Saturday At NORWESCON, 2012.

.....Saturday was a long day. I was going to post last night and zonked out. Although taking a dip in the hot tub probably didn't help as it zapped whatever energy I had left. :-)

.....During our Saturday morning coffee run Marcus and Madeline walked on by. Complete in bathrobe and tuxedo. :-) I saw Madeline later in the morning at a writing panel and from Facebook it looked like Marcus found cool stuff in the Dealer's Room. So I think they had fun. We say Soren and Inga later in the day as well. It was their first NORWESCON. The had bad luck on at least one of their panels, so I'm hoping they had some fun. Although when we last saw them they were off to a gaming panel. So I'm hoping.

.....Started off the morning wiht TBT on a writing panel. It was on the subject of creating story outlines. It's interesting to go to these panels to see the trends in the mechanics of writing these days. It was very telling when the panelists talked about how a handful of years ago publishers and editors wanted authors to pitch ideas to them in outlines of twenty or thirty (or more) pages. These days these same people want to see story ideas condensed down into a synopsis of only a few pages in length. Between electronic media and the faster pace of today's world, you need to know how to create a presence quickly and succinctly. I find that interesting.

.....Next panel was a jewelry maker from the Seattle area. Lots of good information on sources for tooling and materials locally. I did not know of the existence of 'Seattle Findings' on 4th and Pine in downtown Seattle. We need to go! Ever since TSI closed their doors several years back, as well as Alpha in Bremerton, there has been no place to go and put eyes and hands on metal and jewelry making materials. I am rather excited to explore this place as their online presence hints to a lot of cool stuff!

.....Had something of an early lunch, helped TBT haul stuff to her next panel, and then hit a discussion on the use of blogging to enhance writing. I was a little disappointed in the panel. Blogging is useful if you want to sharpen your writing ability. But it is easy to fall into bad habits (bad grammer, disjointed stylings, etc.) and the panelists did not have good things to say on blogging to promote writing as a business.

.....The next panel was a slide show and discussion on the works of XCOR down in the Mojave desert. :-) I even recognized some of the scenery shots from outside Lancaster. :-) Their plane looks great and is scheduled to start test flying at 250K feet this time next year, and at 350K feet in two years. Considering this is a privately financed venture, it was rather exciting. The fact that there are a number of private companies in the area with various business enterprises in development to go into space was very exciting.

.....Another writing panel after that which turned into a debate on the use of outlining a story versus free form writing of a story. It really all boiled down to the individual writing style of the author as to what worked best for them. I personally like outlining things first, but I have to wonder if that stifles my writing somewhat.

.....Met TBT at the Seattle Opera Trunk Show on wings. TBT was very excited to take a close look at the wing designs. She took lots of pictures and touched everything. It was fun to watch her geekdome. :-) It was be fantastic if she could design and create costuming and accessories for the Seattle Opera.

.....I was excited to see the write up and pictures for the 2013 season of the Ring Cycle. I hadn't realized that it was time again. I know tickets are going to be expensive, but I'd like to see at least one. Gotterdamerung is my favorite (how can you resist 50' walls of flame and flying horses on the stage :-)). But I like the story of Das Reingold. There is a dragon after all. :-)

.....Went back to the room after that and dressed up for TBT's final panel on 'Native Steam'. The Steam Punk coat looked awesome. TBT had her picture taken several times on the way to the panel. I was even asked for a picture at least once. :-)

.....AFter TBT's panel we went out to dinner and then crashed back at the room. I had wanted to hear the music of the evening, as the best was saved for last. But I was tired.

.....The room is about packed. We'll start schlepping stuff out to Heather shortly. A couple of panels before we can collect TBT's art show display and then we'll hit the road. NORWESCON will be over for the year and it'll be time to officially start the June Faire season. I'm glad I took Monday off from work. I'll pay for that in spades come Tuesday, but I didn't get a lot of cell calls while here, so I'm hoping that things will settle out quickly.

.....Aaron / Arontius.