fullygoldy | WisCon: Lady Poetesses from Hell

Yes, it's been nearly a week. I work for a living, LOL. Also, I've been having the happiest beta experience of my life. An author who can take concrit in the spirit in which it is intended is a rare and beautiful thing (InMyLimitedExperienceTM). The current author isn't the only one, but she's the only one I also know in RL, and that adds a bunch of dimensions to the process. I'm having *fun.*

So, I asked my wise and wonderful friendlist for advice on which panel to attend at 1:00pm on Saturday. The only responses I got implied that I *must* attend "Lady Poetesses from Hell* or be deemed the most uncool of all. I am a sheep in this regard. I attended the panel. (I also sat in the back row to make a hasty retreat, if necessary).

Dayum! These poetesses rocked! The panel consisted of six readers, and the program only listed two, so I apologize for not knowing who the guy who was channeling a lady poetess is. They all "dressed" for the occasion. I definitely need to acquire some hats before the next con. Ellen Klages, Laurel Winter, the guy, Elise Mattheson, Rebecca Marjesdatter, and Terry Garey. I liked Terry's car poem ::bwg::

Ellen was the last to arrive, amber beer in hand, and they made her go first for her tardiness. Her intro explained that the previous night she had been shooting pool with Elise M, they were discussing slash, and drinking beer. "Woot!" said I, perhaps inappropriately, but come on! What's not to love there? Ellen went on to explain that Elise had challenged her to write her first slash ever. A poem for today's panel, with a pairing provided by Elise. The pairing consisted of:

A piece of string

Richard Feynman

O.M.G.!!!!!!!!!eleventy111111111!! /fangirl-geek squee. Seriously? Could this be a better challenge? The fact that Ellen accepted it meant that I was about to be treated to something wonderful. My abundant optimism was not misplaced.

I laughed, I roared, I wept (only from laughing so hard), I attempted not to fall out of my chair. I swear to all the gods, that if the entire rest of the panel had SUCKED, I would have still thought the experience a WIN of the greatest magnitude possible. I could barely breathe while Ellen shared her poem with us. Breathing might have made me miss something fabulous. "you're a Dick." "you don't understand me." OMG!

Laurel Winter later shared her "horror" poem of eggs in the refrigerator, awaiting their final judgement. That was eye-opening. I felt silly being practically the only person to admit to having eggs for breakfast that morning. Then Laurel admitted that she too had eaten eggs that day.

Each of the six took turns reading poems, and it seemed that they chose their poems based on what had been read prior. So, I found it very cool and extremely entertaining. And. I want a hat.

Afterward, I rushed the "stage" and asked Ellen if there was any way to get a copy of her fabulous slash poem. She showed me her hand-written notes in her notebook. 'this is the only place it exists.'

'I understand that, but I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW! Please, can I convince you to publish this somewhere?'
I won't say Ellen blushed at that, but she did kind of pink up around the ears, and she gave me her business card (OMG - they're so adorable - these tiny pieces of cardstock, about a quarter of a standard business card, with whimsical pics on one side and her info in tee-ninesy font on the other - they're all different!) She said that if I'd email her and remind her that I wanted the poem, she'd let me know where it finally got published. She had sort of thought she could get it published in Analog. Which is of course a fantastic idea, and figures, seeing as how I let my subscription lapse recently. But still. I encouraged that endeavor. Analog should be thrilled to have this submission. If not Analog, she'll post it to her blog. I cannot wait. I kid you not, this poem is to die for.

I spent the rest of the weekend telling people how fantastic the Lady Poetesses panel was. At one point, I spoke to Hope. Hope is apparently well-known, and I can see why. I attended a panel which she also attended. Her comments were pertinent, interesting and inciteful. So I'm blathering on to Hope about the poetry. She says she's not really into poetry. But. "Are you familiar with Laurel Winter?"
"I don't know - I'm not sure I recognize the name."
"Oh, she has this fantastic horror piece about eggs."
"OMG! She's one of the Lady Poetesses!"

Later on, I ran into Ms. Winter. I recounted this conversation (it was my only excuse for striking up a conversation). Says she, "Oh! I know Hope!" Seriously. How cool is that? (Also, Hope is one cool lady. I'm looking forward to running into her again).

In conclusion, always listen to your flist. Always attend panels labeled "Lady Poetesses from Hell." And *I am a geek of ginormous proportions when it comes to String Theory.*

ETA: If anybody is listening, the Poetesses need a bigger room.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, man, I would've loved that panel! I'm so glad you had a good time. Let me know when that poem gets published. I want to read it.

