Balticon will be in Baltimore on Memorial Day Weekend. My husband is happy to watch the babies so I can go, as going to a con seems to be a recommended experience for writers in our genre. I have nothing against going!

I guess I would be a newbie - many lifetimes ago I attended one in which I was part of a sword-fighting demo (yes, SCA), and I remember nothing.

The programming is finally up, and I'm taking notes on things that sound good to go to.

What I'm asking you for is advice - what to take advantage of, what to avoid, etc. I live only about 15-20 minutes driving distance away, and with the babies at home, don't plan to stay at the hotel (plus it is costly!). I do recall the advice Kathleen gave previously about the difference in meeting publishing people at cons vs. conferences, and don't actually intend to chat anyone up in that way - this is more information gathering/testing the waters/maybe meeting some people in my shoes.

The only real bummer is I have to go alone

Advice: uh... go to things that look interesting. Find people who do panels well and go to panels they're on, even if they don't look as interesting, because the topics tend to drift. Check out the con suite. Introduce yourself to people, but don't randomly hug them...

You'll want to bring money to spend in the dealer's room, but not too much. If you're like me and have trouble getting through something like that without 500 new books, I highly recommend my method: start looking for one obscure out of print book. Search the dealer's stalls, but don't buy anything until you'd found it. Once you find it leave as soon as you can force yourself to. Make sure it's something really obscure-- ideally, something you won't actually find. (You laugh, but it works... )

Thanks Hildy - great to know Balticon is a good choice for the right reason. If you go, I would love to hook up with you - and not just because you could get us in to parties, though that would be a great experience and I would say yes! I don't know how that works anyway, and of course the "What's the best way for a new author to break in?" panel is 10pm on Saturday.

I managed to arrange for babysitting on Friday, which is great since my husband is going to the Dick Dale concert and I was afraid I'd miss out on some of the panels that look good that day. They do really seem to have a lot of things directed for authors and writer-wanna-bees.

My e-mail is punahougirl84ATyahooDOTcom as an fyi...

Lee

I'm really excited about some of the panels I saw on the schedule. If nothing else, I should get to meet some other wanna-be writers! I wish we were staying at the hotel, but we're also commuting (though from farther away).

I know no one and have no connections, but if you're interested in getting together with a fellow con newbie, let me know.

(And I too would love to go to WorldCon, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Punahougirl, I'll let you know if/when I'm definite. Thanks for the email addie! And of course Eljay and anyone else who is going, I'd love to meet up with you, too.

[This message has been edited by Hildy9595 (edited May 22, 2004).]

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So many books, so little bookshelf space left in the house...

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Before you know it, you'll be doing this:

Eljay - definitely! I plan to go on Friday and Saturday, but am not sure about the rest at this point. And if you are coming, Hildy, and anyone else, maybe we can work out a way to meet, and enjoy some panels (and dare I say shopping?) together. Or anything else. I would love to meet you in person.

I think the first panel I'd like to go to on Friday is "Research & Your Writing" at 5pm - then there is more at 6, 7, 8, and 9. Now that I have sent my story off, I feel like I really deserve to go!

Jules - when we looked at houses, we looked for library space - and have even joked about buying the townhouse next to ours so we could expand! Now we couldn't really, but the thought was there. I'm impressed that they can actually do it. We have a wall of Billy bookcases from Ikea that are wall-anchored and overflowing... we ended up spreading the wealth around the house. I also have books at my dad's house!

I'm a little frustrated that they scheduled the "What's the best way for a new author to break in?" panel so late. I'll be commuting from PA, so that makes for quite a late night!

Still, I'm starting to feel pretty excited about Balticon! The only real downside is that I'm not likely to get any writing done all weekend. Then again, I did over 5,000 words on my novel last Saturday, so I guess I don't have to feel too guilty.

Maybe if all the hatrackers who know they are going want to go to that initial panel "Research and Your Writing" (5pm, Carroll room), we can plan to meet a bit earlier somewhere. The pdf schedule book is available to print - it is 6 pages. It includes a map of where the rooms are. The only dumb thing is that they split the Friday and Sunday schedules, so I cut those pages in half so I could have all of Friday on one page, and all of Sunday on one page. I'm sure we will have different things we want to do, but that is the initial panel that I think we would all be interested in, and it would be so great to meet.

I'm bummed that the new, final schedule has things conflicting that did not conflict in the temporary schedule. I know, 'temporary' but still!

The Hilton in Columbia says it has rooms, the rate posted was $129/night:

http://baltimore-maryland.onetravelsource.com/hotels_info/Columbia/MD/US/10202718/

In the upper right-hand corner there is a box "Refine search" where you put in the right dates.

I don't know if that helps - lots of other stuff I searched on was not available.

Lee

My kids are probably too young for most of the children's activities (both under 3), though I saw a couple of things that looked promising. I'm planning all sorts of small fun things to bring along for them, too, as if we were spending a day traveling. (I view it as a test run for transit activities for our trip to Mexico this summer!) They are used to being taken everywhere, so they're likely to handle it pretty well.

