Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 31

My Thoughts on WisCON

I missed a lot of the excitement this weekend over WisCON's harassment subcommittee's decision because we were in a small, resort town in Wisconsin enjoying our friends' cabin at Crooked Lake.  I took some awesome photos, but the uploading thingie here on LJ is still being stubborn so I may have to point interested parties to another site.  The lake was ice cold, but Mason, being Mason, braved it anyway.  I ended up in the water, too, though initially under much duress.

But, because we were away from Twitterverse and the rest over the weekend, a lot of what needs saying abut WisCON's decision has already been said.  I have to admit that I'm far less invested in this, despite knowing Jim personally (he was my agent), because I haven't been a regular attendee at WisCON for nearly a decade.  It used to be one of my favorite cons.  The ratio of writer-to-fan was skewed heavily toward the writer end of the scale and, at a certain point in my career, WisCON was the place for me to meet colleagues, agents, and editors in a relaxed setting.  I suspect that's probably still true, but when I switched to being a romance writer I felt less welcome, though never explicitly so.

So, everything I have to say about this is as a complete outsider. My only point is one of comparison. This year at CONvergence, I had a programming issue come up.  I felt it was handled so professionally and swiftly that I don't even feel the need to rehash the details here, except to say that I wish that WisCON could learn and take notes.  The programming head responded to my complaint within hours of my issuing it (even though it was the day after the con and everyone had every right to be off-the-clock, as it were.)  Not only that, but they had a very clear and firm policy that was expressed in unambiguous language to all parties involved.  There was a clear electronic "paper trail." When it seemed we'd reached an understanding, the programming person basically said to me, "I feel from your previous communication that you consider this resolved, but please let me know if there is any part of this issue that you feel is not resolved.  If you feel it is resolved, we will consider this matter closed."

It was amazing.  It was so professionally handled that I almost wondered if the folks at CONvergence were all required to take conflict management courses.

Having a clear, unambiguous policy was paramount to my feeling satisfied by the concom's response to my issue.  The programming head was able to say, "CONvergence expects x of this kind of panel" and there was no, "but we will review this if y or z is involved."  The hammer came down hard.  In fact, it was so intense I was like, "Uh, I'm not sure..." to which I was given a polite, but firm, "Understood, but these are the rules and we're clear about them, full stop."

Granted, this is an entirely different issue than harassment. But, the fact that this was how a relatively minor programming issue was dealt with, it gives me the sense there are even more clear and firm policies in place for other infractions.  They have a well-thoughtout harassment policy written in their souvenir program, for instance, though I'm not sure how well it would work for WisCON's clientele.  That aside, JUST the way this was dealt with could be a lesson for the WisCON folks, you know?

CONvergence is much, much larger than WisCON.  Not only is it on a significantly larger scale, but CONvergence's mission is very different from that of WisCON.  However, I think that WisCON could take note.  If they survive this particular misstep (and I do have to wonder if they will), I think it could behoove them to talk to bigger, more professionally run cons.  I'm sure a con like CONvergence has to deal with police calls and all sorts of things that a small con might never have to, but I would think that, if anything, this whole sexual harassment issue should show WisCON that maybe being prepared for all future contingencies might be a plan, so that there are clear rules and consequences from the start... for the next problem that comes up, because there will be one.

So, that's my two cents.  There are a myriad of other issues involved that I'm not going to comment on because I'm very much removed from the WisCON community.

With luck, I can get some photos of our trip up somewhere.  

Female Thor and Other Thoughts

If you've been awake these last few days (and hang out in fannish circles on the Internet), you probably heard that Marvel is introducing a new Thor, a female Thor.  She looks pretty awesome to me, so I'm not quite sure what has certain fans in an uproar.  As a long time Thor reader, there is one single qualification in my mind to be Thor.  You must be worthy of Mjolnir.

For those of you just tuning in, comic book fans will happily explain that Thor not being Thor is so yesterday.  We've had a horse-faced space alien (a fan favorite, in fact,) Beta Ray Bill.  We've had, I kid you not, a frog.  All of those who welded Mjolnir before were WORTHY.  So long as this person is, I could care less.

