Why Con?

While I was at Penguicon this weekend, I posted a quick Twitter update: "To think I used to come to conventions for the panels…"  (I also Twittered about Howard Tayler taking a picture of my crotch, but that's probably best left for another time.  Or never.)

I went to my first con not as a fan, but as a wannabe writer, because that's what you're supposed to do, right?  You go to sell books (once you have books to sell), and to get your name out there, and to network with editors and other...