Technically, Friday was the first day of the con but since I got here on Thursday it feels like Day 2 for me.

We started with the opening ceremonies which were short and simple. The various GoH’s introduced themselves and said, “hello” to the audience. Martin Young, the Toastmaster, gave me the straight line of asking if things ever went wrong in puppetry, so I told the Sleeping Beauty story.

Sandra Tayler is in town and rooming with me. She is a delight to hang out with.  By the way, I highly recommend having someone like Sandra with you when you GoH to act as a safety net.

From the Opening Ceremonies it was off to Getting Published Today with Dani Kollin, Eytan Kollin, and Susan Krinard.  Oddly we were all Tor authors whose surnames began with the letter K.  It was a fun conversation although at one point I remarked that we were a self-heckling panel.  The key takeaway I think from that is that if you want to get published you have to have a good manuscript and do your research.

Between panels Sandra and I hung out in the bar area with John Picacio, Chris Garcia, Jeremy Llassen, and a roving cast of others. Funny conversations including a whole host of innocent sentences parents should not say about their children without risking jail time if they are heard out of context.

In the evening we went to the Meet the Guests reception which was good clean fun. I need to give a shout out to Tobi Schneider, guest liaison, who is doing a fantastic job of making us all feel welcome.

After the reception, I indulged in my guilty pleasure and went to the Regency Ball. I brought an extra dress and managed to talk Sandra into going. Man, some of those dances are really fast. At one point, I lost a shoe. I felt very much like Cinderella.

Here’s where you can find me today (Saturday)

11:30 AM to 1:00 PM in room: San Tomas
Growing Artisticially Through Crisis

1:00 PM to 2:30 PM in room: Bayshore East and West
Puppetry Workshop
(Note: I will have the pencil-necked little weasel, and John Scalzi’s Papa Fuzzy puppet with me)

4:00 PM to 5:30 PM in room: Winchester
$5, a Dead Fish, and a Time Machine

5:30 to 7:00 PM in room: Central
Autographing

By the way, if I’m not in a panel, the bar is a good bet on where to find me.

I’m at BayCon and I have to say they are treating me very nicely. Fresh fruit in my room. Dark chocolate.  Mmm… Yesterday was lowkey. Tobi Schneider met me at the train station and took me around to get me oriented. I saw John Picacio, Artist GoH last night and we caught up.

I also met Bobbie DuFault, the Fan GoH.  She’s from Seattle so we were both wondering about the bright light in the sky. Thank heavens today is overcast.  That other thing was just unnatural.

Today I’ll be at:

2:00 PM to  2:30 PM in room: Winchester
Opening Ceremonies

4:00 PM to 5:30 PM in room: Lawrence
Getting Published Today

8:00 PM to 9:00 PM in room: Grand Ballroom E & F
Meet-the-Guests Reception

I’m also planning to head to the Regency dance after the Meet-the-Guests reception, although that might involve going back to my room to change.  Meanwhile, my plan is to hang in the bar area and chat with anyone who wanders by.

Wander by?

I’m hopping on a train to Santa Clara TODAY for BayCon, where I’m one of their Guests of Honor.  I’m looking forward to seeing the always fantastic art Goh John Picacio and to meeting Fan GoH Bobbie DuFault and Toastmaster Martin Young.

I’ve got my schedule below, but wanted to point out a couple of things.

1. At the puppetry workshop, I’ll have the Pencil-necked Little Weasel AND Papa Fuzzy.
2. For my reading, I’ll read some published work PLUS an excerpt from my WIP novel AND a tiny little puppet show.
3. There are two Regency dances on the schedule. I’m hoping to attend both.

Hope to see you there! Continue reading My BayCon GoH Schedule

I’m currently at the airport waiting for my flight home. My original flight was cancelled and the new one is delayed.  The bonus is that it gives me time to blog for the first time this weekend.

The Nebula Award weekend was great fun but busy.  Since I was there as both a nominee and an officer, my schedule was packed.  For instance, on Friday the board members had a six-hour meeting.

Six hours sounds horrendous but the fact is that it would take months to get the same amount of work done online.  We’ve got a really good board right now and I’m so grateful to them.

But between the meetings and the rest of the weekend, it’s sort of a blur.

In particular, I want to congratulate the writers who took home Nebula awards.

• Novel: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (Spectra)
• Novella: “The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers Beneath the Queen’s Window” by Rachel Swirsky (Subterranean Summer ’10)
• Novelette: “That Leviathan Whom Thou Hast Made” by Eric James Stone (Analog 9/10)
• Short Story (tie): “Ponies” by Kij Johnson (Tor.com1/17/10) and “How Interesting: A Tiny Man” by Harlan Ellison (Realms of Fantasy 2/10)
• Ray Bradbury Award: Inception
• Andre Norton Award: I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett (Gollancz; Harper)

