I came home on Sunday and found a pile of page proofs...due Wednesday.
They are done at last done (the deadline missed me narrowly this time) and in the mail and Alexander has graciously agreed to take a nap, so I can _finally_ get in a bit of a trip report.
Flew from Detroit to DC without incident (a big relief after the travel tribulations of the last 2 cons), caught the SuperShuttle and got to the hotel in good order. Instantly saw some of "our people," and was warned there had been major troubles with the room keys not working right.
Armed with that, up I went to my room and it turned out I got lucky. No trouble at all. Set down bags, got registered for the con, got lunch in the extremely mediocre restauraunt, and, as nothing was reallly doing, I went for a walk. Walked 'round the neighborhood, noting restauraunts that might provide better fare. Walked over to the Capitol building, which I had never really seen, and had a good look. Walked back to the hotel and had a nap, and got up intending to go down and see who was around now, when I heard a familiar voice in the hallway.
Esther Friesner, it turned out, had the room right across the hall. We were now, officially, the cool floor. Esther, _was_ having serious room key trouble. It got sorted out, eventually, but not before several go arounds with various staff.
BTW, the freebie bag at this WFC was truly, truly prodigious. At least twenty books. The prize for me, however, in addition to a copy of the latest Terry Prachett, was a book called Grass for his Pillow, the second in a series that started with Across the Nightengale Floor, which I read and really adored.
Conversation and good company was found in the bar. Esther and I wound up going to a recommended restauraunt Bistro Bis for an excellent dinner -- duck confite with roast potatoes, lemon curd sponge cake for dessert. Yummy!
Back to the hotel for the "stupid panel," a panel on the role of stupidity in horror (hey! there's a man-eating monster out there, let's split up! Hey! It's a haunted house, let's not leave after dark.) A very interesting discussion and a well-attended panel.
Tried to stay up for Esther's reading after that, but didn't make it. Went to bed early, and didn't get up until the next morning....
Friday at WFC
Got up and went down to the restauraunt to have breakfast with Esther and Susan Shwartz. The buffet was...mediocre, but the monkey bread was really good, very cinnominny (hey, new word). After that, we trooped down to the art show.
The WFC art show is always something to look forward to. There was a lot of lovely work, some beautiful Chinese-style watercolors, some lovely Lippincotts and, most amazingly, a portrait done in oils of a woman in blue and gold rennaisance clothing, carrying a bright red shawl from which spilled a waterfall of flowers. She looked _exactly_ like Susan, without glasses and with long black hair. Susan, rightly, immediately purchased it. A beautiful piece of work.
I'm going to skip ahead here, something we did not see in our first shot at the art show but later -- it was a piece of woodwork called "The Colony Ship." What it was was a jewelry box made for a belly-dancer specifically to hold all her big necklaces and belts and so on. It was _beautiful_, a styalized landing-module all done in different shades of wood with cleverly constructed drawers, standing several inches taller than I do. Wonderful workmanship. We actually got a "tour" from the artist, showing all the neatly hidden drawers and storage spots. She got a big round of applause at the end.
Anyway...after the art show we were peckesh, so we all trooped off to another bistro, La Collene, for a light lunch. I had a wonderful onion soup and the house Ceaser, which had a dressing that was more oily than creamy. Edible, but not the true Ceaser flavor. Dessert was great -- a chocolate purse filled with chocolate mousse with a vanilla sause. Yum-yum-yummy!
After that, it was back to do the dealer's room, and we had an interesting first contact experience.
See, sharing the conference space with us was The Association for Addictive Medicine, and I'd casually said that I wanted the book I'd seen them carrying around about the state of the art of addictive medicine (hey, it's reasearch!), so Susan and I headed over to _their_ goody table to see if we could scam a copy. For $150, it turned out we could. Okay, didn't want to do the research that much, but we wound up talking to the woman at the table, and telling her about our convention. She got all excited when she heard that a) we were actual authors and b) what the goings-on in the dealers room were. So, we offered to show her around it (shhhh...don't tell the con-com), and so she came in with me, Susan and Esther, and was knocked back by the variety of people and goods for sale, especially the books and jewelry. She wound up buying one of each of our books, and going back to her table, telling her co-worker "You have got to see this!" The co-worker came in for a look, and left with three amber rings. We got extra tote bags. A very satisfying first contact.
