EFNW: Post-Con Wrap Up · 4:03am May 18th, 2016
Post-con wrap up, post-con wrap up! Find out more after the jump...
A summary of my EFNW 2016 experience, in GIF format:
Friday Morning
Sunday Night
Really, it feels like things just got started a few hours ago, yet here I am, back at home and already missing my fellow con-goers badly. I've always had a good time at EFNW, but this year was especially enjoyable for a variety of reasons: I sat on my first panel, had the chance to help the writing track staff with the Iron Author review/judging process, got to meet a number of well-known folks for the first time, and made contact with a slew of 'fresh on the scene' writers.
I sat on the 'Pony Psychology' panel, alongside Bronywriter, WebofHope, PiquoPie, and Heartshine. Most of the aforementioned people have academic and professional backgrounds in psychology, so parts of the discussion inevitably went over my head. But, we had a ton of great questions from the audience, and plenty of chances to delve into how all of that can play into our writing and characterizations. I was quite nervous going in, but I think everything went well! 
Outside of that panel, I had the chance to participate/listen in on many of the other panels, some of which featured community writers and show writers side-by-side. On that front, I have to give huge props to TitaniumDragon. His first panel at his first ever convention put him on stage next to Amy Keating Rogers, MA Larson, and Pen Stroke, and TD did an awesome job. Jeebus knows I'd have collapsed into a stuttering, sweaty mess up there, but TD more than held his own. Great job! 
Speaking of people, I finally got to meet TD in person, as well as Bronywriter, Cloud Hop, WebofHope, Morning Sun, Heartshine, and Ruirik. And that's on top of seeing some familiar faces in Winston, Xepher, PiquoPie, SilverFlare, and many others. It was truly an awesome experience talking shop and trading ideas with so many esteemed authors. And to those whom I met for the first time, it was an honor for sure, and you're all good people. 
Iron Author was held again, and turn out was pretty darn good, imo! It was really exciting to see so many younger folks giving the contest a try; A lot of the faces in there looked like college and high school age for sure. For those not familiar, Iron Author is like a super-compressed writeoff: Three prompt words, no word limit, and two hours to write. We had well over thirty entries at the end, and the top 3 winners all did a great job! I'll try to highlight them in a separate post later on.
In the end, it was a wonderful weekend, and I can confidently say that a fun time was had by all. I hope to meet even more new faces next year, and see as many of you again as I can. Looking back on it all, from where I started to now, I'm really beginning to think of you all as an online family extension. We may only meet once a year or so, but it's damn good to know you folks, and share in our love of fiction, ponies, and friendship.
Cheers!
GMP
Aw, thanks!
Yeah, I definitely jumped in on the deep end on that first panel, but it was a lot of fun being up there, and I really enjoyed being on panels in general - it was totally fun being up there and talking about stuff and answering questions.
And it was a lot of fun hanging out with you! Thank you for staying behind on the first night and chatting with me while I was the slowest dinner eater ever, and thank you for hanging out with me in general; it was really fun talking to you (and Winston, and Xepher, and Web of Hope, and Ruirik, and LoyalLiar, and Heartshine, and...)
Bet it was fun! I can't wait for my next chance to go to a con.
3952944 No problem at all! I'm usually the slow eater at the dinner table, so I know how it goes. :) Glad you had a great time though!
I wanted to talk to you but I discovered I'm not very social when I'm high on weed
3953064 Lol, well no offense taken here, believe me. Tis' all good! :) We'll catch up next time!
Great to see you and Stef and hang out this year. I enjoyed the psychology panel. It went pretty well, overall, and I thought you did a pretty good job of bringing it back to being more about the writer's perspective on some points where it was drifting off to be a little too technical.
Sorry again that I missed you catching you at the end of the day on Sunday to say goodbye, but at least we got plenty of hangout time over the course of most of the convention, which I was looking forward to.
3955377 Ack, I'm sorry. I meant to respond to your email the other day, but am falling behind here, lol. No worries though! Tis' all good. :)
3953064
Haha that is a good reason to not be social though!
Also HUFF at not mentioning meeting me. You butt. HUFF
3955584 Oh! I'm so sorry!
Certainly was not intentional. In fact, this is exactly why I try to avoid lists like that, as I invariably forget someone. My apologies. 
I've remedied that in the post.
3955821
I don't mind but I cannot resist a delicious opportunity to pretend to be upset! It's like a thing. Or something!