Wiscon: A lot of Memories, not a lot of Photos

I started going through the pix of Wiscon before writing this post. I think I've mentioned before that I am not a photographer?

I remembered to take out my camera when other people yanked theirs out. And sometimes, I just asked people to email me copies.

I haven't gotten any photo emails yet. -pout-

So, I'll tell you a little more. I AM a writer after all. (There are some photos later on.)

In any case, the Motherboard meeting went really well. We accomplished a lot. I still need to write up the minutes, but that will get done tomorrow. Long story short: I'm wonderfully excited about being part of Broad Universe in what we've done, what we continue to do… and the really fabulous things we WILL be doing!

Thursday night had me meet JJ… who I didn't ask if I could blog about her, so I'll just include her first name. In any case, we were kindred spirits who met in the hall and ended up chatting and hanging out until the wee hours. I owe her a delicious dessert and tea next convention we meet.

And to me, this sort of thing is exactly what I love so much about conventions - and why I take so few pictures. Living the unexpected fantastic. I've made a lot of friends at conventions - and happily lost - lost is a bad word, FOUND hours - in conversation and just "hanging out" with some of the most amazing people who change my life. While I'd never hope some of these meetings were once-in-a-lifetime meetings, some have been, so I let each touch my soul and be part of my person. These moments compose my being.

Since joining Broad Universe, I've found myself missing panels (and I LOVE panels) that I wanted to attend because I am getting to know an amazing woman who's also at the table with me, or someone buying a book, or someone I sort-of recognize in the hall… And I gain so much more in that one conversation.

Wiscon had even more special moments.

I met up with other attendees at the airport, and we kept running into each other at the convention. One of them helped me find my Bad-Ass Faerie 3 novels that had been mis-delivered! Another is someone who I'd only known from livejournal, but who's posts I love - she was even sweeter in person.

All of the panels I attended or was part of were very good to excellent. As I mentioned Friday, the Future of Food was definitely my favorite, but really, all were a lot of fun! Thanks you to some great panelists!

I didn't even mention on Friday about the Rapid Fire Reading, which was also great! We had a good showing, despite my utterly forgetting to bring the chocolate Amy Hanson (one of the Broad Universe Founding Mothers) remembered to pick up for me along with important party supplies for that night. There wasn't a single reading that I didn't enjoy - and it was quite the buffet, too. Humor, horror, action-adventure, self-discovery, poetry, prose, ghosts, rituals and breaking rituals…

If you're at a convention with a Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading, just go. Trust me!

And after the RFR, Kimberly Long-Ewing kindly drove me in her super-sci-fi-fantasy Prius go shopping for party stuff! We hit a Hy-Vee - which is one of those supermarkets where I know I've interviewed someone but had never actually been in yet - and got everything we needed and then some.

Ada Milenkovic-Brown, Phoebe Wray, and Kathryn Sullivan met us back at the room and, with their help, we were ready to party by 8 - and damn - the room looked good and the food was perfect!

Throughout the party, I had a lot more of those magic meeting moments. I ran the "bar" of tea, coffee, beer, sodas and wine. (The wine took an adventure on its own, but F.J. Bergman & her hubby made sure it finally found its way to us - and we were even happier!)

There were between 130-140 attendees at the party, which made the simple hotel bedroom feel HUGE by the time we got around to clean-up with help from Ada and her very cool son who didn't need a chair to help us take streamers down. Several people took our pamphlets, and I hope we inspired more new members - or at least more women in writing overall.

In all, Wiscon was an amazing convention. Yes, I missed many good friends of mine at Balticon, but it was an experience I won't trade away - and I am so looking forward to next year!