• RT @sfwa: Watch the Nebula Awards LIVE tonight! http://is.gd/be7UEp #

• Word you don't want the pilot to say, "I have some good news & some bad news…" We were held in the air for weather. #marygoround #
• I have 10 minutes to make my next flight and we aren't even at the terminal yet. Bets anyone? #marygoround #
• I just missed the connection and have been rebooked for a 5:45 flight. #marygoround #
• I might've made the flight if they hadn't had to unlock the door at the top of the jetway. I don't know why it was locked. #marygoround #
• And… my new 5:45 flight is delayed to 7:20pm. At this rate, I clearly need to find a bar to hang out in. #marygoround #
• Anyone else stranded at JFK besides me? #marygoround #
• Here are process shots of building a puppet of Papa Fuzzy for @scalzi. http://is.gd/yliWJf #
• My flight has been delayed again to 7:50pm. #marygoround #
• RT @sfwa: Ready for the Nebula Awards this weekend? Scheduling and signing list are posted here: http://bit.ly/mQ7w63 #
• Well… our plane is here finally, but we haven't started boarding yet and it's scheduled to depart, oh, now. #marygoround #
• And delayed again to 8:05. I am so tired my brain hurts. #marygoround #
• Would totally love that. RT @RickNovy: I say we all do a kickstarter campaign to get @MaryRobinette her own ornithopter! #
• They are waiting for maintenance to service the aircraft. Am starting to wonder if I will get to leave tonight. #marygoround #
• Delayed now to 8:20. ::sob:: #marygoround #
• That was fast. It's delayed again to 8:45. I will take advantage of this to go seek chocolate. #marygoround #
• We are boarding! Have a drink. #marygoround #
• On board the plane with an upgrade to 1st class. Have a drink! I am. #marygoround #
• The pilot is saying that we don't know when we'll actually take-off but that it will be 46 minutes once we are airborne. #marygoround #
• They are closing the boarding door. See you in D.C. have a drink. #marygoround #
• We have finally arrived in D.C. we sat on the ground for another hour in NYC. #marygoround #
• I have FINALLY made it to the Hilton for the #SFWA #Nebula2011 weekend. Have a drink! #marygoround #
• Oh! The beautiful staff at the hotel sent a cheese plate to my room. How did they know that I would be fatigued & hungry? #marygoround #
• I am being a good girl and actually going running this morning. ::sob:: #

• Oh, the early. It hurts. #marygoround I'm up to catch the MAX to the airport on my way to D.C. for the Nebulas. #
• I caught the MAX to the airport with no problem. Aside from being up before the sun, that is. #marygoround #
• I'm through security with an upgrade to first class. Have a drink! #marygoround #
• I'm aboard and looking forward to napping on the flight. Have a drink. #marygoround #
• They are closing the boarding door and we're set for an ontime departure. I'll change planes in NYC. Have a drink. #marygoround #

Those folks who have been following me on Twitter, have probably seen some particularly gruesome puppet building posts.  I haven’t told anyone what I’ve been building because it was SECRET.

Now I can tell you.  Last night, I went to Seattle to John Scalzi’s reading as one of the surprise guests he’d promised for this leg of the tour.  I built a puppet of Papa Fuzzy from his book Fuzzy Nation.

Here are is the first post with much delayed process shots.

For most puppets, I start by doing design sketches, but for this one Scalzi asked me to make it look as much like the Fuzzy on the cover as possible.

So,  I started by doing a full-scale drawing of the figure, with lightly sketched notes about where I thought my arm would go.  The novel says that Papa Fuzzy was the size of a large Maine Coon, which meant that he’d be 2.5 to 3 feet tall.  Using the painting by Kekai Kotaki as my guide, I worked out the proportions of Papa.  His body is four and a half heads tall, if you are interested.  Once I’d drawn how big he was with fur, I went back and drew a line to represent his body, minus fur. You’ve seen a wet cat, right?   Continue reading Process Shots: Building Papa Fuzzy for John Scalzi – Pt. 1

• We've landed in Portland twenty minutes early. Have a drink! I'm going to meet @scalzi at his gate, now. #marygoround #

• For those reading along, I've finally posted the latest The Transfigured Lady chapter. http://bit.ly/k51tJY #
• All I have to do is put fur on his feet and then I can go to bed. So why am I surfing the internet instead? #
• Note: Fine hand-stitching and dirty martinis don't mix. Curse the need for hand/eye coordination. #
• I'm traveling to Portland today & land within half an hour of @scalzi. I expect the airport to implode from #marygoround & #scalzigoround #
• Safely through security. The line was insane, even with the Priority status from so much travel. Lots of amatuers flying today. #marygoround #
• There's a giant group of Japanese men going to Portland on this flight. It is oversold. #marygoround #
• I love it when my wordprocessor randomly won't open. #
• We boarded on time. Have a drink. #marygoround #
• They are closing the boarding doors for an on-time departure. See you in Portland. Have a drink! #marygoround #

After a very productive and immersive weekend, I’m heading back to Portland today.  John Scalzi is also flying into Portland within half an hour of me.  Given our combined travel karmas, I fully expect the airport, and potentially, all of Portland to implode under the combined weight of Things That Go Wrong when we travel.

I will be home for less than twenty-four hours.

I finally realized that the reason I was slowing down with the Transfigured Lady is that I had hit the 2/3rds mark. I seem to always need to stop and reread about here so that I can make sure that things are still moving along in the direction I want them to go. Even though I work with an outline, the balance can still change.

In this case, the reread caused me to split an earlier chapter in half, because it was really, really long.  That means that the newest chapter is 21 in my draft, although I never posted a Chapter 20 for you to read. Don’t worry. You haven’t missed anything. It’s just that the chapter numbers all got bumped up by one.

So if you want to read Chapter 21, it’s posted.

• A bit of his eyesocket was rattling around inside his skull. Opened his soft palette to get it out. Glad I hadn't attached his head yet. #

• Hurrah! My copy of @scalzi's Fuzzy Nation just arrived. Resisting temptation to reread it right now. #
• I'm at the airport to go to SLC. Just realized that I left the yeti at home. #marygoround #
• We've boarded ontime. I've been upgraded to first class. I'd say "have a drink" but given the hour maybe a shot of espresso? #marygoround #
• They are closing the boarding door and we are set for an ontime departure. See you in SLC. Have a drink. #marygoround #
• I have safely arrived in SLC. Early. Have a drink. #marygoround #
• Wow. My luggage came out just as I walked up to the baggage claim carousel. I'm now waiting for @howardtayler to fetch me. #marygoround #
• I am in the home of @howardtayler and @SandraTayler. Howard is making french toast. I call this a successful conclusion to #marygoround #