Different people take on iconic hero titles all the time.  Do you even know how many Captain Americas we've had? At least one of them was insane, another had been a recently brainwashed super-assassin for the Russians.  So, you know, in the average life of a Marvel fan, this kind of thing is very ho-hum.

I was particularly struck by what it means (to me, at least,) to be a Marvel fan as I was finally reading through the Entertainment Weekly article about the new Avengers movie, Age of Ultron.  The article laid out the reason why the movie writers of the script decided not to make Henry Pym the inventor of Ultron.  I read that and thought, like a Marvel fan does, "Huh.  Okay, why not?"

"Huh.  Okay, why not?" could be a Marvel fan's mantra.

How about we reboot the entire mutant franchise when a villain goes back in time to kill Professor X? Huh.  Okay, why not?  (The Age of Apocalypse is still one of my favorite canon AUs.)

How about we replace a ton of your favorite superheroes with Skrull?  Huh.  Okay, why not?  (Secret Invasion. I  was less sold, but you know what, this is Marvel.)

How about the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a super-villain?  Huh.  Okay, why not? (Dark Reign.  Didn't read it, but am planning to try to collect it.)

The list goes on and on and on, and two thirds of my above examples are actually fairly recent developments, and don't even get me started on the whole Ultimates concept.  (For those of you who aren't comic book fans, Ultimates is like Marvel said, I wish we could re-write some stuff, and the PtB said, you can!  We'll just make it an AU fic, but because we're the bosses, it'll be canon because we can just make up a whole new set of titles for you!)

You know, it's like I tell new Attack on Titan fans--don't get too attached and roll with the punches.  Most of the time, the story carries you through all your fears.  Sure, sometimes it's stupid.  But, Marvel has, what now?  At LEAST 60 years of canon, some titles running weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly without interruption in all that times.  There's got to be some stupid given the sheer vastness of canon.  And, writers and artists can change mid-storyline, so Marvel fans have learned to cope in MULTIPLE ways.  I mean, I'll be honest, for me, I've been known not to finish a story because there's been a major writer shake up (still don't know how everything worked out after Straczynski left Amazing Spider-Man).

My friend empty_mirrors asked me how does Marvel deal with people getting older, and I said, "They don't."  Given the mess of the above, there's really no reason to.  Readers have learned to say, "Huh.  Okay, why not?" when confronted by the fact that Reed Richards is stated in canon to have fought in WWII.  Writers tend not to bring that up.  Or, when they do, they get points for coming up with clever work arounds.  Honestly, a lot of us long-time fans appreciate when writers like Bendis slide in a line for Peter Parker like, "Look, how weird can it be?  I once had four arms!"

Because, yes, yes he did.

And that's the other thing Marvel comics are made for readers to come and go from it.  New readers can pick up a title at any point and go from there.  I've done it when I've come back to story lines.  But fans drop out, new fans come in, old fans return, etc., etc.

And sometimes Thor is a woman.

MangaKast Madness

As I said, our MangaKast came out early because most of the weeklies did, too. http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/07/15/seventeen-came-early/

In it, there is a lot of silliness, accidental poetry, singing, and many, many spoilers (for Bleach 589, Toriko 285, and Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist 58, which I keep saying was 54.  There are also random Yowadepa references.)  Mason cries some real tears of feels.

So, check it out, if you wish.  Mason and I continue to have far too much fun with this.  

Tuesdays with Tate

Yep, it's that time again. There's another short adventure for you to enjoy up on Wattpad:


http://www.wattpad.com/59880996-unjust-cause-part-16-a-dragon%27s-prison

There's a lot of magic happening in this bit, as Alex finds herself arrested for assault and tossed into a holding cell that seems to have been built to hold a very specific thing....

---

Sorry I've been absent from here. There's been a lot going on, and, for some reason, I was having a lot of trouble uploading pictures lately. I really wanted to show off some more cool con photos I took as well as me in my fancy new Renji shirt. Plus, this morning I was thrown for a loop as Bleach came out early and so I've been rolling around in the aftermath of that... like you do.

