Con.txt Report (General stuff)
Oh my god, con report. Okay.
First and most important, to the ConComm for Con.txt: THANK YOU SO MUCH, you totally pulled off a beautiful first con, it was creatively organized in ways that mostly worked very well, no glitches had con-wide effects that I noticed, the panels were *great*. In conclusion, ROCK.
Thursday
trixiesfic and I spent most of Thursday watching Life on Mars (both of us) and packing (Trixie) and frantically scanning LJ one last time (me) and being absolutely unable to resist skim-reading the latest installment of The Best Things in Life Are Free because OMG STORY OF MY HEART (me again).
I had looked up and printed out two articles that I wanted for handouts at the Writing Diversity panel, and we had been having little mini-conversations about the panel as ideas came up for us, but we hadn't actually done any concrete planning of the note-taking variety, which is just how I do things, so shut up about over-preparing. *g* So our drive to Silver Springs was basically an extended conversation about race and fandom and the discussions we had previously observed and participated in, and I took a bunch of notes, and we got a bunch of ideas down. And here is where I take a moment to say thank you to Trixie for volunteering to mod this panel with me because the planning was definitely one of the most fun parts of the experience. The conversations we had as we hashed out our ideas were so productive for me, and really helped move my own thinking forward, and certainly made me feel more confident about trying to lead a decent discussion at the panel. Trixie, *mwah*, you rock a lot "" for jumping in and doing that with me.
Thursday night was registration, and the whirlwind of hugs and hellos, and the complimenting of bedazzled purple sashes on the lovely ConComm, and the finding of our roommate, uschickens. And here is where I take a moment to say how completely FABULOUS uschickens is! Vix, your awesomeness was totally one of the highlights of the con for me, and I'm so glad to have gotten to spend so much time hanging out!
Friday
Friday started off with the Con.txt 101 panel, which we arrived kind of late for. But it was a nice way to kick off the con, gathering in the ConSweet and meeting the ConComm and seeing who's there so far. I believe that's around the time I found katallison and aerye, and possibly also bethbethbeth and the_star_fish? It might have been later in the day, but I just remember seeing Kat and Susan from down the hall and getting that "Hey! There are MY PEOPLE!" feeling in my tummy. It's a good feeling. *g*
Then it was time for the panel-going portion of the con to begin! Yay! I love panels! For the most part, all the panels I went to were interesting and well-modded and well-attended.
I hit the panel on Sexuality in Military Fandoms: DADT & You, and found it to be an informative Q&A with knowledgeable mods. Most of my notes consist of statistical and procedural information. I'm not sure how interesting it would have been for people who already know a lot about the issue, but I'm fairly ignorant about military stuff in general, so I got a useful sense of perspective that I find very helpful in thinking about John Sheppard. Yay!
It might have been next, in the noon break between panels that I finally saw bayleaf and giddygeek? I have a very vivid memory of seeing them across a crowded hall type space and my squee bells going off like crazy! Because, wow, holy shit, have I missed my fannish people!!! Giddy and Alanna are two of the people that I managed to spend time with at least a few times a year when I was living in Boston, and they are two of my very favorite people in fandom or elsewhere, and I couldn't really stop hugging them throughout the con. Many, many hugs provoked by nothing other than my compulsive need to let them know how marvelous I think they are. *sigh*
I think it was Friday that trixiesfic and I attached ourselves to Giddy and Alanna's large group of folks heading out to get sandwiches? That's when I got to meet lightgetsin, who I had been hearing about from various folks, and who is just as smart and funny and cool as I had been led to expect! And whose dog Tara is beautiful and has a really adorable friendship with Trixie's dog Mia! I'm so glad they got to have a friend to hang out with at the con, too. *g*
I finally made it to a House panel, which have never been too much of a priority for me because I don't approach the show very fannishly. I watch it and mostly enjoy the hell out of it (and find Hugh Laurie to be god-like), but I don't read much fanfiction. Or ever really feel a need to talk about it, though I enjoy reading other people's commentary. I definitely feel the slashy House/Wilson vibe when I watch the show, but it's not a universe that really pulls me, I guess. That said, the panel was totally fun!
