Deborah's Journal

Baycon's a local convention, which means I commute, driving an hour each way over twisty mountain roads and freeway. This tends to color my experience, first because I don't have a quiet place (aka hotel room) to which to retreat, and second that because I'm not a night person, I rarely stay later than dinner time. This year I had a light schedule and many people I wanted to see, which is a nice combination.

I began on Friday with a panel on "Writing Rituals." Actually, before the panel, with running into Chaz Brenchley, our own desperance. One of the delights of conventions is getting to meet my favorite authors, finding new favorites, and enjoying the resulting friendships. The participants included me and Chaz, Ian Grey, Laurel Ann Hill, and Susan Krinard. The panel itself was a bit unfocused, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The discussion ranged from how the medium we use influences our writing (including voice recognition software or dictation vs typewriter vs longhand vs computer) to our personal superstitions about writing or selling to the struggle just about all of us face in actually Sitting Down To Write. Chaz talked about how writing on a typewriter forced him to craft each sentence in his mind before typing it because it was such a pain to retype mistakes or changes. I thought voice recognition software might be a good way to write with a cat on my lap and also to help me over the "inertial hump" of getting that initial and thoroughly disposable paragraph on the page. Susan shared how she uses deadlines to set daily or weekly goals. Laurel Anne had researched the odd habits of famous writers -- who liked to write naked, for example, or in a bathtub, or lying down. Dani Kollin joined us half-way through the panel (which often happens in early-scheduled panels) and talked about how his collaborative style (he writes with his brother, Eytan) structures his own writing. Collaborations create interesting "rituals," depending on how the work is divided (do you both create prose, do you alternate drafts, does one do the story creation/outline and the other fill it in?)

Chaz and I wandered to the dealer's room, where we ascertained who was carrying which of our books and whether they wanted them signed now or later in the con, admired leather clothing and swords, told more stories, and eventually met up with klwilliams, who transported us away to a Chinese restaurant. We returned to the hotel midway through the Meet the Guests event, but I still had the chance to circulate and chat with Guest of Honor Mary Robinette Kowal, with whom I'd had a grand time hanging out at last year's Orycon, as well as a bunch of other fine folk. I wrenched myself away before Regency Dancing could begin (or I would not have been able to leave, as it's something I adore and get to do far too infrequently) for the long drive home.

Saturday morning's highlights involved getting together with local members of Book View Café, first in a breakfast meet-up and then a panel on who we are and what we offer the ebook reader. Dave came in with me and added his perspectives on the creative use of internet marketing resources. Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff was there, but participating in the writers workshop; we waved greetings-in-passing. The panel included Madeleine E. Robins (madrobins) and Irene Radford (ramblin_phyl, as well as me and Chaz, and Kit Kerr in the audience. Given how early the panel was scheduled, I was delighted at how well attended it was. Mad and Irene, who were founding members, talked about how a bunch of writers, including Vonda N. McIntyre and Sarah Zettel, with the support of Ursula K. Le Guin, decided to pool their skills to epublish their out of print back lists. Eventually, they formed Book View Café. The Café now has 30 members, all established pro writers, 3,000 subscribers, and currently lists 100 ebooks, plus a daily blog posts and free fiction.

After the panel, I stayed to discuss a BVC anthology project that I'm editing along with Irene, then Dave and I headed back to Santa Cruz for a memorial service of a dear friend, my Quaker mentor Ellie Foster.

I was back at Baycon the next morning, still a bit weepy but very happy to be around book people. The autographing sessions were scheduled in an out-of-the-way room, quite a distance from the dealer's room or any flow of traffic; as a consequence, no one appeared during the time slot I shared with Diana L. Paxson, but Diana and I had a wonderful time catching up on career news and the challenges we each face as inheritors of two of the series created by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley. Diana had been double-scheduled for a panel, so she headed off to that and I wandered back to the dealer's room, where I spent far too much money on books, then back to the autographing room to hang out with Mad Robins and Juliette Wade, a local writer and co-conspirator of the Lady Writer's Lunch. Mad entertained us with tales of her life in the theater, and various plots were hatched. This is the way of conventions, even if no autographs were dispensed.

My final con event was a "themed reading" of short science fiction. I shared the time slot with Cliff Winnig. As I was on my way, however, I had an unexpected treat, which was meeting a dear friend of my older daughter and her partner. I'd heard them mention Mari with great fondness, but had never met her before and am delighted to report that the fondness is mutual all around.

Cliff and I had read together before and had exchanged emails about how to divide the time. (I highly recommend this, if you're ever faced with a similar presentation.) At Cliff's suggestion, he read a short piece involving a ballerina spy and a giant Nazi robot on an airship, then I read a longer, more serious piece ("Mother Africa" from Asimov's 1994), and he followed up with steampunk on Mars, complete with costume. He dubbed this a "Deborah sandwich." Then I was on my own but there wasn't much happening until after dinner, so with some regret, I wended my way home.

Over the years, I've learned that there are some cons when it seems all I do is speak on panels and catch my breath in between, and other cons when I get to sit back and enjoy other people holding forth, learning new cool stuff, attending readings by writers I don't know, and such like. I try to take each one as it comes, especially given the limitations of time and energy when I'm commuting. I had a lovely time when I was there and am pleased with the choices I made as the best of what could be managed. As always, the best part was the people -- old friends, new discoveries, mutually appreciative relationships. I was particularly grateful for the community during this otherwise grief-filled weekend.

It's no secret that an author's career rises and falls on sales numbers and that the ranks of publishers willing to stick with an author they love as that author develops (or even publish work that is good and wonderful rather than commercial crap) are few and far between. If you don't know at least a dozen authors who've been dropped for less than stellar sales figures, you aren't paying attention. (Sorry if that sounded a bit strident; too many of these authors--the best there are--have been my friends, so I'm a bit vehement on the subject).


Read more on my blog: http://www.deborahjross.blogspot.com/

And do be sure to pre-order the upcoming urban fantasy DESDAEMONA from Ben Macallan, our own Chaz Brenchley.