(Yeah, I just tried uploading again and got the same problem. It seems to say its uploaded 100%, but then never finishes the process so I can actually put the image in. Very weird and irritating.  I had this problem previously, fixed it by moving things to dropbox and going from there, but then it fixed itself.  I'm kind of being lazy about Dropbox because, honestly, I think I may have filled my free capacity and, I never remember my password....)

ANYWAY, enjoy the Tate thing.  I'll be back with more tomorrow.  Mason and I are going to record our podcast tonight, so I might put that up immediately after its done or first thing in the morning tomorrow.  Thing is, when you're doing this kind of immediate commentary, it can get stale if you don't post ASAP.  And there's a LOT to talk about with this week's Bleach as well as the new Ao no Exorcist (which you should be reading, if you're not.)

Blogging for Books (Part 1)

So, I think I posted here that I got an e-mail inviting me to try out "Blogging for Books," which, when I went to check it out, appears to be a Random House thing where you get free books if you post a review about them somewhere. Free books is never a bad deal for me and they had a graphic novel check-box, so I thought, okay, what the heck, and had them send me "The Harlem Hellfighters" Max Brooks/Caanan White.

So, here are my thoughts:

The Harlem Hellfighters follows an all-black regiment in WWI and showcases the racism they dealt with and their astounding bravery in spite of it. This is typically the kind of tale that I never get tired of, the against-all-odds heroes who go above and beyond duty—all while being spit on (and worse) by their fellow soldiers. This story gets an extra boost because the regiment is real and many of the characters that appear in the pages come straight out of history.

The author, Max Brooks, is best known for his World War Z comic book, which, admittedly, I haven’t read yet. And, while I enjoyed The Harlem Hellfighters, I’m not sure that this book would make me seek out his other work. I feel that maybe because Brooks was trying to hit all the history, he missed out on a stronger narrative opportunity or two. The Harlem Hellfighters would make a great addition to a junior high/high school library because it’s really more a ‘fun’ way to read about history than a graphic novel for comic book fans, you know? I didn’t leave this graphic novel thinking, “Wow, this was a great story! I loved Edge’s character!” so much as, “Wow, I learned a lot.”

Which surprised me, because there are some amazingly moving scenes and we, for the most part, follow a single character. I can’t quite put my finger on why I was never able to sink my teeth into this. It might be the skipping through history; it might also be the art.

Like a lot of graphic novel/comic book fans, I need to have both working for me to get the ultimate experience. I can enjoy a book where the art is better than the story, and visa versa, but it’s a far better ride for me when both are hitting the same notes. I wonder if I’d have felt differently if it were an affordable option to print all the pages in color. Regardless, at this point it comes down to preference and stylistic bents… and, thus, to each their own. My experience with the art might be completely different than yours.

So, I guess, ultimately, I’d give The Harlem Hellfighters a recommendation to anyone interested in World War 1 history, African American experiences, or the history of racism in America (and Europe.) For comic book/graphic novel fans, it could be hit and miss. I would still say check it out if this sounds like your kind of thing.

Podcast Wednesday

Today is Wednesday, and that means that the new chapters of various manga have come out. So Mason and I have done our thing. Feel free to check it out: https://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/sweet-sixteen/.

In this podcast, it's mostly me talking about SnK (Shingeki no Kyojin) and its various and sundry spin-offs. However, there was a very problematic section of Bleach today, which I'll discuss under the cut.

So, we've had a character Giselle who has the ability to control anyone who has been spattered with her blood. Ikkaku and Yumichika have confronted her and Yumichika has sussed out that there's something up with a person who is basically egging on a fight, even though she's defenseless. Then, Yumichika (who has been a queer-appearing character) now says to her (had to add a link because uploading pictures doesn't seem to be working for me right now for some reason):

http://chesterpalm.tumblr.com/post/91270663029/bleach-588-highlight-spoilers

So much wrong here, and its not clear if this previously huge fan-favorite queer character is slut-shaming with a dose of weird, or is being a raging asshole to a trans woman/being transphobic.

