WorldCon 2011 -- Day 5

And so we come to a close.

Short day today. Only went to two panels. Again I find myself writing this post way too late (despite finishing the con early today), and so I will be writing only briefly about things. I'll probably do a series of posts during this coming week about some more general observations from the con. But for today (tonight? to-morning?) I'll keep to my pattern of reviewing panels.




"The Nooks and Crannies of the Publishing Business" or some title like that. Good panel. Good panelists. First time I got to see John Scalzi (except for a brief moment at the Tor party when he passed Brandon Sanderson and Brandon gave his epic nemesis cry of "SCALZI!!!") Certainly first time I got to hear him speak. Very knowledgeable fellow. Very different perspective on fandom and the industry in general due to his coming to it from a professional base rather than a fanatical one. (I know, I know, I'm getting off topic. Scalzi is just a character that I've found intriguing for some time. That's all.)

Anyways. Lots of Q&A at this panel. Discussing rights, and taxes, and agents, and all kinds of things. Most of the attendees were already making money selling their work, but I wasn't the only unpublished aspirant in the room, so that was nice.

Um...yeah, not much to say. Took lots of notes.

After the panel, I met up with my friend Brian who I met earlier in the week and we hit the dealer's room one last time. Found Brandon at the Schlock Mercenary booth, so I bought the Mistborn books in hardcover from them and had him sign them. (So happy to have these signed in hardcover now; even happier that I got them signed in person, rather than through his website.)

Bade farewell to Brandon. Headed out into the main hall with Brian, where we chatted a bit about our publishing aspirations and confirmed that we had each other's contact information before saying farewell for now.

Side note, apparently a lot of people leave the con early on Sunday. It's true that there's not a whole lot of programming, and I understand that people have work on Monday, but still...surprised me.

Anyways, skipped most of the panels I was considering today, just because I wasn't ever devoting myself to going in the first place. Today was kind of a day filled with last-minute whims.

So I went to the Chicon 7 panel as my last event of the con. What a better way to end it than looking forward to the next year, eh?

For any and all of you who might be reading this and have grown at all interested in attending a WorldCon (whether as a result of these reports or by your own motivation), I want to say one simple thing:

Attend. This. Con!

Seriously, I cannot recommend the experience highly enough. It has been amazing and I am already looking forward to next year (as I mentioned in this tweet). Yes, it does seem a bit expensive at first glance, but not prohibitively so. Especially if you plan ahead and manage things right.

I'm probably going to do a Con Survival Guide 101 here in the next couple of weeks just to give some initial reactions and insights that I've gathered as a first-time Con-goer, so hopefully that'll answer some questions. But if you have any questions, concerns, or reservations about possibly attending a Convention in the future, please send them my way because I would love to alleviate your fears so you can join and enjoy this amazing group of people called fandom.

Okay. Pitch over. I'm sure I'll bring it up again as registration deadlines draw closer. But for now I'll let that rest.

Chicon 7 panel was excellent. I'm really glad I went because it included a lot of logistical details that I would never have thought to ask about. Not much else to report on that, though. Again, took notes. And again, already looking forward to it. It's going to be awesome!

And so we come to the end. Tomorrow morning I'm getting up to fly back to St. Louis. And then I pack up to drive up to school on Wednesday. Thank you for joining me vicariously on this journey. It has been a bit of an overwhelming whirlwind, I'll admit. But it's also been one of the most fulfilling things related to my work that I've ever participated in.

Thank you, WorldCon 2011. Thank you, Renovation.