Weather today in the Tries (Richland, Kennewick, Pasco WA):
The forecast for Monday is 51 High and 32 Low, Mostly Cloudy all day. Light and variable winds becoming west 5 – 7 mph in the morning. It ain’t freezing and we don’t have to shovel it or scrape it. And the best thing is, I’m not having to wear my fingerless gloves to type so much anymore. Yahooooo!!!!!!
AWP Conference
AWP stands for Association of Writers and Writing Programs. It also stands for Arctic Warfare Police, and a few other things that probably won’t ever make it into my writing. Anyhow, I’m using the first definition, which should be obvious.
First off, I love writerly conferences and have attended them for years. I especially liked attending the Science Fiction/Fantasy ones, they were short and not as pricey, and a lot of fun. When you factor in hotel rooms, transportation (I always went local), and food, they became pricey enough for my skinny wallet. I used to attend the local SF/F Con, as they are called, RadCon, as a pro so got my membership free. I usually stayed at the hotel and limited my paid meals to one a day, munching in the Green Room for the rest of the time. The panels were good (especially the ones I was on. ahem.) but the real fun came later, in the bar, schmoozing with the writers. And then I developed an allergy to the dry chemicals the hotel used to clean the carpets and decided breathing was more fun than the Con, so quit attending. Not just RadCon, but all Cons.
The “literary Cons” tended to be a tad pricier—they were also farther away, lasted longer, and I couldn’t attend as a ‘pro’. For a Litcon, I could easily drop a $1500.00 bill for a weekend. Uh, no.
Then Covid came. And the AWP Conference went online. I looked at the cost ($60.00 for seniors), checked out the panels, and signed up. I think they were scheduled to hold it in Kansas City, but, obviously…. For a 5-day conference it would have been totally out of my league, thank you very much. But online? Oh, wow! And, oh joy of joys, it will be available on demand after for a month, so I can visit the panels I missed because two or more I wanted to see were on at the same time!
The panels were recorded earlier, but the panelists were live on Chat. So, there was some live interaction. I got to see one of my favorite poets read for 10 minutes! Now, he would have been one I’d like to have met in the bar later to share a beer with. Just to listen to his voice. Sigh. And before your mind goes there, he’s the same age as my son.
I heard lots of new poets, and writers. Or, new to me. I attended panels on memoir writing, poetry, a tribute to Tony Hoagland, and one on the difference between literary fabulism and sf/f. Learned lots of little interesting tidbits, and the scariest thing of all? All of this for only $60.00 because age has its perks, yes? Why is that scary? Because I also found a couple hundred dollars’ worth of books, I now need to buy 😉 Several of which have already been ordered. But that’s part of the fun of attending the Cons. Meeting new authors, buying and reading their works.
I also attended the Keynote Speaker, our national poet laureate, Joy Harjo. What a delight. She has a small jazz band, and she wrote and performed a long poem with her band in the background, ending with a riff on the song Kansas City.
Because I’m hard of hearing and my office is under my neighbor’s bedroom and they work shifts, I do all my zooming wearing headphones. they are not the most comfortable to wear for long periods of time, and it was a bit difficult to hear Harjo over some of the music, but what a joy to see her. By the time I was through for the day, my ears hurt from wearing the headphones for so many hours.
Many, perhaps all, of the panels had Handouts, which I didn’t tumble to until Saturday. They were listed in the Chat room under Files. However, I can go back to the panel and see what they had.
I truly do like computers (except when I don’t) and I truly am thankful to AWP for putting the conference online. I hope there is a way they can do it for their next conference, even if it’s live, because for us old farts and fartesses on limited incomes, it’s the only way to attend far away and pricey conferences. Maybe record the panels and give them to us on demand? With no chat? I dunno, but I’m sure they can figure it out 😉
Entertainment:
Netflix: I’m still watching two episodes/week of Vincenzo, my K-dramedy series. I thought it was going to be a shoot-‘em-up-bang-bang gangster series, it’s got way too much humor in it for that, but oh, when the bad guy is bad, he’s marvelously bad! Wish I didn’t have to wait for the weekend and two new episodes!
Books: for complete reviews please see Rainy Day Reads at http://lenoragood.blogspot.com
Friday Night Bites, Book 2 of the Magic Market Mysteries —by Erin Johnson. I think this is the 3d of the books I’ve read. Great fun. Cozy mysteries with a twist. Great fun.
Auntie Lenora and Sammy Brave Dog
hope you all are still wearing your masks, socially distancing, staying safe, and staying healthy! And we’ll see you back here next week, same bat time, same bat channel.
