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January 23, 2008

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At some point I'd love to question you about doing fast track panels, as I'd like to get involved and this seems the best way, considering I have no qualifications.

Also, how was the masquerade over all? Antonia and I missed it do to our roomies, sadly.

Raven

Maggie Ronald (she's actually an old college friend of mine) has a semi-official blog now at http://mronald.wordpress.com/, where she links to more stories online, if you're interested.

She's also on LJ, where her ID is, coincidentally, stealthmuffin.

Wow, sounds like you had fun!

This LJ cut didn't work.

Jim owes you a cinnamon roll.

Raven:
Persis is doing Fast Track again next year; I will introduce you. She would love to have more help and you don't have to have special expertise for most of the crafts stuff.

Overall I thought the masquerade was decent but not spectacular. There were a lot of new people and a lot of anime costumes. The numbers weren't padded out with out-of-competition costumes like last year. There was plenty that was solid and some entries were quite good, but nothing really made me go "oooh!" This may have been partly the filtering through Arisia TV; some impact was probably lost. Most of the anime went right over my head, which to me was a flaw - one of the key rules of masquerade presentation is that it needs to work at least somewhat even for people not familiar with the source material. That's one reason I liked the fire and ice number so much - I had no idea what it was from or inspired by, but it was nifty even without knowing. Some of the others just left me going "huh?"

Marilee:
I'm still trying to figure out the Sekrit Formula for making LJ cuts work. It's so Sekrit that even Typepad tech support doesn't know it. I just tried making a change; let me know if it worked retroactively? And keep me posted on when they do or don't work; it helps.

I would describe the con as low-key fun. That's not a bad thing or a slam at the con. I was just in a very low-key mood so my fun was proportionate.

kouredios:
Thanks for the link to M.R.'s blog. I've changed the link in the original post. I expect good things from her future writings!

The directions worked (always a small miracle in Boston)

That bad? I guess I was lucky after their worldcon in 2004. I was planning to visit my relatives in Quebec City so I printed MapQuest directions from the car rental place to the Great White North. I made it out of Boston in spite of the roadwork that forced me out of the highway's tench onto a parallel street, and all this without getting lost and without anybody giving me the Digital Salute.

Glad you had a good time at the con.

As for Hyatts being evil... Guess which hotel is right next the site of Denver's worldcon in August.

Persis is doing Fast Track again next year; I will introduce you.

Thanks, that would be wonderful.

Maggie's writing kicks ass, and she needs to get better about letting people know that! But this three-book deal will probably help with that, especially once she has a book to start showing off.

(Sorry for the late comment. I only just now found your blog.)

Jennifer: No need to apologize; it's amazing you found it at all given that it's new and obscure!

Maggie makes a nice change of pace from the annoying sort of neopros who are always trotting around thrusting their book in one's face, of whom I've met plenty and whose books I generally do not purchase. But there's such a thing as being too shy. She should get bookmarks or something to hand out - great solution for the tongue-tied, since every reader needs bookmarks and will carry around your small advertisement and look at it regularly.

(I may not be a writer, but I spent enough time in advertising years ago that I pay attention to successful and non-successful promotion strategies. I was happy to receive the free VP muffin, but can't help thinking that's an inefficient way to reach potential students.)

When Maggie's books are on the verge of coming out, I will be sure to mention the bookmark thing to her. I just got a few myself, and need to start scattering them hither and yon.

As for the VP muffins, we usually get a few prospective attendees each time we do a brunch, and it garners us goodwill among fans, which is a good thing for building name recognition.

VP muffins:
Well, whatever works. It just seems haphazard to me. But I'm not the right audience; I already know plenty about VP (rather more than I ever needed or wanted to know, actually) and am not a potential candidate to attend.

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