So, Bleach fandom is having a small freak out right about now.

Fannish Squee

First, because I forgot to post this here earlier, the newest chapter in UnJust Cause is up at WattPad: http://www.wattpad.com/58616453-unjust-cause-part-15-a-damn-dam

Yes, that's right, it's called "Part 15: Damn Dam" because I'm silly like that (and it does make sense in the story). In this installment, the two demons continue to interrogate Alex...

But, all that's just on the wayside. I have to tell you about my fan Squee and then my Con Squee. First of all, today, I discovered that a BN-Bleach-F (translation: "Big Name-Bleach-Fan") Blog List Girl gave me a shout-out over the weekend in this post: http://bleachlists.tumblr.com/post/91012839497/what-if-askin-nakk-le-vaar-is-aizen. If you scroll down far enough, you'll see she actually physically links back to my post: http://junko222.tumblr.com/post/87130560407/conspiracy-theory-aizen-is-already-among-us-part-ii.

OMG. SQUEES. *dies of squee*

Also, while I was at con, I went to the bathroom (like you do. A LOT.) and there was a woman standing in line with me, who leans over and whispers, "Are you junko from AO3?" and I was like, *looks around* "Yeeeeees," and she says, "I'm Opalsong--" before she can finish her sentence I'm all "You podficced 'Teamwork for Hire'" (my Bleach/Free x-over: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1074017)

More squee.

Much squee.

And, then I also had a con squee for my professional side. I went to listen to one of the many Urban Fantasy panels, mostly because Adam Stemple was on it. Adam is in our writers' group and has a tendency--even worse than mine--to say out loud everything that goes through his head. This makes him a phenomenal panelist, because: Stop, Adam, no, oh God, too late! is always a thing that happens. At any rate, I'm listening to the panel and it's all interesting. I learned about a new fantasist from Detroit that I'm going to have to look up, erm... here he is, Emmy Jackson. Anyway, this is not the squee. At the end of the panel I decided to go up and harass Adam (because that's fun) and Emma Bull starts talking to me like she knows me. Now, I've been on a ton of panels with Emma in the past, but, c'mon. I don't expect the mother of urban fantasy to remember me, the local nobody, from one day to the next. Then, I realize she's saying something to me about *my* writing. I start listening and I hear things like, "Such an amazing, quirky voice. You had me laughing." And, I'm thinking, "Huh? Are you joking?" and because I'm actually quite a bit like Adam, I actually say OUT LOUD, "Are you kidding me?" She's of course taken aback, because here she's been so complimentary to a fellow author. We stare at each other for a second. She finally blinks and says, "Oh, of course, because of your humor writing, you must always get people who are wondering how to read your work." I don't remember the rest of our conversation because I was thinking, "Okay, no, this was real. She really likes my writing. What the hell? What she read? When did I get on Emma Bull's radar? Is this really happening?" and then I think we said goodbye when my mind was screaming, "Tell her how much she influenced you! Tell her War for the Oaks was the book you read over and over and how you swore ONE DAY to be as awesome (if not more awesome) as the Scribblies!" but, you know, it was all over before I knew it had started.

OMG. SQUEE.

There's an App for That, #CVG2014

Seriously, these CONvergence people are good. I really rather adore waking up to have my schedule magically in my in-box. Here's today's:

3:30pm-4:30pm
Plaza 2
Anime Series: Year in Review
A yearly showcase of the past year's best anime series, presented by a group of anime fans who've watched and enjoyed them. Those looking to enter the anime fandom as well as those who've been otaku for years are welcome to attend. Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Jessi Silver, Boris Smelov, Jo Thrace, Heather Deakman

5:00pm-6:00pm
Atrium 2
SF Writing Groups: The 2014 Scene
This annual (since 1986) get together of the Minnesota Imaginative Fiction Writers' Alliance helps science fiction/fantasy writing groups link with writers who are looking for a critique group. Panelists: Eric M. Heideman (mod), Lyda Morehouse, Tyler Tork

