Echoes in a Hollow Space

When I stopped by the art show to say goodbye to tryslora yesterday, she had such a worried look on her face. "I hope you had fun," she said.

I did, Deb. Thanks for being concerned about me. And it was so nice to meet you!

Even though Worldcon was huge, only my second con ever, and rather overwhelming at first, I met some people, including two of my favorite authors, actually got up enough nerve to have conversations with them, got a card from an editor, and listened to some good panels.

( A long post about a short visit. )

Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose is staring at me from one of the To Be Donated bags of books and I'm feeling rather relaxed about life again after eight weeks of frenzied packing up. I am still surrounded by objects which must be sorted and put in their proper places, the garage is still crammed full of boxes which must be dealt with, and there is the distant thought of a yard sale which must be organized to dispose of excess household goods, but for the first time in a couple of months, I don't have to do anything.

I cleared out the last of my possessions from the apartment Friday, got my bedroom and sitting room squared away (the comfort zones), got my computer set up (anywhere I hang my computer is home), and decided that the rest can be taken care of gradually. (My DSL move got messed up and I won't have it until the end of the week, so they soothed my rumpled feelings by giving me free dial up in the interim. Alas, how quickly we get spoiled.) Yesterday, I allowed myself to be a bum. In sort of the ultimate tribute to bumitude I played Myst Masterpiece Edition for three hours last night. That's why I rarely play computer games: time just dissolves. And I always think there's something better to do with my time. But that was the point. I was purposely not doing something better with my time. And it is damned relaxing.

Today, I'm thinking of writing again. I'm actually itching to get back to Night Warrior and finishing that sucker off. Surely that's a good sign. I've been thinking of some short stories—contemporary fantasies—even though I suck mightily at short stories. They have an awful tendency to turn into novels on me. But who knows? I might actually bring something in under 10k.

I was sad to hear of SCIFICTION's demise. Seems like an unnecessary death to me, but what do I know? I'm just a fan.

And there's a very interesting discussion of how authors behave at conventions over at Café de madrobins. I'm absolutely glad I'm not required to promote anything if I attend any conventions next year. I can fake extrovertism with the best of them, but I'd much rather just meet people and talk. I've never been to a convention. Since Worldcon is in Anaheim in 2006, I thought it would be stupid to miss it. Though chat around LJ seems to indicate that WFC is the place to be. We'll see.

Right now I'm content to be hanging out and not having to pack anything.