Bronycon and the Week of Dragons · 7:36pm Sep 7th, 2017
tl;dr Bronycon 2017 notes, Georg is posting an entire week of dragon work, and Harwick is awesome!
I’ve got three dragon-related stories over five chapters to post next week.
- The Lazy Dragon of Dragonvale and Other Stories for Foals.
- A five-chapter arc of Letters From a Little Princess Monster
- And last but not least, More Precious Than Silver or Gold (now that I have a cover)
I’ll let you know when I start, but first, my Bronycon post. (Yes, I’m a poky poster. I’m just glad to get this posted before *next* year’s Bronycon)
(Bronycon 2017: What a group of happy pony people. So much talent. I will personally write the story of your choice if you can pick me out from that pic.)
First, if I met you at Bronycon and don’t mention your name, it’s not because I forgot you, just I’m horrible with names and I had so many of them over the weekend.
The wife and I drove from Kansas, which Google said would only (!) be an eighteen-hour drive. So after finding out how much of a liar the evil beast is and spending the night on the other side of a two-hour traffic slowdown (you people can’t drive at night!), we arrived at Baltimore only five or six hours late.
— Lesson One: Start early
We had two coolers on the way up for sandwiches, and about a gallon of tiny goldfish crackers (yum!) to keep us fortified. Was amazed at how much Pepsi and tiny carrot sticks make the trip easier and the idiots on the road more tolerable.
— Lesson Two: Snack selection
Upon arrival and finding the hotel (Thank you, Siri), we managed to find the Marriott's parking garage (no thank you, Baltimore construction) and subject our vehicle to storage at a rate that is more than hotel rooms cost here. Seriously, our car deserved a spa and a whirlpool at those rates. And our rates… Well, I understand now while otherwise normal people will share a room with almost total strangers to attend a convention.
— Lesson Three: Fly
The wife is not a Brony, and spent the weekend touristing in the Baltimore harbor area and enjoying the time off. A pool would have been nice, but the Marriott is poolless.
— Lesson Four: Holiday Inn if you want a pool for the spouse
Registration, since I was so late, was a walk-through right up to the counter (See Lesson One) to get my lanyard and my nametag (with my FimFiction name, because *nobody* knows me by my real name,and I’d like to keep it that way, mostly). One thing about the Go Away/Talk To Me tags that you’re suppose to wear on the lanyard is they fall over the nametag, which is backwards half the time anyway. Thankfully, I’ve got a nametag that clips on my collar. And I was off (in more ways than one).
Which leads me to something I did not expect: Groupies.
No, seriously. I’m probably the most shy egomaniac you’ll ever meet. Up until five years ago, nobody other than my dissapointed English teacher had read anything creative that I’ve written. I write under a penname because I don’t want my bosses to fiddle around with Google and say things like, “He writes pony stories about alicorns who lay eggs?” Now here I was on the other side of the world (Ok, so I don’t get out of Kansas more than once a year or so), and people were coming up to me with variations of “Ohmygodyou’rehereIreadeverythingyouwroteandyou’resogreat…” Admittedly, I only counted four, but that’s about five more than I expected. I really needed business cards.
Georg (insert smiling face here)
Author, Diminutive Equestrian Literature
www.fimfiction.net/user/47923/Georg
— Lesson Five: Plan ahead for what to bring (nametag and cards)
Now finally, the convention. There were writing panels on all kinds of wonderful author stuff, which I tried to over-attend to the point where I missed out on much of the shopping and several of the more fun events like the voice actor panels, AND I didn’t get to hang out in Quills and Sofas as much as I should have. After all, most of the writing panels were recorded, but my fellow writers/readers were only there for a few days. I’m terrible at planning (see above) and finding places in the building (admittedly, a maze), so several times I found myself wandering the hallways with map in hand, totally lost. I am eternally grateful for SafoeArts (think I got the name right) who escorted me around the vendor booths and gave me the quick tour, or I might still be wandering around. (Hello? Anybody there? It’s dark, and I think I hear wolves.)
— Lesson Six: Schedule time for your peer group
One thing that I beat myself up for is missing the author dinner, something that I would *not* have if I had kept track of people and maybe given a few cards with “I’m hopeless. If you get to the dinner and I’m not there, please call me.” Worse, there’s a few people I talked with for some time and have *no* idea who they are.
