hrj

Posting just before dinner time because I decided to get some quiet down time in my room. Did my reading at noon and got seven people, which was adequate to satisfy me (although two had showed up early for the next reader and were simply willing to be guilted into attending mine instead of going off somewhere else to wait). Pretty much no one who came had read my books (yet) so my strategy about "something old, something new" was irrelevant. I did an excerpt from The Mystic Marriage and then another bit from the second Mabinogi story which I have yet to send out again. (Just got extensive comments back from my last beta reader yesterday, so I'll be working it over some more first.)

Helsinki won the bid for the 2017 Worldcon, so I dropped by to convert my voting fee to an attending membership. Now to save up! (I'm less worried about saving up money than saving up vacation time. We aren't really supposed to roll over vacation days from year to year, but it isn't a hard rule. But to my mind there isn't much point in going to Europe for just the convention and I'd like to have at least an additional week there for visiting.)

I did my duty and attended the SFWA business meeting, though there wasn't much exciting going on -- just routine reports and resolutions. Nattered around and then attended a panel on space opera (of all things) because I was meeting up with folks after it for another "face to face with people I've met on twitter" thing. (I'd tell you who, but it would sound like I was name dropping, so I'll just say it was an enjoyable conversation and I now have clear plans for which bar to hang out in during the Hugos tonight.) The Hugo Awards are pretty much what's on tap for the evening. I dithered about watching them live, but I dislike getting trapped sitting through a long event. (The seating layout for the event makes it pretty much impossible to decide to slip in and out.)