Boskone: Day 1

[jpskewedthrone]

So I survived the first day of Boskone. Trip to Boston went well, nothing interesting to report. Lots of random chit-chat. Hit the con, registered, dropped off promo crap, and then pbray demanded beer. We wandered into the M.J. O'Connors, which is a new bar/restaurant here at the hotel. We've been the main restaurant downtown and loved it, but this extension was . . . disappointing. They did have beer, but their menu was WAY scaled down from the main restaurant and everything we wanted to order wasn't on there. So we got some food, which was good, but did not get Shepherd's pie or anything like that. After that, we had time to hit the dealer's room before it closed, so stopped by and said hi to Larry Smith and Jim Berlant.

Then it was panel time. pbray wandered off to her panel on What Do You Read For Pleasure?, which I couldn't attend because I had a Reading. Since it was the first day of the con and no one has had a chance to really look over the schedule much, I wasn't expecting anyone to show. scbutler came by, and at first it looked like that would be it. But then wenspencer wandered in and, us being writers, we were chatting about writing when two others showed up. So at that point, I went into my spiel about the books, settled in, and did a read from Well of Sorrows, since Sam and Wen hadn't heard me read from that yet.

Afterwards, I went to pbray's second panel, Keeping Your Series Fresh. This ended up being more about the pitfalls to avoid when writing a series, and what things happened in series that made readers abandon it completely, rather than tricks on how to keep the series fresh. But it was certainly a good panel. I may talk about my thoughts on this in a post later on. I know I wanted to jump in and say things as if I were a panelist myself, but restrained myself since I was in the audience.

And then we all hit the art show reception. Throughout the night I got to meet Ian Tregellis (who will have a series out from TOR eventually), Joel Shepherd, and Juliet E. McKenna. I found out Juliet has actually finished off her lastest series of four books . . . and I didn't know. This is because I kept watching for the hardcovers of books 2-4 to appear on the shelf, since I had the first book in hardcover . . . and they didn't publish books 2-4 in hardcover. *headdesk* In fact, the publisher appears to have changed hands. Book 1 was with TOR, book 2 with Orbit, and books 3 and 4 (according to Amazon) were with Little, Brown. Interesting. In any case, I guess I'll have to buy the other books in paperback now.

And that was day 1. I ate too much at dinner last night, so fasting today. I've got two panels and a kaffeeklatsch (with Juliet E. Mckenna!) today. Then dinner at the No Name Restaurant, which is famous for not being famous. It will likely be fish and chips tonight! And maybe clam chowder. *grin*

Who am I trying to run into today? Who's here at Boskone from LJ that I need to meet?

Comments

[arhyalon.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sounds like so much fun!

I went to Boscone once, long long ago, and had a lovely time. (Though I did break up with my boyfriend of the time there.)

I hope you have a lovely Valentine's and your weekend if filled with joy and exciting bookish conversation!

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was a great weekend!

[realmjit.livejournal.com]

re: Keeping a series fresh.

Sometimes, one can learn as much from the mistakes of others as from the successes. So mebbe discussing the pitfalls and the what-not-dos was just as good?

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Oh, it was a good panel. Just stating that, like all panels, sometimes you go in expecting on thing and it morphs itself into something else. Sometimes that something else is actually better. *grin*

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

This ended up being more about the pitfalls to avoid when writing a series, and what things happened in series that made readers abandon it completely, rather than tricks on how to keep the series fresh. But it was certainly a good panel. I may talk about my thoughts on this in a post later on.

Please do. I've been finding that more and more, I hit walls in reading series and lose interest and I'm still trying to figure out why. I'd love to hear what was said, and your own thoughts as someone who's writing/written series, how you approach it. (I live for the analysis, I admit it. Sometimes I think I should've stayed in academia...)

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

Remind me at the end of this week if you haven't seen a post on it yet. I'd certainly like to do a post on this.

[phenom-woman.livejournal.com]

shadesong is there...you should meet her!

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I don't think I ran into her. If I did, she didn't mention being shadesong here on LJ.

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

I think we failed to bump into each other. Maybe next year!

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

I wish I were there.

But if you see Charlie Stross, say "Zornhau says 'hi'".

[zornhau.livejournal.com]

Which is to say he blogs on LJ as "autopope".

[jpsorrow.livejournal.com]

I actually never ran into Charlie, which sucks because he was great last year when I was on a panel with him.

[elaine-brennan.livejournal.com]

You didn't see Charlie because he spent most of the weekend locked in his room with a fever and a raging case of tonsilitis.

[wbm.livejournal.com]

I'll keep an eye out for your Keeping Your Series Fresh post - I have ideas for several series, but I always doubt my ability to *keep it coming*, so to speak.