Friday was really the big panel day for me. I also went to the Crack!Fic panel (at which Giddy was adorable in her "This is the first panel I've modded!" exuberance, and she and sanj did a great job), which was packed and fun, and god I love being in a room full of clever, laughing fannish women. I came away with the useful idea that crackfic is defined largely through both writer reputation and audience expectation, rather than any "objective" criteria. The Being Better Betas panel also gave me some useful new things to think about in relation to navigating beta relationships with different writers. The Stargate Atlantis: Why SGA? panel was also packed, and I thought the discussion managed a reasonably good balance between critique of the show's weaknesses (which can actually provide us with lots of fannish raw material) and expression of fannish love and joy. That balance worked better for me than in other SGA panels I've been to. And that panel was followed by the Stargate pizza party, which was a great idea, a cheap meal, and allowed fun conversation to continue!
Somewhere in there, dexwebster and I met, which was another moment of lovely, "Oh! I've read your LJ forever! How cool to meet you!" That seemed to happen more for me at this con than it has in the past. Very cool.
The pizza party was also one of the only times I managed to hang out with brak666 at this con, which was lovely, if too brief!
I believe it was after the pizza party that trixiesfic, uschickens, bayleaf, giddygeek, dexwebster, and I reconvened in our room for several hours of my favorite kind of fast-paced, laughter-punctuated, high-energy fannish conversation that feeds my soul. Oh man. Ladies, I cannot thank you enough for the pleasure of your company. I NEEDED THAT.
Then, Disco Duck! Woo! Now, I had packed a little black mini-dress and fishnets and some other assorted fancy options, in case I was motivated to take that fashion path. But, it turns out I had my period and was crampy, and I just have a hard time motivating myself to get all femmed-up and sexy-like these days in general. I used to be a girl who could go out in a see-through red min-dress and fishnets and really feel that persona, but these days I'm pretty much all about the casual, and I don't even have the motivation to wear that stuff as a costume, you know? Ah well. So, shiny silver pants it was for me, but I did wear the black heels that I only bust out for special occasions, and that helped with the feelin' fancy vibe. And the party itself was fantastic! Great music, excellent slashy slideshow, strong drinks, lots of folks looking really, really hot. And fans dancing like fools, which is the thing at this con that made me get all teary with love for fandom and fans. It felt so freaking good to let go with you all. reginagiraffe, your solo dancing to "Another One Bites the Dust" (I think? Right?) was totally one of my favorite feel-good moments of this con.
Saturday
I had thoughts about waking up in time for the panel on gay cowboys, but I could not drag my ass out of bed. By skipping that, I didn't have anything until the John Sheppard panel at 11:00, so I had a relatively leisurely morning, and got some coffee and was feeling pretty awake by the time the panel started.
I actually suggested the John Sheppard panel, but I didn't really want to mod it because I was still feeling chicken about leading panels, and I didn't want to commit to more than one. I'm so glad it got selected, and I thought the mods did a great job! I would have liked to do more in-depth character examination of episodes like Home and Epiphany that give us more of Sheppard than we usually get. But it was fun to hear people's ideas about his characterization, and it was interesting to see how different people approach character interpretation. For me, panels are always as much about learning how my fandoms work as they are about the fannish source. I have a fairly carefully selected friendslist, so I don't always get a good sense for how other parts of my fandoms are thinking.
After the Sheppard panel, trixiesfic and I headed off to lunch with a group that included hederahelix, smittywing, reccea, uschickens (I think), and several other people whose LJ names I stupidly did not get. If you are reading this, please comment and say hi! I am dumb! I had been fangirling Smitty like a giant dork (did I mention that she's writing The Best Things in Life Are Free? see above re: OMG STORY OF MY HEART!), and it was fun to get a chance to hang out more with that whole crowd away from the bustle of the con. I honestly have no memory whatsoever of what we talked about during lunch, but I do remember feeling really glad and content and filled up with affection for everyone. So, you know, it must have been good. *g*
Made it back in time for the Canon, Fanon and Suspension of Disbelief panel, which was an enjoyable discussion. My only note from the panel is about the tension between the jarring fanon cliche and the pleasure of the familiar and beloved fanon reference. I've thought about that recently in a beta capacity. I tend to read so exhaustively in my fandoms that I think I've got pretty good cliche detectors, and my beta comments are always calling attention to the bits of fanon that set off my cliche alarms. But I've had to think more about audience expectation, too, and the pleasure that some of those fanon references bring to the reader. Anyway, good panel!
