Foolscap, the Experience

I spent the weekend at Foolscap 13, a small science-fiction and fantasy convention for writers, readers, authors, and visual artists. It was fantastic.

There's not just one thing that made it so good. The panels were almost all open discussions between the panelists and the audience, which led to some wonderfully weird places.

Friday I attended the writer's workshops:

• Outlining the Novel, taught by Nathan Crowder
• Characterization and Setting, taught by Mark Ferrari and Amy Thomson
• Critical Eye on Writing, taught by Karen Anderson
• Writing the Non-Western Novel, taught by Kevin Radthorne

All the workshop teachers were incredibly helpful and I came away with a multitude of notes and ideas. Pages and pages.

Skipping ahead, I met many cool and creative and interesting people -- and here is where I'd post all of their web sites to prove how cool they are, if only their business cards weren't so far away in my bag. Oh, here's one: Jeremy Zimmerman. For the rest, I'm sorry I am too lazy to walk the ten feet to the other room. Nothing personal. I'm just kind of a jerk. It's better if we learn that lesson now.

I was also really pleased to meet Lee Moyer, who is a fantastic artist and very generous with his time. I didn't even know there was going to be an art show and then I walked around a corner and saw the art for Caitlin R. Kiernan's new book cover and recognized Lee's work immediately. I snagged one of his smaller pieces at the silent auction. Definitely a highlight.

I realize this entry isn't all that interesting. You want conflict. You want drama. And here I am with nuthin' but praise. I haven't even mentioned the radio show or the chocolate fountain or the guests of honor or the easy parking or the brunch or the free book table...

Okay. I wracked my brain and thought of one sucky thing. The 520 floating bridge was closed all weekend so it took me a whole extra 10 minutes each way to get to the hotel.

The humanity.