If this were a series, I’d start this with “Last time, at Convolution 2014…”<\/p>\n
I remember finishing my previous post and thinking that the evening was nearly done, and that I wouldn’t have that much to write about. \u00a0That was before Melissa and I decided to go to the Delphic Oracle panel.<\/p>\n
I laughed so hard, I had tears. \u00a0Michael was duel wielding hip flasks, and though he claimed to be sober, he certainly seemed like he was at least a little bit toasty. \u00a0Chris Garcia was drinking pitchers of water as though he were preparing to cross a desert. \u00a0Todd McCaffery hosted the event, and everyone was present and hilarious. \u00a0It was so much fun! \u00a0I’m so glad we went to it.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, Melissa and I went back to our floor and poked our heads into a few parties. \u00a0We imbibed with FLARE, and with Klingons, and we supported a couple of convention parties. \u00a0To my surprise, Melissa drank a bit more than I did. \u00a0I think we appreciated not having to contend with stairs or elevators when we finally retired for the evening. \u00a0Also, the noise wasn’t an issue. \u00a0Of course, part of that could have been because we were slightly inebriated.<\/p>\n
Concerning the party floor, there was some strangeness with the hotel staff. \u00a0While Melissa and I were in a hallway, two large, suited men with earpieces came to the door near us, and pulled down some posters. \u00a0At first glance, I thought they were attendees in convincing secret service costumes. \u00a0Then I saw that one of them had a thick stack of posters acquired from the rest of the floor, and he was not happy. \u00a0Apparently, the hotel had changed its policy in regards to posting things to the walls and doors. \u00a0I watched the security guards move on, and where they went, it was like the a couple of high school bullies moving through a lower\u00a0grade school yard. \u00a0The attendees shrank away from them, looking small and defenseless.<\/p>\n
All of that was Friday. \u00a0The first day.<\/p>\n
Saturday morning, Melissa and I got up early enough to go to breakfast. \u00a0Then I gathered up my things, went up to the 8th floor, and prepared for the back-to-back writers workshops.<\/p>\n
“I was nervous” would be an understatement. \u00a0When it comes to my writing, I still care too much. \u00a0Intellectually, I know that the stories I produce are distinct from me. \u00a0I know that my stories are not perfect, and that they are getting better. \u00a0Comparing my recent work to stories from just a few months ago shows noticeable improvement. \u00a0My brain knows one thing, but my heart feels another. \u00a0My heart tells me… well. \u00a0My heart tells me a lot of bullshit, and I’m not going to repeat it here. \u00a0Not tonight.<\/p>\n
I steeled myself for the worst. \u00a0The pros and the other writer for the first session arrived. \u00a0Then it began.<\/p>\n
I’m going to write about the experience of those two workshops in a different post. \u00a0I learned a lot. \u00a0I felt a lot. \u00a0There’s quite a bit to talk about, and I’m not going to short-change the experience by condensing it too much. \u00a0For me, both workshops were extremely positive, and I’m still processing it all.<\/p>\n
After the workshops, Melissa joined me, and we attended a couple more panels. \u00a0I’ll post the notes regarding those later this week, when I’ve had a chance to type them all out. \u00a0In the evening, we attended the Masquerade (which was a contest, not a ball… I had misunderstood before, and Michael corrected me well in advance).<\/p>\n
It had been a long day, and Melissa and I were both hungry. \u00a0We went to the sports bar inside the hotel to get a late dinner. \u00a0I had fish and chips, which were greasy and good. \u00a0As we were leaving, Jon Del Aroz, his wife Sam, Todd McCaffery, and someone else (I’m sorry I don’t remember your name!) were on their way in. \u00a0Jon invited us to join them, and I couldn’t refuse.<\/p>\n
Everyone there was amazing and friendly. \u00a0Jon mentioned karaoke, and we talked about different songs. \u00a0The beer I’d had earlier was catching up to me, and after Jon and I had shots of vodka, I was feeling bold enough to go sing Ebony and Ivory with him.<\/p>\n
We wound up singing Dancing in the Street instead, and it was not quite as amazing as what we had imagined. \u00a0We were undeterred, however. \u00a0We just needed a better song. \u00a0We pawed through the books, and Jon was leaning towards some music that was a little bit more urban and unfamiliar to me. \u00a0I suggested Regulate by Warren G and Nate Dogg, and we knew we had our song.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, we were never called up to perform that piece. \u00a0I’m pretty sure it would have been spectacular. \u00a0Jon and I will have to perform that lyrical masterpiece at our next opportunity.<\/p>\n
After karaoke, Melissa and I went to the parties, and I imbibed a little bit more. \u00a0We made it back to our room a little after 1AM, feeling pretty good. \u00a0Again, being on the party floor was not a problem, because we found sleep easily.<\/p>\n
Sunday morning, Melissa and I rose feeling a little bit rough around the edges. \u00a0We were well enough to go down for breakfast, then attend a couple of panels. \u00a0Jennifer Carson, one of the pros that had really liked my Mel Walker story, invited Melissa and I to join her and her friends for lunch, and we accepted. \u00a0We went across the street to the American Grill, and I felt spoiled. \u00a0Everyone at the table was very generous with me.<\/p>\n
After lunch, Melissa and I attended one more panel, then closing ceremonies. \u00a0With the event drawn to a satisfactory conclusion, we jumped in my mustang and cruised back to Sacramento.<\/p>\n
Convolution 2014 was really quite magnificent. \u00a0To paraphrase Tanya Huff at\u00a0the closing ceremonies, the community at Convolution is extremely generous and appreciative. \u00a0The programming was really well done, and there are tons of enthusiastic, talented people in attendance. \u00a0There were over 700 individuals attending this year, and both Melissa and I were glad to be among them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If this were a series, I’d start this with “Last time, at Convolution 2014…” I remember finishing my previous post and thinking that the evening was nearly done, and that I wouldn’t have that much to write about. \u00a0That was before Melissa and I decided to go to the Delphic Oracle panel. I laughed so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=404"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404\/revisions\/407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}