Oh, and Is Anyone Going to Philcon?

[dr_pretentious]

I got this voicemail message the other day:

Hi, it's D&R. Is there a poetry reading at Cleo's this Friday? And if there is, can we crash at your place Friday night? And if we crash at your place, can we drag you off to Philcon with us on Saturday?

The answer to all these questions turns out to be yes. Surprise!

So, who all's going to Philcon?

Saturday is the only day we can go, but it would be a fine thing to meet up if any of you will be there.

[In an amusing new twist, lj is no longer time-stamping my entries to say they're four hours later than they really are; now, it's refusing to post my entries at all unless I falsify the time value myself. My computer clock is just fine, thank you. It's 3:50 am, a perfectly civilized hour.]

Comments

[dragonlaire.livejournal.com]

I found another twist. Live Journal is now sending me email notifications of posts and replies related to Nano that are over a week old. I assume the abnormality is due to moving servers down to San Francisco.

I never heard of Philcon. I assumed it had something to do with Philadelphia, something I haven't heard of either although I once lived not that far away. So I googled and found out that it's a convention for science friction and fantasy writers; coincidentally, it's held in Philadelphia.

But let me get to the point of this reply. Attending one of these cons is an investment in time and money. Are there professional benefits to the attendees, or is it more a socializing, networking, informational affair? I.e., if I'm not being too intrusive, why are you going?

[newroticgirl.livejournal.com]

ME, ME!

I'll be at Philcon!

I'm very excited... it's my first con ever. *squiggle* Free stuff and authors and agents and editors, oh my! Do you know suricattus? She's doing a reading at noon.

I'll be looking for ya to say hello, you big bad NaNo winner, you! :)

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but I'll be headed in the other direction: Boston, for a class in "Spirituality in Medicine and Healthcare." What's really ironic is that my Boston-area friends will be spending Friday night at my place on their way to, you guessed it, Philcon while I'm headed in the other direction.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Socializing, networking, informational--yeah, that covers a lot of it.

Most of the attendees are fans who go to socialize with fellow fans, to buy stuff in the dealers' room that's hard to find elsewhere, to see hard-to-find films, to hear the objects of their fandom converse on the far sides of conference tables, etc. I used to go for those reasons, back when I was young and dinosaurs roamed the earth.

Then I seceded from fandom for 15 years, but that's another story, and it's not all that entertaining or useful.

I'm going to Philcon for 3 reasons. (1) Friends I don't get to see all that often are planning on going for fun. (2) An agent I admire, whose talk at the World Science Fiction Convention in 2004 was very helpful and informative, is on the program, and I'm planning on following his name from time slot to time slot to see how much I can learn. (3) The agent who requested my full manuscript, who has had it since the beginning of October, and who has not yet responded yea or nay, is planning to go, though she's not on the program.

I'm a tad nervous about the possibility of running into her, because I don't know what the etiquette is for when an author runs into a person who has her work under consideration. On the other hand, I actually enjoyed the agent's company when I met her at Writer's Weekend, and even if she greeted me by saying she didn't want to represent my work, I'd be glad to see her again.

When I was trying to figure out authorial etiquette in preparation for my first return to the world of fandom, when WorldCon was in Boston in 2004, I found a thread on Making Light very helpful. Teresa Nielsen Hayden did a thorough run-down of the things people need to know if they're going to a con for the first time, especially if they're writers with mss to sell. If you're curious, it's worth tracking the post and its comment thread down over there.

The most important thing is: Do Not Pitch Your Book To An Agent Or Editor Unless Explicitly Invited To Do So. (It doesn't hurt to have your pitch prepared in case you're asked, but at an event like Philcon, it's unlikely that the people you'd want to pitch to are taking pitches from anybody.)

The second most important thing is: Do Not Try To Press Your Manuscript Into The Hands Of An Agent Or Editor. (If they want the ms, they'll ask you to send it. There's some kind of taboo against accepting mss in person. I'm not sure what its particulars are, but it appears to be universal. I've seen newer newbies than myself try the ms-press, and seen agents and editors recoil physically, like vampires from garlic. It's pretty dramatic, if you know to watch for it.)

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

I know who she is and what she does, but I've never met or heard her. The books she writes are not in my genre, so if something more up my alley is conflicting on the program, I'll probably miss her. Heard good things about her as an editor though. Vague, but good.

If you want to find me, your best bet is to go to any program item that has Joshua Bilmes's name attached to it. If the Shiny Young Agent who has my ms now decides not to represent me, Bilmes is on the short list of other people I'd be interested in working with.

It'll be good to catch up with you.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Sorry you won't be there. Safe travels into the icy waste.

[radiotelescope.livejournal.com]

I think Eeyore and Sharon are going. Might want to check with them.

I'm not. Work work work. Also going to chocolate party with cthulhia. Then
more work.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the heads-up. It's been way too long since I saw them.

So, if you've relocated for the work work work, does that mean things are going well?