WorldCon 77: Dublin

I survived WorldCon!

And, shocking likely no one, I didn’t even attend half of the 80 panels I’d lowered my list down to.

I met new friends (in queues or at WorldCon bid parties), ran into familiar faces, and got at least 5 hours sleep a night! (Not counting, of course, the ‘sleep’ I got on the red eye flying in).

My final tally? 19 panels, 2 9am yoga classes, 2 plays, 1 Philharmonic concert, 1 game show, and an aerial extravaganza.

26 items, 29 hours of programming, and over 80 pages of handwritten notes.

Despite the crowds, I only missed out on two hours of panels that I otherwise would have attended, and that was on Saturday.

Thursday, I managed to squeeze in Introduction to Hopepunk and Making the Asexual Textual.

Friday? That was my big day (by 1 amazing 3 hour concert). I made it up by 9am for Accessible Yoga.

Then filled my day with: How to Tell Science From Pseudoscience, Done To Death: The Art of Killing Characters, Booktube: The World of YouTube Book Discussions, YA Futures, ConEIRE (meta play/radio drama about running a con), What Writers Need to Know: The Brain and the Body, and WorldCon Philharmonic – Dublin.

Whew!

Then! My weekend.

Saturday was Accessible Yoga, Building the SFF Community Online, P/Faerie Tale (play about Irish and Filipino faery likeness and differences), Editor’s Panel: Challenges and Anecdotes, In the Background: Class in YA Fiction, Authors and Social Media: Friends or Foe, Panel Show: ‘That Was Unexpected!’

But wait, there’s more! Sunday — I did NOT make it to yoga.

Instead, as a button-eyed doll, I headed off to Down the Rabbit Hole: The Appeal of Portal Fantasy, Social Media: Marketing Tips and Tricks, Portrayals of Mental Health in Genre, Getting and Staying Published, The Importance of Kindness, How To Read Aloud For Performance (which! it turns out I’d attended this same workshop at Helsinki! So, here are those notes), and Romantic Subplots. I ended up watching the Hugo’s live streamed from my laptop in the comfort of my hotel room.

And Monday? WorldCon is a five day event! I hit Creative Couples (which was more of story time, than actual tips to share…), and finished out with Aduantas: To The Waters and The Wild (an aerial and acrobatic show).

Clearly, I had trouble saying no to things. I regret not making it to the auxiliary convention space — I missed the entire art show.

I regret missing so many panels that were double-booked.

But? I can say with all honesty, there were no panelists I wanted to avoid, and many that were entertaining beyond my expectations. (Which were high, obviously, or I wouldn’t have booked myself so heavily.)

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For those of you who were worried, I DID actually see a bit of Ireland. On Monday, I skipped a couple panels to take the opportunity to have lunch at a real pub and see Trinity College’s Long Room and The Book of Kells. Plus, a lovely walk around St. Stephen’s green.

The book was inspiring. The hall itself?

After you pass an alcove of gated off rare books, the hall draws you in until you have to stop, just to take it all in. The first thing that greets you is the gracefully sweeping woodwork. Then, you notice the beautifully symmetrical nooks filled with rare books, each guarded by the bust of one of the western literary greats. Catching your breath, you step in and the scent of paper and dust and age permeates your lungs. Row by row, you see each shelf with its own private, mounted ladder and wonder: how many of these were printed and how many were hand-copied?

The hall is a holy place for those who worship Knowledge, and Her calling there is strong.

It was glorious.

Then Tuesday? Was a very long bus tour, to Northern Ireland — with a bus tour by one who lived through The Troubles, a long walk along the Giant’s Causeway, and a daring crossing of the rope bridge at Carrick.

I took a lot of pictures and slept most of the way back to Dublin, before an early morning ferry.

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I’ll be back again next week with more of your regularly scheduled writing tips and writerly musings.

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Oh, and a rainbow signaled the end of the convention and the closing ceremonies.