all the others in our group. Their advice combined gave me ideas that might help me solve some of my worldbuilding problems.

Specifically, Jay started to get too many references in the first paragraphs of my secondary world story -- was it a Celtic analogue, a Norse one, a Mayan one? It was suggested that if I started with a detail that has no real-world equivalent -- in my case, the poly family structure right in the beginning, then people would start out knowing that they can't compare my world to anything in ours, and anything goes. Which is as it should be.

It was also suggested I whack oxen with something bigger than a little felt ball.

Then, Fate dropped upon me a free birthday present for Keffy. And possibly something a little less free for Chelsea...

I had my first embarrassing cell phone moment when my dad (the only person who ever calls) called when I was watching a panel. I went into the lobby to talk. As it turns out, the panel was about bio and cybernetic enhancements, and Dad told me that now that he's had cataract surgery, he doesn't have to wear glasses anymore. (Tangent. My dad looks pretty much exactly the same now as he did when I was born. He's a little paunchier, a lot greyer, but dude. It's creepy. So now he's gone and grown a beard and rid himself of glasses. Farewell, innocent image of my eternal father. End tangent.)
He also told me

***KEFFY DON'T READ THIS LINE!!!*** He was awake for the surgery.

I had a conversation about trans characters in sf/f, and it sounds like Juri may be a first. There's plenty of gender-switching characters, but none who have that neurosis of being in the wrong body. Here's to seeing if I can pull it off.

The most exciting thing of the day, though, was playing Betrayal at House on the Hill, which is an insane game where you explore a haunted house until one of the players goes crazy and starts throwing monsters at everyone else. There are fifty different scenarios which could be played out. The betrayal isn't supposed to happen for a while, but for us... it happened literally on the first turn. Everyone died almost immediately, and things looked grim. But it came down to me, and I single-handedly killed the Demon Lord.

And now I'm pooped, having had several long, drawn out final showdowns with that Demon Lord.

Ok, Foolscap report.
I went with kehrli, whose first Foolscap this was. (It's my third). We stayed with the gracious awritersweekend and bsdotrand and their enormous dog, their enormous cat, their slightly less enormous cat, and their sad goldfish which seems to have too much air in it.
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Writers Weekend Report, Part 2
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