Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Wow...where do I start?

I knew going in that this wasn't your usual fan-based or genre-based con (such as Worldcon, Readercon, FOGcon, etc.). I wasn't going to see silly panels debating Bradbury vs. Asimov, or filk sessions, or cosplay contests, or things such as that. Put it this way--this was a work conference for writers, agents, and publishers. In that respect, I'd prepared myself to think about the conference as part of my writing career: a way to think seriously about it, ways to improve it, and more importantly, a way to reach out to others like me who are in the same boat, no matter what professional level they're at.

My first social impression is that the people at the conference here were amazingly friendly. Complete strangers would scan my badge (they deliberately made the first names large so people could read them quickly) and would say hi as they walked by. I'm not the most social person out there--I'm more of a quiet observer than a chatterbox--but this openness definitely helped me open up myself. Within an hour I'd had a good handful of short conversations with others. Additionally, many of the people loved to ask each other what they were currently working on, so it was fun to bounce ideas off random strangers.

It also helped that quite impressive breakfasts and luncheons were offered on Friday through Sunday. Fitting about five hundred or so people into the ballroom meant that there would be about eight to a table, so it was hard to ignore the people next to you as you touched elbows with them. I met a few very nice people, young and old, during these luncheons and the conversations were always fun.

The panels (or "classes") were very well run...very much like any other con, they had a few available per hour that you could choose from. Most ran for about 45 minutes which gave you a good fifteen minutes between panels so you could make it to each one with quite a bit of time to spare. They had a few tech people on hand to jump in at a moment's notice if there were any problems with the audio and/or video--that alone was impressive, considering I always felt most cons didn't have enough A/V people. Which reminds me--all of the panels were recorded for posterity, and I could order copies if so desired. I don't think I've ever been to a con that's done that.

The crazy special part--the "Speed Dating with Agents"--was probably the most nerve-wracking-yet-fun thing I've ever done related to writing. It's exactly what it says: you get in line for a specific agent you want to talk to, and when it's your turn, you have three minutes to do your pitch. Well--given that I hadn't really done a professional pitch like this before, I did what I could not to go down in flames. It did help that all the agents were super nice and willing to listen and had nothing but positive things to say, even if they weren't interested or thought it needed work. I pitched Love Like Blood to one who thought it was an interesting twist on the idea, though they felt there was definitely a glut of vampire books out there. She did suggest sending in the firs ten pages (I've a feeling that was said to quite a few, but it still felt good to hear). I pitched Walk in Silence to another, admitting that it wasn't quite finished, and they thought it was an AWESOME idea and that I just needed to get my name out there a bit more, and would definitely be interested. So yeah, there's that. :)

There's more I want to get into, but it's getting late here and I need to get some last minute writing done before the end of the evening. Perhaps I'll post a bit more over the next few days on some panel-specific thoughts I had.