And then I went to the panel on The Academicization of Fandom, though I wasn't sure at all how it was going to go, or how I was going to feel about the discussion. Other panels I've been to on similar topics have really not worked for me, usually because the discussion either never really finds a focus or gets off the ground to begin with, or it gets bogged down somewhere I find unproductive. Like bitching and moaning about the old days of fannish secrecy by old school fans, or obscure academic arguments that are ultimately trivial. There were moments at this panel where I felt like it could have gone that way, but it mostly felt like people were thinking about the academic study of fandom in pragmatic, constructive ways, with a notable lack of defensiveness or competitive academic one-upmanship. I really appreciated the strong DIY sentiment in the room, the value placed on self-constructed histories and on analysis that occurs outside academic institutional channels--but without the outright dismissal of traditional scholarly work.
Trixie's sister Alicia came down Saturday night for the vid show, so we had dinner with her, and then decided to stay in the un-quiet room for the vid show when it became clear that we wanted to hang out with the rowdy cool kids. *g* The hand-picked favorites at this vid show were so well-chosen! A wide array of fandoms and vidding styles, and all so much fun! There were a number of vids I had never seen before or had only seen once at another vid show.
I stayed for the first round of the fannish spelling bee because bethbethbeth and the_star_fish were in it, and I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with them at this con. They were so cute! I was so very very glad not to be up there myself! Seriously, fun to watch, no way in *hell* is anyone getting me to relive the spelling bee part of my formative childhood years. After the first round finished, sanj and ellen_fremedon were trying to get folks from the audience to join the second round, and the second I heard them call my name, I bolted. I remember saying in a panicky voice, "Oh no no no no no no!" And then I was out in the hall. Trixie said she had never seen me move that fast. *g*
We tried to go to the multi-fandom pajama party thrown by brooklinegirl, estrella30, and misspamela/byob_kenobi, but I have never been in a room that tightly packed with people and extremely overheated. I lasted maybe 5 minutes. I got to say hi to schuyler, which was cool, and I wish I had been able to spend more time than that! But I couldn't do it!
I believe Saturday was the night Vix, Trixie, and I spent an hour or so lying in the dark remembering all our favorite Due South and popslash stories. God, who knew so many stories are still stored in my brain so ready for easy access?
Sunday
Sunday I got up first, showered, and was re-packing by the time every one else started stirring. I was in that last-day-of-con mode, which was heightened in this case by oh-my-god-I'm-modding-my-first-panel mode. We were going to get breakfast, but mostly ended up hanging out in the ConSweet because none of us wanted to miss any last opportunities to see people who might be leaving already. Then Trixie got to go to the Life on Mars panel, and I got to be jealous because I had only seen four episodes at that point and didn't want to be spoiled. I tried to finish prepping for our panel, but I was thwarted in my attempts to make photocopies of some excerpts from a story I wanted to distribute for discussion.
I went to the Firefly: Sexual Ethics of the `Verse panel, and it was fun to talk to other Firefly fans, but that's another fandom I'm not really in, though I *love* the Firefly/Serenity universe and characters. I don't write or tend to read much fanfiction, and I'm not even particularly invested in any slashy readings of the source, so I didn't feel quite in step with a lot of the discussion, though again it was interesting to see where other folks were coming from.
Then Trixie and I ran the Writing Diversity panel, which ended up being lots of fun, and I felt pretty good overall about the discussion we managed to have in an hour. And that's all I'm going to say about that because I want to do a separate post about the panel discussion and provide links to the handouts, etc.. Ha! Sorry! I'll be posting that by the end of the day, I promise! *g*
I was in a bit of a post-panel daze after that, and I wanted to continue talking with several people after the panel, including miriam_heddy, who I wish I had found time to talk with more because I had these moments of brain connection on various ideas during panels throughout the weekend, but always at a time when I couldn't follow it up with actual conversation. Next time, Miriam! After the Writing Diversity panel, Trixie and I hung out at the Dead Duck panel for a bit, we said our goodbyes to the folks we could hug without being too disruptive, and then she very kindly took me to BWI to catch my flight.
What an amazing week that was. I needed to get away so badly, and I needed to be with fannish folk so badly, and I needed a con experience so badly. I want to thank trixiesfic and lucyshuman so much for their hospitality and all-around wonderfulness while I was staying with them! I miss yoooooouuu!!!
By the end of the day, I promise I will make a post specifically about the Writing Diversity panel and provide the links I mentioned at the panel!
