Post-Con Report

So, I spent the weekend up in Boston for Boskone, and the whole weekend was something of an up-and-down experience for me. 

Of the good: Boston is a gorgeous city, and this weekend was perfect walking-around weather.  As much as I love Austin, it's not a city that's visually inspiring on an architectural level.  Boston-- there are parts of Boston that look almost exactly how Maradaine looks in my head.  (If you take out the cars and traffic lights and such).  We got to visit with my sister and her family, and my parents came up as well, so that was nice.  I live 2000 miles away, so everyone being in the same place for something that's neither wedding nor funeral is a rarity.

Also of the good: I met my agent face-to-face for the first time, which I was quite pleased with.  Especially since one of the first things he said was, "By the way, I absolutely loved the Holver Alley Crew rewrite you did."  So that's making its way out in the world.  Hopefully Maradaine Constabulary will follow shortly. Also, he highly praised my beta-reading people, and I can't help but agree.  They're an awesome group.  Another bright spot, connected to meeting with my agent, is when the editor from Baen saw my nametag and said, "Oh, yes, you're his new guy."  Editors recognizing your name are rarely a bad thing. 

Of the not-as-good: This is more my own issue, but being at a con where I don't really know people is something of a challenge for me.  Yes, my agent was there, and he introduced me to people, and that was great.  And Elizabeth Bear, whom I've met before, was very friendly.  But I didn't have people, if you catch my meaning. I didn't have comfort-zone-familiar-faces to gravitate towards.  It was a different experience for me last year at DFWWriterCon.  I mean, there, I knew NO ONE, but at the same time, EVERYONE there was in the same boat: we had books written, and we were there to pitch to agents.  We were kindred spirits, and it was simple to bond.  I'm sure there were people in the same agented-but-not-sold position as me, but there was no badge color or hand signal to recognize fellow travelers in the last miles of the marathon.

But, like I said, this is probably more my own imposter-syndrome issues above and beyond anything else.

Of the REALLY-not-good: My laptop died.  Horribly.  Fortunately, I backed up ALL my writing stuff the night before I left, AND the machine is still under warranty, but it was still annoying.  I feel kind of hobbled, writing-wise, until I get it back up and running.  Even though I could use the desktop I'm writing this on.  I'm strange like that.