My work week is finished! Tomorrow, I get on a plane for WorldCon!!
I find it difficult to express just how excited I am to go to this event. I expressed it a bit last year, when someone interviewed me and M. Todd Gallowglas after Chicon was done. In regards to that video, I have to say that I’m glad it came out as well as it did. I almost said some stuff in it that would have been permanently, irrevocably embarrassing.
Okay, let’s blab about WorldCon in general.
It is the yearly event that I look forward to the most, now. When I was in the Air Force, it was a different convention, Dundracon, that I looked forward to. I loved gaming, and I knew that I’d be able to meet up with my good friend David there. It was a yearly voyage where I’d get to go and feel like I was going home.
Now it’s WorldCon. Ever since Reno, WorldCon has built up more and more in my mind.
It doesn’t even make all that much sense, really. I’m not a published author yet. I’m not a very passionate fan, and indeed, I don’t recognize most of the names of the writers that are in attendance. I’m not particularly good at the networking aspect. There might not be that much more information I can get from the panels that I haven’t heard already.
And yet, I still feel like this is Shangri La, or Brigadoon, or some other magical place that I’ll get to visit. Maybe it’s the open, welcoming community that I feel I have so much in common with. Maybe it’s the dream that one day I’ll go to a WorldCon and be the guy that people want to see on panels, or sign books. Maybe it’s the experiences, such as the Kaffeeklatsch where I got to discover just how awesome Hugh Howey is as he served me and the other visitors water, and gave us signed copies of his books. Or that Tor party where Emma Newman talked with me for more than an hour and a half, giving me the most amazing encouragement to keep on writing.
It’s all of that and more.
Reno was the WorldCon that woke me up and reminded me that I like Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and that I should be writing. Chicago was the WorldCon where I picked up some advice and started to take to heart the things I needed to actually do the writing. What does San Antonio hold for me? I can’t wait to find out!
One day you WILL be the guy others can’t wait to meet, and get advice from. I feel sure in that knowledge, it just takes time for you to get started and get out of your own way, and to realize that you have things worth sharing and offering to others. Your writing is amazing, and I just know once it is out for public consumption they will live it as much as I do,
Chicago really got you started.
San Antonio will keep you going and put a few more great nuggets front and center in your brain that will help you achieve your goal of being a published author.
I love you, wish you well, and hope this trip brings amazing knowledge for you. Be safe, be part of things, soak it up, and most important relax and just have fun.
See you next week when you get home.