It’s about 9:30PM, and Barcon is happening somewhere below me. For those that don’t know, Barcon is the unofficial convention within the convention that typically takes place at the bar. There are parties in this hotel, too, and those can be a lot of fun. But Barcon is allegedly responsible for the world getting The Dresden Files, and it feels like I should be down there socializing.

However, I’m pooped. No gas left in the tank, and I have a headache. I’m going to be boring and call it a night. Before I do, however, let me tell you about the adventure today, because some valuable lessons came out of the trials.

To begin with, the first thing I heard this morning was, “Brian, we’re screwed!” It might have been harder profanity. I wasn’t fully alert when I first heard the words, but I woke up real fast when I realized we overslept by about 2 hours.

How did this happen? I set my alarm when I was laying down, but I have a hard time seeing the AM or PM when it’s dark and I don’t have my glasses on. My phone was ready to wake us at 3PM. That sucks, but it happens sometimes.

Melissa’s phone was set for 3AM, but only on Tuesdays. How did her alarm get set to that state? I have no idea. That seems like a lot more steps than just not being able to read the screen in the dark. Regardless, no alarm went off, so we got up much later than planned.

I thought it was going to be okay, though. Storm clouds circled Melissa’s head, but I thought it was going to work out. We were all packed. I put in the request for an Uber, and the driver was there 5 minutes later. We were on the road just before 5AM.

Bear in mind that we were supposed to board at 6AM, for a flight taking off at 6:30AM. Dark energy oozed off of Melissa from her side of the car, as she was absolutely convinced that we missed our flight. I just kept saying, “It’s going to be okay.”

The Uber driver, hearing that we needed to go to the airport in a hurry, started to make a right when he needed to turn left. He was about to take us through Rio Linda, which I know from personal experience is a bad idea. That would have added at least 45 minutes to our trip. The GPS on his dash said that if we just got on the freeway, we’d be there in 20 minutes. I talked him into backing up and going the right way. Crisis averted.

And, miraculously enough, everything worked out. We made it to the airport in 20 minutes, just as his GPS said. We were able to drop our bags off on the street, since I’d prepaid for that. We walked up to security, which was incredibly light. We were on the other side, right next to our gate, with 30 minutes to spare.

We could take it as bad luck that our alarms didn’t go off, and we could focus on all that extra stress we went through trying to get to the airport on time. But I’m choosing instead to be thankful to get an extra couple hours sleep. It made the rest of the day easier.

The flight was fine. We met up with our friend Mike Baltar and took the light rail together. Our room wasn’t ready, but we were able to drop off our bags and head to the convention center for registration.

The regular line was enormous and glacial. Fortunately, I’m a panelist this year, so Melissa and I got to go to the panelist line which was short. While standing in that line, I met a cool young writer that’s getting ready to have his life consumed by law school, and after talking for a little bit, he hopped onto Amazon and bought all my books. I wasn’t selling or anything like that. He just thought I was cool.

We spotted my nephew and his girlfriend in the long line and said hi. We ran into other people we’ve known from other conventions or the Writing Excuses Retreats and said hi. Everywhere we went today, we found people we’ve met or know, and it’s been really sweet catching up.

There are lots of details I could include in this post about how the day went, but it mostly amounts to the same thing: we have friends in this community, and it’s good to have friends.

As a final example, I had my first event today, which was a TableTalk. That’s the new name for a kaffeeklatsch. When I say I had a TableTalk, I mean I was the host. Which is absolutely wild, and perhaps a little bit silly, since I’m so unknown.

As expected, no one actually signed up to see me. However, Caleb, a friend I met during the Writing Excuses Cruise, was there, hoping there’d be a spot so we could talk. Caleb and I took one of the tables and chatted for the full hour. During that time, Cliff Winnig also showed up and visited for a little while.

I’m not a famous author drawing crowds to my kaffeeklatsch, but I have friends, which I think is better.

That’s the lesson to take away from this whole day. Embrace the positive when you can and where you can, because it’s so much better than the alternative.

I can’t believe the next WorldCon is almost upon us!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but WorldCon holds a special place in my heart. My first WorldCon, which took place in Reno in 2011, changed my life. I was still working at a life insurance agency as both IT and a programmer, and I was overworked, underpaid, underappreciated, and horribly depressed. Suicidally depressed, actually. I was making plans. I could tell you the most popular and seemingly most painless way to kill yourself, popularized in Japan at the time.

In any event, WorldCon changed everything for me. I found my people, and they reminded me of this whole side of my life that had always been important, but that I hadn’t been feeding. I came away from that convention with a life plan, and I executed on it. That’s how I wound up where I am today.

Fourteen years later, and I’m attending WorldCon in Seattle next year. Not only attending, but I have the privilege of participating on panels.

Here is my schedule!

Date, Time	Location	Event Name/Title	Description
Wednesday, 6PM-7PM	Room 427	Table Talks	Have an intimate discussion (up to six participants) with one of your favorite creators. Advance signup is required.
Thursday, 10:30AM-11:30AM	Rooms 433-434	Building Writing Skills Through Fan Fiction	Before we write, we read, and often, it’s our favorite stories and characters that inspire us to be writers in the first place. Whether you stick with fan fiction or not, fan fiction is a place where young writers can play in a familiar sandbox, honing their skills and building their own authorial voice. Which fanfic writing skills translate directly to pro-writer skills and what fanfic skills don’t connect to commercial markets at all?
Sunday, Noon-1PM	Rooms 420-422	Reclamation Through Fanfiction	Fanfiction often ignores the canon setting and relationships to tell stories the original creators never intended. But can it ignore the setting’s creator? From Lovecraft to Rowling to Gaiman, many authors of beloved works are later discovered to be prejudiced or predatory or both. Can fanfiction be used to take back some of these works and put distance between the author and the art?
Sunday, 3:00PM-4:00PM	Rooms 443-444	Crit Groups — Yea or Nay?	This panel explores the benefits and drawbacks of participating critique groups. Some people swear by them, while others are left wanting. How do you find a crit group that meets your needs and contributes to your writing joy? How do you leave a group that doesn’t suit you without burning bridges? Why do people have multiple crit groups, and how many is too many? Panelists discuss the good, the bad, and the complications of crit groups in all their myriad forms.

Getting to participate in such a way doesn’t really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. It’s not actual validation. It doesn’t mean I’ve “arrived” or some nonsense like that.

On the other hand, this as an opportunity for me to give back to the community that’s given me much already. I’ve been participating for a long time, taking notes, and really trying to hone my craft and learn this business. Opportunities like this allow me to pass on what I’ve learned, not only from attending panels and retreats and whatnot, but also what I’ve discovered while out there in the writing world, getting my hands dirty.

If you’re at WorldCon this week, come say Hi! You can even sign up to meet with me at my TableTalk. They used to be called koffeeklatches, but I don’t think there’s any coffee involved anymore. TableTalk is easier to say and to spell. If you come to mine, I’ll probably give you a free book.

Oh! And since I just joined SFWA this year, I will also be participating at the SFWA table in the Exhibit Hall. If you’re curious about SFWA, come by the table and I (or someone like me) will talk your ear off about it.

Whether or not you’ll be in Seattle this next week, let’s hope we all have a great time, no matter what we’re doing.