First and most important, to the ConComm for Con.txt: THANK YOU SO MUCH, you totally pulled off a beautiful first con, it was creatively organized in ways that mostly worked very well, no glitches had con-wide effects that I noticed, the panels were *great*. In conclusion, ROCK.
Thursday
trixiesfic and I spent most of Thursday watching Life on Mars (both of us) and packing (Trixie) and frantically scanning LJ one last time (me) and being absolutely unable to resist skim-reading the latest installment of The Best Things in Life Are Free because OMG STORY OF MY HEART (me again).
I had looked up and printed out two articles that I wanted for handouts at the Writing Diversity panel, and we had been having little mini-conversations about the panel as ideas came up for us, but we hadn't actually done any concrete planning of the note-taking variety, which is just how I do things, so shut up about over-preparing. *g* So our drive to Silver Springs was basically an extended conversation about race and fandom and the discussions we had previously observed and participated in, and I took a bunch of notes, and we got a bunch of ideas down. And here is where I take a moment to say thank you to Trixie for volunteering to mod this panel with me because the planning was definitely one of the most fun parts of the experience. The conversations we had as we hashed out our ideas were so productive for me, and really helped move my own thinking forward, and certainly made me feel more confident about trying to lead a decent discussion at the panel. Trixie, *mwah*, you rock a lot "" for jumping in and doing that with me.
Thursday night was registration, and the whirlwind of hugs and hellos, and the complimenting of bedazzled purple sashes on the lovely ConComm, and the finding of our roommate, uschickens. And here is where I take a moment to say how completely FABULOUS uschickens is! Vix, your awesomeness was totally one of the highlights of the con for me, and I'm so glad to have gotten to spend so much time hanging out!
Friday
Friday started off with the Con.txt 101 panel, which we arrived kind of late for. But it was a nice way to kick off the con, gathering in the ConSweet and meeting the ConComm and seeing who's there so far. I believe that's around the time I found katallison and aerye, and possibly also bethbethbeth and the_star_fish? It might have been later in the day, but I just remember seeing Kat and Susan from down the hall and getting that "Hey! There are MY PEOPLE!" feeling in my tummy. It's a good feeling. *g*
Then it was time for the panel-going portion of the con to begin! Yay! I love panels! For the most part, all the panels I went to were interesting and well-modded and well-attended.
I hit the panel on Sexuality in Military Fandoms: DADT & You, and found it to be an informative Q&A with knowledgeable mods. Most of my notes consist of statistical and procedural information. I'm not sure how interesting it would have been for people who already know a lot about the issue, but I'm fairly ignorant about military stuff in general, so I got a useful sense of perspective that I find very helpful in thinking about John Sheppard. Yay!
It might have been next, in the noon break between panels that I finally saw bayleaf and giddygeek? I have a very vivid memory of seeing them across a crowded hall type space and my squee bells going off like crazy! Because, wow, holy shit, have I missed my fannish people!!! Giddy and Alanna are two of the people that I managed to spend time with at least a few times a year when I was living in Boston, and they are two of my very favorite people in fandom or elsewhere, and I couldn't really stop hugging them throughout the con. Many, many hugs provoked by nothing other than my compulsive need to let them know how marvelous I think they are. *sigh*
I think it was Friday that trixiesfic and I attached ourselves to Giddy and Alanna's large group of folks heading out to get sandwiches? That's when I got to meet lightgetsin, who I had been hearing about from various folks, and who is just as smart and funny and cool as I had been led to expect! And whose dog Tara is beautiful and has a really adorable friendship with Trixie's dog Mia! I'm so glad they got to have a friend to hang out with at the con, too. *g*
I finally made it to a House panel, which have never been too much of a priority for me because I don't approach the show very fannishly. I watch it and mostly enjoy the hell out of it (and find Hugh Laurie to be god-like), but I don't read much fanfiction. Or ever really feel a need to talk about it, though I enjoy reading other people's commentary. I definitely feel the slashy House/Wilson vibe when I watch the show, but it's not a universe that really pulls me, I guess. That said, the panel was totally fun!
