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I got back from Wiscon on Tuesday night, but I keep forgetting to post about it due to jetlag. Travel was much smoother than last year, with no flight delays or cancellations (in spite of some fairly bad weather the day I flew out of Madison).

It was great to hang out with nwhepcat, and I really enjoyed the programming I was on (a reading with Patty Templeton, Nicole Kornher-Stace, and Shira Lipkin, and a panel on "What Makes a Character Come Alive?"). I attended some terrific panels and readings, including a panel on Afrofuturist music and a reading featuring Karen Joy Fowler's hilarious memoir about her trip to Italy as a teenager.

I've been home for two days, but I'm still a bit jetlagged. Looking forward to Readercon, fast approaching!

I had a truly lovely Wiscon. Will write more about it when I am less jetlagged.

While I was there, the inaugural issue of Interfictions Online went live. It includes my prose poem Ginnie and the Cooking Contest!

And, because it's Reading Wednesday...

Books purchased at Wiscon:

Queers Dig Time Lords edited by Sigrid Ellis and Michael D. Thomas
The Receptionist and Other Tales by Lesley Wheeler
The Helix and the Hard Road by Joan Slonczewski and Jo Walton
The WisCon Chronicles vol. 7 (Shattering Ableist Narratives) edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft

I'm mostly packed for WFC, flying out early tomorrow afternoon. Having my usual pre-travel nerves. Soon I will have a glass of wine and watch REVENGE.

Finished reading THE WILD GIRLS, which I loved a lot.

Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be at WFC!

Tomorrow I'm flying to San Francisco to spend the weekend with a couple of friends I first met in a poetry workshop at UCLA about a zillion almost thirty years ago. I'm delighted to be escaping the Los Angeles summer, but I can't quite wrap my mind around the fact that I need to pack for a high of 63 degrees F.

***

One Life To Live continues to be entirely amazing. Today's episode was devoted to the Story of the Two Todds. Much as I love Trevor St. John (Todd of the Past Eight Years), I have to admit that Roger Howarth (Original Todd) has been magical in this storyline, especially now that he's begun to interact with Kassie DePaiva, Florencia Lozano, Kristen Alderson, and Erika Slezak. One of the great pleasures of soap opera (when done right) is how it draws on decades of history, so it's been a delight that the show has begun peppering Original Todd's reunion scenes with scenes from the 1990s (and early 2000s) of him and the same actors. There have been so many less-than-stellar returns of beloved soap actors in recent years (notably Vanessa Marcil's botched return to General Hospital, which may well have cost Bob Guza his job), but Roger Howarth's return has vastly exceeded my expectations.

I have to get up at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning to catch my airport shuttle, ugh. But I am mostly packed, and I'm checked in for my flight. Looking forward to seeing those of you who will be at Readercon!

Off to WFC. The shuttle's supposed to pick me up in 45 minutes. I probably won't be online much until Monday.

( so I will post about today's Ryan's Hope... )

Some highlights of Writercon:

There were many wonderful panels and presentations, including redeem147's Bollywood 101, general_jinjur's podfic presentation, and Kristina Busse's celebration of fannish tropes. I had a marvelous time moderating the Making Old Monsters New Again panel, during which harmonyfb, Debra Doyle, inkandchocolate and I, along with pretty much the entire room, enthusiastically discussed vampires and zombies and ghosts etc. etc. (And I got to talk about Dark Shadows, hooray!)

Speaking of soaps, I got to talk with nwhepcat and 10zlaine and willowgreen about Ryan's Hope, and rant with 10zlaine and callmesandy about GH! (I think 10zlaine and I spent pretty much the whole cocktail party talking about soaps...)

My favorite restaurant of the weekend was Hell's Kitchen, where I had breakfast a couple of times. I think I will be longing for those pancakes until I get back to Minneapolis. Also the hotel restaurant, Fire Lake, was awesome, and we ate there many times. Strangely I did not gain weight this weekend, which seems impossible. In general the hotel was by far the best we've had for Writercon, and rivals only the Concourse for my favorite con hotel.

It was so wonderful to see old friends and to talk with new ones. Big thanks to the concom for putting together such a lively and inspiring convention.

This afternoon I got together with my old friend Cecil Castellucci at Coffee Table to talk about a couple of upcoming Interstitial Arts events in LA (which I will post more about when I get home from Writercon).

I'm mostly packed for Writercon. The airport shuttle's supposed to pick me up around 5:40 a.m. ACK! (My flight was originally supposed to leave around 10 a.m., and then they changed it to 8 a.m.!) So I guess I'll be getting up at 4 tomorrow.

Really looking forward to the trip, and to seeing so many of my friends. I'll be moderating one panel:

Scare Me To Death: Making Old Monsters New Again
Saturday 10 a.m.
Panelists: Debra Doyle, inkandchocolate, harmonyfb

I'm not bringing a computer, so I probably won't be online much until I get home on Monday.

( this week's Ryan's Hope )