My first World Fantasy Convention and how it went

Where to even start?

How about 38,000 feet in the air, since that's where I was two hours ago.

I'm back in Seattle, home from my first World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, CA. And it was...

On Twitter I called it a "wonderful dream," even though I knew it sounded twee. I can only think of these big, sweeping adjectives that don't mean anything. Fun, inspiring, awesome. Vague, all-encompassing epithets, that fail to capture the experience. It's like trying to carve a face into a chunk of wood and whittling it down into vapor.

Or maybe that's the sleep-deprivation talking.

I spent the weekend in the same rooms as my heroes. I heard them speak and read and argue. I shook their hands. I made new connections, I saw incredible art and heard exciting stories read by the people who wrote them. I closed my eyes and listened to the words and imagined I could see the structures falling into place.

I'm not sure I can describe this experience without becoming dangerously twee. So I apologize for that. I do understand they were all just people, real people with problems and faults, and by calling them "heroes" it sounds as if I've put them on an unreachable pedestal. I don't mean that. By heroes I mean people whose work I respect and admire.

That's about all I have. Everyone was accessible and welcoming. I learned a lot attending panels and I learned a lot just sitting around talking to people, especially on those late nights when I should have remembered a warmer jacket, but instead sat on the edge of my lawn chair shivering, sipping my drink, and nodding like a bobblehead.

Yes, if you're wondering, it was worth every penny.