GCLS: Thursday (it is Thursday, right?)
Jul. 23rd, 2015 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjI have gotten to that stage of my trip where I have to consult my iPhone to remember what day of the week it is. It doesn't help that both RainbowCon and GCLS start mid-week, rather than being a traditional Friday-to-Sunday weekend event. Yesterday was the official opening ceremonies (preceded by helping to unpack and arrange books on the Bella dealers' room tables). Then in the evening a local Bella author hosted a BBQ at her house (a gorgeous high-ceilinged cottage in the "shotgun" style).
Today started out the my reading session. With six readers in a short hour (i.e., hour minus changeover time) we had to find five minute excerpts to read, which is not at all easy, believe me. Some people edit down a special "reading version" of something, but I'm a believer in presenting the work as it is in the book. So I did the scene from fairly late in The Mystic Marriage after Jeanne and Antuniet quarrel when Jeanne gives the speech about "we are all impure mixtures and flawed gems."
Next was my panel "Overseas Among the Aliens" on writing in settings other than one's one culture. There was a lot of agreement among the panelists on general approach, though much difference in emphasis. After covering issues of cultural representation and respect, we had just started getting into the nitty gritty of things like how to represent multi-lingual settings, when the hour was up. Could definitely have gone on longer.
The next session I attended a humorous "truth or lie?" panel with various authors telling outrageous stories where the audience voted on the veracity of the event. I had a very bad success rate in evaluating. I'm not sure whether this means I'm too gullible or too cynical, since I erred in both directions.
Since I didn't see anything really compelling in the first two afternoon sessions, Lauri and I (joined by our friend Dar) wandered off to the French Market for lunch and some light shopping. When I came back I spent a while hanging out at the Bella dealer's table, with the intent of using the fairly light customer period to get to know some more of the Bella administration and staff better. (I've had direct contact with a very limited set of people to date.) The attempt was spectacularly unsuccessful, but at least I tried.
Attended a panel on research methods during the last afternoon session, which was interesting but quite basic. Then came the GCLS business meeting which was pretty much what you'd expect form an organization's business meeting. (Featured was a guided tour to the new web site's functionality.) This was followed by the Bella Books reception. Since the reception was light hors d'oeuvres, Lauri and I stopped by the cafe afterward for an additional snack before crashing for the evening.
Today started out the my reading session. With six readers in a short hour (i.e., hour minus changeover time) we had to find five minute excerpts to read, which is not at all easy, believe me. Some people edit down a special "reading version" of something, but I'm a believer in presenting the work as it is in the book. So I did the scene from fairly late in The Mystic Marriage after Jeanne and Antuniet quarrel when Jeanne gives the speech about "we are all impure mixtures and flawed gems."
Next was my panel "Overseas Among the Aliens" on writing in settings other than one's one culture. There was a lot of agreement among the panelists on general approach, though much difference in emphasis. After covering issues of cultural representation and respect, we had just started getting into the nitty gritty of things like how to represent multi-lingual settings, when the hour was up. Could definitely have gone on longer.
The next session I attended a humorous "truth or lie?" panel with various authors telling outrageous stories where the audience voted on the veracity of the event. I had a very bad success rate in evaluating. I'm not sure whether this means I'm too gullible or too cynical, since I erred in both directions.
Since I didn't see anything really compelling in the first two afternoon sessions, Lauri and I (joined by our friend Dar) wandered off to the French Market for lunch and some light shopping. When I came back I spent a while hanging out at the Bella dealer's table, with the intent of using the fairly light customer period to get to know some more of the Bella administration and staff better. (I've had direct contact with a very limited set of people to date.) The attempt was spectacularly unsuccessful, but at least I tried.
Attended a panel on research methods during the last afternoon session, which was interesting but quite basic. Then came the GCLS business meeting which was pretty much what you'd expect form an organization's business meeting. (Featured was a guided tour to the new web site's functionality.) This was followed by the Bella Books reception. Since the reception was light hors d'oeuvres, Lauri and I stopped by the cafe afterward for an additional snack before crashing for the evening.