Also, I've been having the happiest beta experience of my life. An author who can take concrit in the spirit in which it is intended is a rare and beautiful thing (InMyLimitedExperienceTM). The current author isn't the only one, but she's the only one I also know in RL, and that adds a bunch of dimensions to the process. I'm having *fun.*

Awww...the pleasure is, well, probably not all mine, but you give good beta. It reminds me a bit of when I was in high school and would write stories and my friends would read them and comment in the margins. Something about the different colored comments got me all nostalgic. Plus, you know, you weren't telling me I was dumb or my writing sucked, so it's all good.

That'd be Laurel Winter, rather than Lauren. She has a blog: http://laurelwinter.blogspot.com/ and an lj feed http://syndicated.livejournal.com/l_a_winter/

The guy probably John Calvin Rezmerski (http://www.bookthatpoet.com/poets/rezmersk.html).

And maybe Terry Garey (who also makes wine: http://www.joyofwine.net/)?

Elise Matthesen is on lj as elisem (you probably already knew that). Her jewelry is gorgeous.

Sounds awesome! I was in the next room (the "Ass'y" room) and we heard raucous laughing through the walls.

Somebody's listening.

Yay! Because yeah, it was a bit crowded. Last year, too, even with a bigger room. (I think Suzette Haden Elgin wrote something about how a poetry reading that was in a good-sized room and was still standing-room-only gave her hope, or something.)

Room assignment is Deep Magic, I am convinced, and something that the new crew (i.e., us programming co-chairs) did an only so-so job at, in my own self-critical estimation. But we learned a lot! And I was so excited to see, say, the Baba Yaga panel and the Sense of Gender panel both overflowing their smallish rooms. Who'd've guessed? But yay!

It is Deep Magic indeed. I remember way back in the murky several-decades-ago past, when I was co-chairing programming for Minicon (back when it was bigger than it is now), the trickiest part and most intense work of doing programming was the time period where we made the schedule and then did a lot of flowchart-type examination, making sure that themes and intensities and pacing had a good chance of developing well, and looking at things from two sets of points of view: what worked for/with the hotel, and what worked for/with the panelists. Trying to avoid killing the panelists with back-to-back scheduling was most important, as there were always more things people wanted to do than could actually fit. It was one of those huge sliding puzzles, doing the schedule. However, I kinda liked doing it. (Not enough to do it again, but....)

Heh. Suddenly feeling nostalgia for the days when Juan and I used to run the Green Room. That was post-Programming, which was actually a plus, since I could solve a certain number of small problems without ever having to bother the programming head on duty.

Ah, memories.

So, you doing it next year, then?

Yes, I am doing it again next year. And after that, we'll see.

OMG! Elise M hijacked my journal for a chat! (I'm so easy, LOL).
I found the program scheduling I did (for a very tiny con) to be like a big puzzle too, which is fun in its way. But the hardest thing for me was always trying to meet all the presenters' requests (morning, night, not opposite so-and-so), and then having to tell them, during the con "no, I'm sorry, I'm not going to personally run around and tell each person that you want to change your slot because you just met someone fantastic - you'll just have to stick with the published schedule."

Oh, yes, that's a tricky one. But one must be firm with them. Er, with us. *grin*

Actually, I think that's one of the strengths of conventions where people have worn more than one hat: you know from experience why you have to be firm, and [some of] what not to ask for. I bet you're pretty easy for programming schedulers to deal with because of your experience wearing that hat yourself.

(As for the squee, you'll be wearing the squee-eliciting hat in turn, too. Another cool thing about fandom, that. If one keeps at one's work, that is.)

The bad news is that you started at the top. There are other good cons, but nothing like Wiscon.
Having gotten that out of the way . . .
The expression for all this in fan jargon has been "goshwowboyoboy". One of the illustrations is the neofan in the huckster room coming across a table where someone is getting rid of culls from his fanzine collection, "All You Want for $1." "I'll take two dollars worth!"

(p.s. the map on your info page has a world rainbow shining out of the Bight of Biafra from what looks like Fernando Poo. Is that a coincidence?)

"nothing like Wiscon" I can totally believe. I've felt that way about my entire experience in this state.

As for the map, I guess it's totally a coincidence. I liked the rainbow better than any other background; I like rainbows. It appears to be emanating from the center of the map, so the mathematical points are coinciding :)

WisCon: Lady Poetesses from Hell

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more fangirl squee!

Re: more fangirl squee!

neo

Re: neo