Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 71

Siegfried Sassoon, "To-Day"

To-day

This is To-day, a child in white and blue

Running to meet me out of Night who stilled

The ghost of Yester-eve; this is fair Morn

The mother of To-morrow. And these clouds

That chase the sunshine over gleaming hills

Are thoughts, delighting in the golden change

And the ceremony of their drifting state.

This is To-day. To-morrow might bring death,—
And Life, the gleeful madrigal of birds,
Be drowned in glimmer of sleep. To-day I know
How sweet it is to spend these eyes, and boast
This...

Carl Brandon Society Awards, Arisia 2011

The event I most enjoyed at Arisia this year was the awards ceremony for The Carl Brandon Society, mostly because of the awesome readings from the awesome winning books. You can check out their blog here.

Arisia convention chair Crystal Huff arranged for an official certificate from the city of Boston to be presented to the Society, here represented by Nisi Shawl and Victor Raymond.

Winner of the 2008 Parallax Aware, Vandana Singh. You can buy her novella Distances from Aqueduct Press.

Winner ...

Arisia 2011 Costume Photos!

There were so many amazing costumes at Arisia! I could have spent all my free hours there photographing. But since I was often hurrying from one panel to another, I only managed to stop and ask a few of my absolute favorites to pose.

For instance, this one. I love her pose! To me, it's a goth-dieselpunk version of The Thinker.

I'm a huge fan of Dr. Who, so these Dalek dresses made me literally squeal with delight. If I ever get married, these would be the perfect bridesmaid dresses.

I have ...

Arisia 2011 Social Business Report

I'll post some photos a little later on, but first, my report! Sort of. It's more a rambling sort of commentary on the experience.

For me, the business is social and, I guess, the social is business. This conference, however social it might be, is for me much more about business, at least in the long run. I make contacts, connections, re-connections; I speak on panels not only for the fun of it but so I introduce myself to more people, some of whom might be interested in my books, or have ...

How to Moderate a Panel: Procedures

In my last post on this topic, I talked about preparing to moderate a panel. Here are some tips on the actual process.



1. Be on time. In fact, be early. It may or may not be your job, but you should make sure there are enough chairs for the panelists, the table (if there is one) is cleaned off, etc..

2. Give a little extra time at the beginning for latecomers, say five minutes or so. Otherwise, you risk being repeatedly interrupted during introductions. I usually let the audience know ...

Retail Pirates

I'm on the road again today, coming back from Boston, so I thought I would share with you the fruits of recent internet searches for Pirate Booty. (You may take that as you will.)

Black patent pirate dress flats. "Walk the plank with style in these mighty fine flats that be includin' a spider-web stlye buckle made of brass and a pirate emblem lining for a lovely lass." And are these toddler shoes adorable, or what? How about these baby shoes?



Awwwwwwww. Mini Pirate Rubber Duckies.

Pirate...

Arisia 2011

I'm in Boston this weekend, having fun at Arisia. Scroll down for my schedule.

Guesting at the NINC Blog

I'm over at the Novelists, Inc. Blog today with an expanded version of my post on David Attenborough, Antarctica, & Writing.

Arisia 2011 Schedule

I'm on the road today, on the way to a science fiction convention in Boston, Arisia. (Yes, we are going towards where the snow is worse.) My friend is driving, and I'll be keeping track of her two dogs, one of whom is a rambunctious puppy who's never made a long car journey before. Wish us luck!

I'll be at the convention through Sunday.

Here's my schedule (details are subject to change):

Re-Reading Childhood Classics
Douglas, Fri 6:30 PM
Vikki Ciaffone [mod], Greer Gilman, Victoria Janssen...

Preparing to Moderate a Panel – The Basics

I'll be attending Arisia, a science fiction convention, this weekend. I'll be moderating a panel on writing while having a day job.

I've been attending sf cons since I was a young teenager, and serving on panels, and moderating them, for more than a decade. *blink* Yes, really.



Here are some basics of how to prepare to moderate.

1. Read the panel description ahead of time. Think through what the description seems to be asking for–since some descriptions are very brief or generalized, you ...