My Weekend at Connecticon

As I might have mentioned, I have a teenager.  He likes gaming and at almost all our cons he spends his time in the gaming rooms.  Connecticon is all about that, anime and cosplay. It's a energetic and youthful con. And there are little corners tucked away where you see the parents, patiently doing their thing--waiting for their children to be done.

It's not a literature heavy con like Philcon or Lunacon so I make a point of checking the panel listings when I get there, attempting to get in as many writers panels as possible.

This year, however, I missed CJ Henderson's panel because we were checking into our hotel.  Rats. I did drop a bundle on buying anthologies at his seller's table, though.

And I did make it to a couple of panels:

I was in the audience at three panels with Michele Lang, (I think I was on a panel with her at Lunacon.)  She was kind enough to do a reading from her book, Lady Lazarus, and to give away copies of the next book in the series, Dark Victory. Thanks, Michele, you are next on my reading list. She also read one of her short stories at another panel.

Finally she was on a Copyright and Creation panel with Margaret Killjoy (not a kill joy at all). 

Margaret is absolutely the cat's meow when it comes to anarchy and steampunk. He's the author of A Steampunk's Guide to the Apocalypse, which I plan to read ASAP, and the current editor of SteamPunk Magazine.

Finally, I sat in on an inspirational panel by Oscar Rios and Mike Tresca called Maintaining Motivation in Writing. This was worth the price of admission as I felt instantly determined to get my projects (way too many I'm sorry to say) done, done, done.  While I have no problem getting through a first draft, it's the second through final which feels like slow torture. They had an excellent explanation for this: in a nutshell you are not the same person who wrote that first draft and so as you change so does your perspective. Now we all know to put a story or novel in the drawer to get some perspective. Their point was to take a break, celebrate your success in finishing that first draft, and then get back to it.  Hmmm. Worth a try I think.

So it was a terrific weekend, and though we are all exhausted now, tomorrow we will be refreshed and ready to face a new week.

Were you at Connecticon?  How about some of the other cons last weekend. What was the best con you were ever at and why? Leave a comment.