Friday was really the big panel day for me. I also went to the Crack!Fic panel (at which Giddy was adorable in her "This is the first panel I've modded!" exuberance, and she and sanj did a great job), which was packed and fun, and god I love being in a room full of clever, laughing fannish women. I came away with the useful idea that crackfic is defined largely through both writer reputation and audience expectation, rather than any "objective" criteria. The Being Better Betas panel also gave me some useful new things to think about in relation to navigating beta relationships with different writers. The Stargate Atlantis: Why SGA? panel was also packed, and I thought the discussion managed a reasonably good balance between critique of the show's weaknesses (which can actually provide us with lots of fannish raw material) and expression of fannish love and joy. That balance worked better for me than in other SGA panels I've been to. And that panel was followed by the Stargate pizza party, which was a great idea, a cheap meal, and allowed fun conversation to continue!
Somewhere in there, dexwebster and I met, which was another moment of lovely, "Oh! I've read your LJ forever! How cool to meet you!" That seemed to happen more for me at this con than it has in the past. Very cool.
The pizza party was also one of the only times I managed to hang out with brak666 at this con, which was lovely, if too brief!
I believe it was after the pizza party that trixiesfic, uschickens, bayleaf, giddygeek, dexwebster, and I reconvened in our room for several hours of my favorite kind of fast-paced, laughter-punctuated, high-energy fannish conversation that feeds my soul. Oh man. Ladies, I cannot thank you enough for the pleasure of your company. I NEEDED THAT.
Then, Disco Duck! Woo! Now, I had packed a little black mini-dress and fishnets and some other assorted fancy options, in case I was motivated to take that fashion path. But, it turns out I had my period and was crampy, and I just have a hard time motivating myself to get all femmed-up and sexy-like these days in general. I used to be a girl who could go out in a see-through red min-dress and fishnets and really feel that persona, but these days I'm pretty much all about the casual, and I don't even have the motivation to wear that stuff as a costume, you know? Ah well. So, shiny silver pants it was for me, but I did wear the black heels that I only bust out for special occasions, and that helped with the feelin' fancy vibe. And the party itself was fantastic! Great music, excellent slashy slideshow, strong drinks, lots of folks looking really, really hot. And fans dancing like fools, which is the thing at this con that made me get all teary with love for fandom and fans. It felt so freaking good to let go with you all. reginagiraffe, your solo dancing to "Another One Bites the Dust" (I think? Right?) was totally one of my favorite feel-good moments of this con.
Saturday
I had thoughts about waking up in time for the panel on gay cowboys, but I could not drag my ass out of bed. By skipping that, I didn't have anything until the John Sheppard panel at 11:00, so I had a relatively leisurely morning, and got some coffee and was feeling pretty awake by the time the panel started.
I actually suggested the John Sheppard panel, but I didn't really want to mod it because I was still feeling chicken about leading panels, and I didn't want to commit to more than one. I'm so glad it got selected, and I thought the mods did a great job! I would have liked to do more in-depth character examination of episodes like Home and Epiphany that give us more of Sheppard than we usually get. But it was fun to hear people's ideas about his characterization, and it was interesting to see how different people approach character interpretation. For me, panels are always as much about learning how my fandoms work as they are about the fannish source. I have a fairly carefully selected friendslist, so I don't always get a good sense for how other parts of my fandoms are thinking.
After the Sheppard panel, trixiesfic and I headed off to lunch with a group that included hederahelix, smittywing, reccea, uschickens (I think), and several other people whose LJ names I stupidly did not get. If you are reading this, please comment and say hi! I am dumb! I had been fangirling Smitty like a giant dork (did I mention that she's writing The Best Things in Life Are Free? see above re: OMG STORY OF MY HEART!), and it was fun to get a chance to hang out more with that whole crowd away from the bustle of the con. I honestly have no memory whatsoever of what we talked about during lunch, but I do remember feeling really glad and content and filled up with affection for everyone. So, you know, it must have been good. *g*
Made it back in time for the Canon, Fanon and Suspension of Disbelief panel, which was an enjoyable discussion. My only note from the panel is about the tension between the jarring fanon cliche and the pleasure of the familiar and beloved fanon reference. I've thought about that recently in a beta capacity. I tend to read so exhaustively in my fandoms that I think I've got pretty good cliche detectors, and my beta comments are always calling attention to the bits of fanon that set off my cliche alarms. But I've had to think more about audience expectation, too, and the pleasure that some of those fanon references bring to the reader. Anyway, good panel!