10:00pm-11:00pm
Atrium 6
Loki Can Rule Me Any Day
Loki is very popular, even though he wasn't the main character (or even necessarily a "good guy"). An exploration of side characters who have become fan favorites. Wolverine, Agent Coulson, Jayne, Connie Mk II - What makes us like them so much? Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Kamuran Paradis, Damarra Atkins, Todd Murray, Anne Lyle

11:30pm-12:30am
Plaza 2
Which Supers Should Hook Up?
If Thor and Storm got together, they would have cute little thunderbabies. Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Kenneth Konkol, Lathan Murrell, Samma Johnson (mod), Christopher Jones


So, a busy day, but all starting afternoon, which will be a nice thing.

Yesterday, I brought Mason along. He last minute decided to cosplay kid-Luffy, from One Piece. We spent much of the morning in search of the Straw Hat crew. Instead, we found a lot of really great cross/cosplay Marvel characters:

These ladies were really good (also traveling with a Thor and Tony Stark, though I only saw them later at the Marvel panel.) I was particularly enamored of Nicole Fury, as she had the perfect Wolverine claw mark scars visible under her eyepatch.


Lady Deadpool! Every con needs a Deadpool, why not a Lady Deadpool?


Fourth of July is Steve Rogers's birthday, so I wished this Stephanie Rogers a happy one and complimented her amazing 1940s style hair. (She defied my picture skills, though. Blurry here a little, but much worse when I tried to get her to pose with the two Peggys that were also at the Marvel panel.)


Another Cap (though, tbf, she might have been dressing as one of the traveling dance troupe.) Probably my favorite thing about a lot of the Captain American cosplayers is that they can embrace the 1940s aesthetic and be beautifully buxom and curvy.


There might have been a secret organization that was placing people in key positions at con, but I won't say who they were (*whispers*Hail, Hydra!*whispers*)


And, Old School Gambit, who isn't cross playing*, but come on! Look at this! It's perfect:


*today, according to naomikritzer this guy often cross plays "Slave Girl Leia." Rumor has it he's coming as "Slave Boy Leo" today, so I'll be sure to try to catch a shot of him, if I can, because that sounds phenomenal.

Mason and I spent much of con wandering around looking at all the cool costumers and wandering around the dealer's room. He bought a new Munchkin pack (zombies this time) and I found a cell phone charm of Renji/Hihio Zabimaru chibi, and I can never, ever resist chibi Zabimaru. Sadly, my cell phone does not have the technology to accommodate a charm. Seriously. It's not a smart phone, so I have no case to which I can hook such things. But, it was cheap and will fit my keyring just the same.

The Marvel Roundup panel was phenomenal. I had great fellow panelists and despite my voice, I managed to squee and maybe even make a few points of interest here and there. With any luck, you'll be able to judge for yourself. One of the panelists, Shaun Duke, is (among other things) a podcaster and he recorded us for his Hugo Award-nominated Skiffy and Fanty Show. If our panel gets posted there, I'll send along a direct link. It was probably the most high energy panel I've had so far, so I would think it would make a fantastic podcast.

Then there was more wandering, and Mason finally caught up with some of his crew:

Here's Mason with Zoro (green-hair) and Nami (orange-hair):


And in a time paradox, an older Luffy!


My final panel was "Cyberpunk 101," which went fairly well. Admittedly, my energy was starting to flag. Probably the most interesting part of the panel for me was the fact that one of my fellow panelists was a light side hacker. He was an honest-to-goodness Mouse, a phone freak from the 1980s. (And yes, he let us touch his hem.) I could have listened to his stories for the full hour.

Instead, we talked about a lot of different aspects of cyberpunk and, once again, the audience had some really amazing, mind-blowing questions and thoughts about the future of cyberpunk. Because the question kept coming up, "If we're living in a world already predicted, where we're saturated with technology, how do you write beyond that point? Or, maybe more importantly, is it necessary to?"

