After Orycon, I went to see Dean play in Kill Henry Sugar. If you didn’t buy their album the last time I said they were fantastic, you should go do it now.

Richard A. Lovett took me up on the invitation to go to their gig. Before the show, he asked me “What kind of music do they play?”

Uh.

They are pretty hard to classify. They borrow from rock, the blues end of jazz, folk and country–a musical slipstream, if you will. There are sample tracks on their website. Go listen.

More than survived, really. I had a great time, although I was a little stressed juggling some transit issues. Rob and I had made the decision before going to Iceland, that we would sell the car and try being carless when we came back. What this weekend has taught me is that carless is fine when I’m solo, but when I have a guest it sucks. Even with Flexcar and buses, everything got very complicated. I think it might have been fine, had we not wanted to throw a Shimmer party, which meant getting groceries down to the convention. It might also have been fine, if we had wanted to leave right after the panels ended. As it was, the first night the buses had stopped running before we were ready to leave.

But even with that, I had a great time. Most of the panels were interesting and I think I only witnessed one that was a dud. My workshop on reading aloud went well, I think. My reading on the other hand, while I think it was appreciated, did not make me happy. I didn’t have time to do my homework on the story this week and my printer ran out of ink on Saturday, which meant that I couldn’t print the story out until I got to the hotel on Sunday. It was mind numbingly stupid of me and meant I couldn’t mark the page up the way I like to. But, my audience of six didn’t seem to mind. I think they even forgave me when I realized that I had randomly inserted the word “not” into a sentence. Why does one do things like that? Anyway, I just reread the line and kept going.

I saw, but did not get to hang out enough with Jay Lake, Patrick and Honna Swenson, Ken Scholes, Jen West, Ellen Datlow, Josh English, Alma Alexander, Richard A. Lovett, Dave Slusher, Stephen Stanley, Dave Goldman, Kirsten Lincoln, Mischa and, and…you may recall that I suck with names. I am certain that I’m forgetting people.

Good day. Many panels. Shimmer party. Tired.

Here’s my schedule for Orycon. Come see me!

Fri Nov 17
2:00:pm Constructive Critiquing
4:00:pm Other Worlds or the Same Ol’, Same Ol’?

Sat Nov 18
10:00:am We Don’t Need Another Hero
11:00:am Remember to Breathe- The Secrets Behind Great Public Readings (Workshop on reading aloud)
1:00:pm Turkey Readings
4:00:pm Juggling Jobs: Survival Tips for the Beginning Writer
7:00 pm Shimmer Magazine Party

Sun Nov 19
12:00:pm The Great Writers Blog
1:30:pm Reading: Mary Robinette Kowal - Salt of the Earth
2:00:pm Love, Romance, Dark Passion and Crossing the Genre Lines
3:00:pm How to Write About Something You Know Nothing About

I just received my schedule for Orycon. Holy cow. At least I won’t have to make decisions about which panels to attend.

I’m teaching a workshop at Orycon on reading aloud. How does this text sound as a blurb?

You may be a good writer, but reading aloud is a separate skill. In this workshop, learn to make your words sound as great out loud as they do on the page. Using both demonstration and audience participation, we will explore voicing, narration and pacing. Come with one paragraph of your own work; sample text will also be provided.

I also need a snappy title. Here are some random candidates, not all of which are from me.

Reading Aloud
How to Give a Reading without Wetting Yourself
The Science of Readings
Remember to Breathe