And then I went to the panel on The Academicization of Fandom, though I wasn't sure at all how it was going to go, or how I was going to feel about the discussion. Other panels I've been to on similar topics have really not worked for me, usually because the discussion either never really finds a focus or gets off the ground to begin with, or it gets bogged down somewhere I find unproductive. Like bitching and moaning about the old days of fannish secrecy by old school fans, or obscure academic arguments that are ultimately trivial. There were moments at this panel where I felt like it could have gone that way, but it mostly felt like people were thinking about the academic study of fandom in pragmatic, constructive ways, with a notable lack of defensiveness or competitive academic one-upmanship. I really appreciated the strong DIY sentiment in the room, the value placed on self-constructed histories and on analysis that occurs outside academic institutional channels--but without the outright dismissal of traditional scholarly work.
Trixie's sister Alicia came down Saturday night for the vid show, so we had dinner with her, and then decided to stay in the un-quiet room for the vid show when it became clear that we wanted to hang out with the rowdy cool kids. *g* The hand-picked favorites at this vid show were so well-chosen! A wide array of fandoms and vidding styles, and all so much fun! There were a number of vids I had never seen before or had only seen once at another vid show.
I stayed for the first round of the fannish spelling bee because bethbethbeth and the_star_fish were in it, and I didn't get to spend nearly enough time with them at this con. They were so cute! I was so very very glad not to be up there myself! Seriously, fun to watch, no way in *hell* is anyone getting me to relive the spelling bee part of my formative childhood years. After the first round finished, sanj and ellen_fremedon were trying to get folks from the audience to join the second round, and the second I heard them call my name, I bolted. I remember saying in a panicky voice, "Oh no no no no no no!" And then I was out in the hall. Trixie said she had never seen me move that fast. *g*
We tried to go to the multi-fandom pajama party thrown by brooklinegirl, estrella30, and misspamela/byob_kenobi, but I have never been in a room that tightly packed with people and extremely overheated. I lasted maybe 5 minutes. I got to say hi to schuyler, which was cool, and I wish I had been able to spend more time than that! But I couldn't do it!
I believe Saturday was the night Vix, Trixie, and I spent an hour or so lying in the dark remembering all our favorite Due South and popslash stories. God, who knew so many stories are still stored in my brain so ready for easy access?
Sunday
Sunday I got up first, showered, and was re-packing by the time every one else started stirring. I was in that last-day-of-con mode, which was heightened in this case by oh-my-god-I'm-modding-my-first-panel mode. We were going to get breakfast, but mostly ended up hanging out in the ConSweet because none of us wanted to miss any last opportunities to see people who might be leaving already. Then Trixie got to go to the Life on Mars panel, and I got to be jealous because I had only seen four episodes at that point and didn't want to be spoiled. I tried to finish prepping for our panel, but I was thwarted in my attempts to make photocopies of some excerpts from a story I wanted to distribute for discussion.
I went to the Firefly: Sexual Ethics of the `Verse panel, and it was fun to talk to other Firefly fans, but that's another fandom I'm not really in, though I *love* the Firefly/Serenity universe and characters. I don't write or tend to read much fanfiction, and I'm not even particularly invested in any slashy readings of the source, so I didn't feel quite in step with a lot of the discussion, though again it was interesting to see where other folks were coming from.
Then Trixie and I ran the Writing Diversity panel, which ended up being lots of fun, and I felt pretty good overall about the discussion we managed to have in an hour. And that's all I'm going to say about that because I want to do a separate post about the panel discussion and provide links to the handouts, etc.. Ha! Sorry! I'll be posting that by the end of the day, I promise! *g*
I was in a bit of a post-panel daze after that, and I wanted to continue talking with several people after the panel, including miriam_heddy, who I wish I had found time to talk with more because I had these moments of brain connection on various ideas during panels throughout the weekend, but always at a time when I couldn't follow it up with actual conversation. Next time, Miriam! After the Writing Diversity panel, Trixie and I hung out at the Dead Duck panel for a bit, we said our goodbyes to the folks we could hug without being too disruptive, and then she very kindly took me to BWI to catch my flight.
What an amazing week that was. I needed to get away so badly, and I needed to be with fannish folk so badly, and I needed a con experience so badly. I want to thank trixiesfic and lucyshuman so much for their hospitality and all-around wonderfulness while I was staying with them! I miss yoooooouuu!!!
By the end of the day, I promise I will make a post specifically about the Writing Diversity panel and provide the links I mentioned at the panel!