Sunday Update

Posted on August 28, 2011    Posted by John Scalzi      11 Comments

Because I know your weekend is incomplete without hearing from me. Yes it is.

* Yesterday I did my Context 24 flyby, in which I drove up to Columbus, did five programming events in six hours and then drove back. While I don’t recommend this as a frequent science fiction convention strategy, as a one-time I think it worked quite well, and I was happy with the day. I did an hour of autographing, for which I got to sit next Seanan McGuire, who was a convention Guest of Honor, and she and I chatted between her signing books (she had a rather longer line than I did). This was followed by two panels, one on agents (I am for them) and one on secondary characters (I am for them, too), both of which I thought went very well, thanks in great part to able moderating by Tim Waggoner and Linda Robertson, and good insights from my co-panelists.

Then a Q&A session, which was punctuated by the fantastic Seanan McGuire bringing me ice cream from Jeni’s, which I consumed as I spoke, and finally a reading, in which I read from the 2012 book and two other bits, and ended with me discussing (as I so often do) how awesome my wife is. Between the Q&A and the reading I had a bit of a breather in which I got to relax and chat with with Maurice Broaddus, Jason Sanford, John Hornor Jacobs and others.

And then, zoom, out of there, headed home, and when I got there I basically collapsed into sleep. Hey, I was entitled. It was a full day. Again, this is not a schedule I hope to replicate on a frequent basis. But I thought it worked pretty well for what was a very last-minute bit of showing up. And the nice thing is that even as a last minute substitute, the con-goers at Context made me feel welcome and that they were happy to see me. So thanks, Context folks. It was fun. The next time I come I’ll try to stay longer than just six hours.

* Today’s agenda: clean house. My wife is coming home after a week of being away visiting friends and in the interim the house has alas devolved to my personal state of entropy (which is, basically: Gaaaaaaaah! The filth!), so I have to induce order again before she gets home or I am a dead man. And then, my wife will be home after a week of being away, that week being a week after I was away for a week, which (if you can add) means that she and I will be seeing each other for the first time in two weeks. Which is my way of letting you know I won’t be here for the rest of the day. I don’t feel bad about this in the slightest.

* However, I will leave you with my favorite cover version of this song, as compensation, because it’s lovely.

See you on Monday.