Hildy, I got my reservations at the Wyndham (where the convention is) last night about this time. I used the internet link from the Balticon website. It's $120 a night. Because they have a block of rooms reserved for the convention, it's no surprise that it's filled up--but people cancel, too. If you keep trying, you might well get a room there. But do it on the internet link, don't use the 800 number. They'll have all those blocked rooms listed as occupied, regardless. Go here to get to the convention hotel information, and then click where it says "this link".

Oh, and of course, once I get there, I'll be staying for the entire thing.

Thanks for the heads-up. Fortunately, I called both the national number and the hotel, and they both agree that I really have a reservation.

I noticed this morning that I couldn't book any rooms (I was just checking on non-convention-block prices, I didn't really want another room), indicating that, indeed, the entire hotel is sold out. However, it is still possible that someone might cancel. The web site says:

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If you are told the hotel is full, e-mail dale@balticon.org and he will make sure.

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Eljay, rickfisher (and his daughter), and I met at the first main writing panel on Friday. They are wonderful! We either attended panels together (having identified our preferences in advance), or separately and planned to share notes.

There was an impressive variety of panels for writers, including subjects on writing, science, publishing, etc. The presenters (authors, editors, scientists) were incredible - not just that they had worthwhile things to say, but in their patience for those inevitable audience members who either a) think they know more than the panel so argue the panel's points, b) want to impress the panel with their knowledge and go on and on before stating a question, or c) let their cell phones ring!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew a lot of the publishing/writing recommendations made (from tons of reading and from reading threads here). I found the courage to speak up in a few sessions and received courteous, helpful answers (although I was laughed at when I asked about organizing research notes!). One famous writer, after I asked a question at the end of the panel, gave me her e-mail address and offered to send me some info!

Rick and I spent a large portion of time after the last panel we attended on Sunday speaking with the editor of Weird Tales, and later an asst editor. They told stories that we listened to with enjoyment, and it felt good to come away less intimidated by the idea of sending stories out - editors are real people too!

My one regret was not having time to explore the filking, the dealers' room (one short hour, during which I bought my first book by the author Guest of Honor, Lois McMaster Bujold, and am enjoying it), or some of the other events, in my desire to soak up all the resources specific to writing sf/f.

Panels (1 hour each) I attended, as a sample of what you can get for $50 or less if you go to a good-sized con:
1 - Research and Your Writing
2 - Science Fiction and Subversive Ideas
3 - Character-driven vs. Idea-driven SF (the panel didn't understand the problem - wasn't it obvious they go together?!)
4 - Creating Alien Cultures (very cool, since all the presenters came at it differently - mentioned things I would not have thought of)
5 - Personality flaws in a character and why/how they warp the weave in the story (basically, flaws are a good thing, but need to be balanced - again, some great ideas were shared about that)
6 - General Relativity for the Ambitious Amateur (didn't help me much, but at least he had hand-outs!)
7 - How Short Stories are Different to Write than Novels (I was surprised that they felt ss require less work, but they explained that I should write what I know, which would cut down on prep and research - but I don't think I'd write very good sf/f totally based on my own knowledge)
8 - The Fermi Paradox - or Who Ruined the Neighborhood? (very funny stuff, and really enjoyed Yoji Kondo/Eric Kotani - he lives nearby, and I think I should go take an aikido or judo lesson from him)
9 - Fantasy or Science Fiction? Is it possible to write both well? (what do YOU think?)
10 - World Creation in Science Fiction and Fantasy (again, some new ideas from this)
11 - Stereotypes and their place in writing genre fiction (they added archtypes to this - was educational, but almost regretted missing the "Confused at a Higher Level: The Current State of Ignorance in Time and Quantum Mechanics" which was supposedly funny, and might have been more accessible to me!)
12 - Limitations and Effects of different FTL systems on SF Stories (explored what's been done in sf - Catherine Asaro explained how she gets around the singularity issue in Primary Inversion - was cool except for some audience members)
13 - What's the best way for a new author to break in? (send me some chocolate chip cookies and I'll tell you!)
14 - Villains and Opponents (and why they can be more fun, and more difficult, to write)
15 - Writing that First Novel (doesn't seem to matter what your background is - all the panelists had different approaches)
16 - Are Short Stories 'Amateur' Products (was really about writing ss and the state of publishing ss. At first, I was one of only two audience members - ended up being 5 of us - was very personal and we got to interact more with the panelists - one lives a block from my mother-in-law!)

As you can see, I didn't waste my time, and but for conflicts there were more I would like to have attended. Since my husband hates to travel on the holidays, I might even get to go again!

I appreciate the recommendations and help from others, and do recommend that people get to a con - very friendly, helpful people in the genre!

It's cool that you got to talk to Darrell (I'm assuming it was Darrell Schweitzer of Weird Tales). He's a very knowledgeable, if eccentric fellow. I am in his writer's group along with his wife, author Mattie Brahen and have learned quite a bit from them. In fact, all the Weird Tales folks are really, really nice and supportive.