Thoughts on being a Mom and everything else
We attended Capricon last weekend, building a box fort (again!), hanging out with friends, and attending and/or participating in various panels. I’ve written about Capricon multiple times over the years, as it’s by far my favorite science fiction convention. Smaller conventions – say under a couple thousand people – give you plenty of opportunity to … Continue reading “Capricon 44 (February 2024)”
What makes a delightful convention? Seeing as how I’m not on staff for Capricon, it’s mostly about seeing friends, making some new friends, and since 2019, helping to host a Box Fort-themed party. The Box Fort parties are always hosted at Capricon; our first two were at a hotel in Wheeling. I built a box … Continue reading “Another delightful Capricon”
Last weekend, I attended my 19th Capricon. Yes, really… 19 consecutive years at the same convention. Wow! Capricon was the first convention that I discovered the room parties at. (I had attended DragonCon before that, but didn’t encounter the parties until after my first Capricon.) I’ve assisted at parties with various groups over the years, … Continue reading “Trying something new at Capricon: hosting a party”
I’ve attended some large conventions – Origins, DragonCon, GenCon – and they’re certainly fun, but when it comes down to it, the smaller conventions, like Capricon, are my favorites. While the large conventions focus more on seeing the big names and meeting many of your fan favorites, the little conventions are about interacting with other … Continue reading “Capricon 2018”
While I’m specifically taking about drawing and painting in this post, I’m really referring to any creative process you want to count, be that crafting, writing, making music… whatever! I’ve found myself needing a creative outlet a couple times recently, the first as I was preparing a bid to co-chair next year’s Capricon with a … Continue reading “Find time for creativity”
Last Friday, we attended C2E2 for the first time as volunteers for the Science Fiction Outreach Project, which gives away free books (mostly science fiction and fantasy) to promote literacy. Given limited time and the size of the exhibit hall, we took a focused approach of visiting just the Writers’ Block and Artist Alley (13 … Continue reading “What a whirlwind week!”
First of all, no before photo in this post… I couldn’t capture the bump on the back of my left hand well for a before photo. The after photo is completely bandaged, so nothing gruesome. Before Back in October, before I went to Montreal, my hand started hurting… just a little… and I noticed a … Continue reading “Hand surgery: before & after”
Our friend Marinda recently lost her battle with cancer and I want to reflect on some of the memories we had together over the years. Our friendship spanned half her lifetime (though not quite half of mine). We met at Capricon, her first time attending a Chicagoland convention and my second year at that particular … Continue reading “Remembering Marinda”
I made a mistake at Capricon: I bought A Killing Moon, the first book in Alexis D. Craig’s Winged Guardians series. I read the first couple chapters at the convention, along with pages 119 through 121 to be sure I’d be comfortable reading them out loud to an audience. The panel’s title was judging a … Continue reading “Thoughts on A Killing Moon”
This year has certainly had its ups and downs. I had my first short story published in an anthology (and my second one, which I’ll tell you about soon), we returned to attending Capricon in person (though I apparently didn’t blog about it), we’ve continued attending live shows, and we even went to Florida where … Continue reading “2022 is going out with a bang!”