— Lesson Seven: Communication (even for us introvert hermits)
And, of course, OMG Stuff!! I got to meet NCMares for about three seconds, bought I don’t know how many buttons, posters, and a very slick cloth wall hanging of Princess Luna, a t-shirt for the wife, (and an Admiral Biscuit t-shirt from the gentleman himself, so neat!), and much geeking out about the batpony mascot (which I now own) In this case, I did well. I had a certain amount of money allocated, I spent it down to the last dollar, and was very happy. The only thing I didn’t do was take enough pictures, which I plan on making up for next year. If you want to look at my collection (and the wife’s pics from the Baltimore harbor tour), they’re over on Flickr here. (Hope this works)
— Lesson Eight: Stuff Management - Budget your purchases and take lots of pictures
That’s the end of my notes for now. I plan on attending next year, most likely flying in. (Seriously, that drive is just wrong. I don’t know how our ancestors did that in covered wagons without saying “To heck with it, this looks perfectly good here.”)
Tidbits and advance warning of Dragon Week:
The draft of the picture I was thinking of using for The Lazy Dragon of Dragonvale (working on it):
Picture credit: How To Draw a Sleeping Dragon by Darkonator
Vorel’aurix-levethuix Maekrix-book-rasvim is courtesy of Talon and Thorn from the story Climing the Mountain 2, an excellent romance/adventure continued.
And a tiny little thumbnail preview of Harwick’s picture for More Precious Than Silver or Gold:
(Squeal of Delight!)
I'm pretty sure there are pictures of you in that Flickr album, so if the group shot were just a tad clearer (and I were better with faces), that prize would be a shoo-in. :V
Fun little thing:
I was actually in Baltimore during Bronycon, and I had no idea it was happening, so imagine my surprise when we passed the convention hall with the giant Bronycon poster hanging outside XD
We actually had lunch literally across the street from the hall, so we watched all the guys with the funny cosplay costumes walk past for about 45 minutes.
I'm guessing those of us who actually met you are ineligible for the prize.
I too stayed at the Marriott and I have no idea where its parking garage is located. Heck, my taxi driver hesitated for a few moments when he saw the barricades around the place, and he's been there often enough that the bellhops knew him by name. (For the record, I took the train, since I'm along a line that goes from New York to D.C.)
My solution to the comfort stoplight badges was to pin one to a backpack strap with a bubble mark button I'd purchased back at Ponycon. Though that wasn't perfect; it kept coming undone, and I almost left it behind more than once. Especially distressing since the woman who I'd bought it from didn't seem to be offering that design at Bronycon.
I too regret some of my time allocation choices, though the writing panels were well done. Still, you weren't the only one who missed the author dinner. I didn't even know it was happening until the day after the fact.
In any case, I'm glad I got to meet you in person, and I'm looking forward to the dragony goodness!
For some reason, my computer doesn't come with an "enhance" feature yet, so it's hard to make out details on faces when I zoom in. With only a few lines you've given of for self-description, my best guess is that you're the one about one-third of the way across from the left, towards the back but not all the way (with the glasses), what appears to be an ever-so-slightly-greying-beard, and a slightly tilted head to see the camera. Effectively, the oldest-looking person in that shot form what I can tell.
Or I'm wrong and you just look really good for someone who self-describes as an "old geezer".
Also, feel free to pop on Discord a little more often.
(sees news on princess monster...stops reading to comment) FINALLY!!!
Toru in Equestria?
You're the one holding the camera?
we dragons are best!!
It was good to meet you and I still would love to collaborate on a silly story sometime.
The really weird thing, is when you say it to someone and they say it right back at you.
I need to focus pnesdon eight myself in the future. It was only after the con I found out and/or realized there were people in the dealers room I would have liked to meet.
On the other hand, meeting you at the con happened so I know exactly who you are in the picture. Also, just stopping somewhere and calling it good enough is probably how Kansas got settled by people heading to the west coast. Also, hurray for goldfish snacks.
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4661750 Confession: I missed the picture. Sigh. So I am neither behind nor in front of the camera. This relates back to Lesson 6, Spending time with your peer group so you don't miss the group photo.
4661725 (raises hand) Guilty.
4661559 Also. Matter of fact, I didn't meet anybody at the con that I would *not* have wanted to write a colab with. :)
4661400 Only ten fingers.
4661347 You may have been sitting in our vicinity, because I had lunch with a group of authors/MLP fans across the street from the convention center too. Wonderful bunch of guys and gals with tolerant spouses. (My wife went to the harbor tour with one of the spouses.)
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With such an unqualified offer as a reward, this fact does not surprise me.
Super late to the post (been off in Writeoff-land for a week), but I think "SafoeArts" is Silfoe aka SilfoeArts, who does amazing pony work.
Was good seeing you there!