Well, it’s been a while since I posted anything. Driving from Regina to Ottawa will do that to you. Even when I had Internet access in the places we stayed, I didn’t have much interest in blogging after seven or eight hours of driving.
But we arrived safely in Ottawa on Tuesday (by way of Grand Forks, North Dakota, Ashland, Wisconsin, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario), left our car with a friend there that we stayed with that night, and made our way to Montreal by train on Wednesday. We’re at the Hilton Bonaventure, an interesting hotel that’s horizontal rather than vertical, taking up a couple of floors of the Place Bonaventure. The lobby, pool, and rooftop garden are all on roughly the 11th floor. Nice place, but we had to change our room today after last night, when we discovered we were right up against some kind of mechanical room that made whirring and clunking sounds all night long. The hotel was very nice about it and moved us to a new room today, with a view of the rooftop garden, complete with waterfall, fountain and duck pond.
The convention centre is about four blocks from here, not a bad hike, but still long enough that we don’t run back to our room any time during the day. We registered yesterday, and then started attending panels, etc., today. While I was manning the SF Canada table in the dealer’s room for a couple of hours this afternoon, Margaret Anne and Alice were in the children’s play area learning about swordfighting. Alice made a sword there that she wore for the rest of the day, so perhaps it’s appropriate I’m morphing into a fantasy writer with my next book.
I only had one panel today, which was about the basics of reporting. It was intended for teens, but only one who didn’t have familial connections to one of the panelists showed up. Still, we had a good discussion of reporting, the differences between print and online journalism, what kinds of questions to ask, etc., etc. I had a bit to contribute, so despite the out-of-whack participant to panelist ratio, I had a good time.
And that was it, formally. Margaret Anne and our friend from Ottawa attended another panel, on traveling to Alpha Centauri (short version: not any time soon!), while Alice and I came back to the hotel. I foolishly left the information brochures for SF Canada on my desk at home and had to fettle up something rough-and-ready on my netbook. I sent it as a PDF to some local SF Canada members who will hopefully be able to print enough copies for the table.
Tomorrow I’m manning the SFWA table for an hour, then signing autographs for an hour. After that it’s the DAW presentation of upcoming books (I don’t think Lee Arthur Chane will be mentioned, but you never know) and then it’ll be time to get ready for the Aurora Award banquet. I don’t really expect to win, but it’d be nice!
I’d hoped to post some photos, but I seem to have mislai my cable for connection the camera to the computer. If I didn’t leave it in our first room (which I think I might) I’ll have to see about buying a replacement somewhere…or else photos will have to wait until I get home.
Wish me luck at the Auroras tomorrow! I’ll report the results as soon as I can.
2 comments
Figures. You come through Ottawa when I’m not there. Oh well.
Happy happy thoughts and much good luck wishes. #worldcon on twitter yields some interesting posts, but better by far are blogs by various attendees, with pictures (hint: find that cable!)
Hugs to MA & A