Then it was back to the room for a nap and then to freshen up meet up with my new editor Mary Therese for dinner. We went 'round the corner to the Irish restauraunt (eh food, nice brie and okay pot pie). But we did have a very good chat, and Mary Therese gave me the artwork for my book cover blown up to poster size. Oh my _God_ is it _gorgeous! I have to find just the right wall-space for it.
Then came WFCs famous mass autographing. This is a strange event. It is always held in a big room. All the authors at the con, and there are always a _lot_ of them, get a table tent with their name on it, and get to sit wherever they want, so there is no organization. People just have to wander around until they find the writers they're looking for. I sat next to Anne Harris and J.Adrian Lee, at the same table with Esther and Brenda Clough, and especially once it was discovered that there were chocolate covered strawberries available at the buffet, a fine time was had by all. I even had people come over for autographs. It was noisey, but fun.
And then, again, to bed...
Saturday at WFC
In case you hadn't noticed by now, once again, I'm setting a new low for actual attendance at the convention. I fear that cons for me are largely becomming a place to catch up with friends I see once or twice a year, if I'm lucky, and to see an interesting new city, without having to take care of a small, active toddler at the same time.
Saturday was zoo day. Met up with Esther (yes, it was All Esther All the Time this con, and we were _grateful_), and a group of like-minded zoo-goers, and trooped off to Union Station for breakfast at a little bakery (eggs and bacon on a croissant, not bad), and then to hop a train to the zoo.
And at the zoo, lo! we saw the panda bears, and they were lovely and cuddly looking and holding a panda confab. We saw the baby girraff and the baby elephant, and the small mammal house, which included golden lion tamarinds and the lesser tree shrew (do you suppose it's jealous of the greater tree shrew?) and Madagascar hedgehogs and a variety of mongooses, and yes, there were my least favorite vertibrates, the naked mole rats.
There were also a pair of otters who really wanted some private time. At least, one of them did. The other seemed open to negotiation, however.
And then we saw much more sedate and respectible lions and tigers.
Then I had to head back to the con to meet Brenda Clough for lunch, and lunch ensued in the hotel and it was great to see Brenda again. Brenda pointed out that there was a tea shop that did afternoon teas in the area. A tea trip was immediately organized for 3:30.
3:30 came, and the tea trip included the Hoyts, Sarah (a.k.a The Dark Sarah) and Dan, the Haldemans, Gaye and Joe, me and Esther. The tea shop was of an Asian theme, and offered an asian tea and a traditional tea. Gaye and I split a traditional tea, which did indeed have finger sandwhiches, scones, and cookies, but they all had slightly Asian flavors, the cucumber sandwhiches, for instance, were tinged with wasabi, and the scone was ginger and one of the cookies was green tea. Yummy.
Afterwards we went over to the tea shop, which was full of beautiful pots and cups and other goodies. I bought three new teas (a Ceylon, a Formosa Oolong, and a Guongdong) and escaped. It was so nice out, we all decided to walk back, and walk we did and a nice walk it was.
Then it was back for a nap (I grow old, I grow old), and change and freshen up, to meet my fellow Luna authors, and our editor, and, it turned out, our publisher, for drinks and dinner at Bistro Bis. It started out a very nice dinner, with fine conversation...
...and then I had an attack massive stomach trouble, which triggered a panic attack. In short, I got sick and had to retreat to the hotel to lie down. In the middle of dinner with my new _publisher_!
There are times in your life when you really want the ground to open up and swallow you. Sigh. Oh well. Everyone was very understanding, and Laura Anne Gilman was great help during the whole thing, especially in helping keep it discreet.
So, I huddled in my bed, drank tea from room service, and watched Spider Man, and called home for reassurance and contact, and finally went to sleep...
Sunday was my last day. It started with a pick-up breakfast which eventually included Esther, Susan and Jane Yolen and was highlighted by these three eriudite and educated women discussing the Torah.
Then it was up to the room to pack, and down to the lobby to hang out and have final chats with everybody who wandered by until the very last second and I had to catch the cab to catch the plane to get home, which I did, also without incident. Very full but uneventful flight. I was pleased.
The End, and Alexander's waking up. Must post and fly.
Sweet Miriam and Family .. I shared a few tears with you and your pcierous Angel Mom today, while remembering my brother and Dad.I remember this time last year and how often all of you were in my prayers. Blessings to you for the gift of this remembering. How pcierous and honouring for your Dear Mom. She is a glorious Angel now. I imagine she is guiding all of you to gently row your boats as you walk/glide through this journey of life. My love to all of you on this pcierous day Kim
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