And I don't know. People often ask me if I'll ever return to the AngeLINK universe and I'm hesitant. I love the characters, but the world is getting harder and harder to reach back for because it's become a kind of AU where Facebook and Tumblr and Google glasses never happened.

The point was also made that one of the things cyberpunk spoke to was the fears of the day, "What if we become so dependent on our technology that we're no longer human?" That's not really the thing we worry about these days. We worry about the environment. We *do* still worry about corporations taking over, but a lot of what we feared has already come to pass. I mean, corporations as people? Pretty sure that was warned about in any number of early cyberpunk novels.

Also, as our resident hacker pointed out, it's actually a bit harder to by-pass The Man. Technology has outpaced some simple phone hacks. It's harder to break-in and it's much, MUCH harder to escape without leaving a trace.

Our fiction has also become a lot darker. No one believes any more that taking out one corporation/Power That Be will solve all the problems... without causing others. The revolution is murky and complicated and deeply underfunded...

It was a good panel, but in comparison to the squee fest of the Marvel Roundup it felt far lower key. But maybe that was because it was "meatier."

#CVG2014

I don't have a smart phone, so I can't live tweet everything as it goes down at CONvergence, but I thought I would post today's schedule:

FRIDAY

12:30pm – 1:30pm
Atrium 6
Marvel Film Roundup
Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier have been out, and Agents of SHIELD, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Defenders, and Ant Man are on the horizon. How do they all compare? What do you want to see next? Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Allyson Cygan, Shaun Duke, John Seavey,


5:00pm – 6:00pm
Atrium 7
Cyberpunk 101
Discuss the cyberpunk genre in books, film, and games; from Neuromancer and Snow Crash to Deus Ex and The Matrix. Panelists: Elizabeth Bear, Lyda Morehouse, Spencer Kennedy, Christoforo Pasquarette

If you were to use the nice app that shows you my schedule, however, you'd see me signed-up (?) or otherwise listed on "Ask a Librarian" and "10 Must-See Anime Movies." I'm not officially listed in the program as on those, however, so I'm not sure why they're showing up in my schedule. After last night I'm just has happy not to be on a panel with anime experts, but I'm kind of bummed not to be on the librarian panel. I'm NOT a librarian, but I work at a library and I thought it would be nice to let some interested parties know that you don't have to have a library degree to work with books.

So, about yesterday, let's see... parking was its usual nightmare. I did manage to get a spot in the old Sofiteil lot (it's now a Radisson, maybe?) At any rate, I booked it from there to my first panel about young adult novels and the dystopia genre. I tried to get a moderator rustled up from the people who were there, and I would have taken point myself, but for my voice. But, ultimately, the last person to walk in was the one we "volunteered." She did a fine job, though there was at least one panelist who maybe got three words in. If I'd learned the blue-haired young panelist's name earlier (Kethry), I would have jumped in (like I do) not just for myself, but to ask her opinion as well. Probably my favorite moment of that panel, however, was when a woman in the audience posed a fascinating sort of question comment about how it seems that a lot of the "revolutions" that happen in many of the current dystopia novels actually seem subversively conservative or reactionary. I had one of those "mind = blown" moments, but without my voice I couldn't catch hold of that thread and really explore it. Ultimately, I think the panel was good, but it was one of those that could have been better.

I ended up not going to the panel "Female Superhero Films: Why Can't We Have One?" because I wasn't listed in the actual program. I have plenty of panels otherwise, so it seemed wisest to stay off it. I mean, as you see above, I have a bunch other panels that seemed to have mysteriously attached themselves to my schedule. I'm going to treat that as some kind of glitch, especially since none of these "extra" panels are printed on the back of my badge, which comes directly from the programming/green room.

So, since I had no panel to scurry off to after the YA one, I hung out with my friend seanmmurphy . We connected up with matociquala and Sigrid Ellis at the bar. Once we were there we ran into haddayr and Adam Stemple (with his kids in tow)... so that was sort of a classic con moment. I bonded with Sigrid because she'd just had throat surgery, so neither one of us could talk much. Later in the hall I ran into naomikritzer and jiawen .

My final panel was "Into to Anime" but everyone there at the panel already knew a lot about anime. As I later told jiawen , it wasn't so much as an introduction as a 'hook-up.' But, I think there are only three anime panels in the whole con, so all the fans are going to all of them.

Anyway, today I'm going with Mason, who is dressed as kid Luffy. He looks adorable. I'm going to take a picture to post tomorrow. Okay, I have to run get dressed.

lyda222 @ 2014-07-03T07:56:00

Last night was CONvergence's 'opening night.' Traditionally, there's a Guests of Honor/Former Guests of Honor mixer held on Wednesday night to kick everything off. Eleanor Arnason (GoH 2001) and I (GoH 2012) went together.

I managed to loose my voice yesterday afternoon, so I squeaked a lot, and pretty much everyone who heard me gave me advice about how to conserve it/help it. (All of which I intend to take.)

The party itself was surprisingly fun.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the CONvergence people are always awesome and know how to throw a good party. It's more that as a visiting artist/writing professional in a room of one's colleagues, sometimes the atmosphere can be kind of... well, daunting. You look around the room and you think, "Wow, all these writers/artists/media stars..." and your next thought is often, "What am I doing here? Compared to them, I'm nobody."

Like actors, writers are often seen as 'only as good as their current project' (at least among ourselves.) This, I've found is far less true out in the Real World. If you've written and published once, for most people, you're always a professional writer. The latter makes far more sense than the former. A book, once published, is always there for people to see. Regardless, a fellow author is likely to ask, "What are you working on now?" And, when the answer is, "Oh, um... nothing official," it can make for a very awkward night.

For whatever reason, last night, I didn't feel any of that. I saw a room full of people, many of them friends I hadn't seen in a while, and then I found the corner of anime fans and we squeed about the fact that the newest season of Free! started.

Seemed like an auspicious start. Fingers crossed that the rest of the con goes as well.

If you're attending con this year, here's a lovely pointer to my CONvergence schedule:

http://schedule.convergence-con.org/lyda.morehouse#.U7VFsl5hPwJ

You can also get from there to the main programming schedule. CONvergence is amazing because they also have this whole 'app' thing figured out. You can download any number of amazing things to keep track of your con and follow along with live tweets and everything. (Didn't I say? These CONvergence people are GOOD!)

As you can see if you go to my schedule, I'm going to be hopping this con. Today, I have THREE Panels:

DYSTOPIAN YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
5:00 - 6:00 PM, Edina
The huge new thing - and they're all becoming movies now! Discuss the Hunger Games, Divergent, Matched, Legend, Mazerunner, and more. Panelists: Lyda Morehouse, Hilary Moon Murphy, Kethry Burke-Scovill, Christine Norris, Pete Hautman

FEMALE SUPERHERO MOVIES: WHY CAN'T WE HAVE ONE?
7:00 - 8:00 PM, Edina
Where are the Black Widow / Wonder Woman / etc. movies? Panelists: Shawn van Briesen, Joan Sullivan, Kelly Pesola, Jonathan Palmer*

(*I'm listed on my own schedule as being on this, but I'm not in the program. I'll show up and hope they're feeling generous and let me on. Perhaps I can wow them by the fact I've read the new Black Widow title.)

INTRODUCTION TO ANIME
8:30 - 9:30 PM, Plaza 2
Intrigued by anime, but don't know where to start? This is the panel for you. Come learn the lingo, the classics for a strong anime foundation, and how to avoid accidentally showing your children hentai. Panelists: Jessi Silver, Lyda Morehouse, Heather Deakman, Damarra Atkins

I suspect I'm on the last panel intentionally as a newbie. Since I'm not sure I've watched all the anime classics. My introduction to anime was pure accident (Starblazers was on my TV at 6 am when I was 12 or so--I didn't even know it was, as we called it then, "Japanimation" until someone typed on a screen and the characters weren't familiar to me) and I've been feeling my way through the genre, ever since... but I supposed that's a good counterpoint to the methodical, careful researcher.