The world we live in continues to be absolutely bonkers, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying a lovely Saturday of conversing with fellow authors about world-building and the fantasy genre as part of Capclave 2020. Alas, both panels were via Zoom from the comfort of my home office, so I’m still in hardcore withdrawal for the social part of conventions. My fingers are crossed for an amazing 2021 after a vaccine. (Until then, please get your flu shot, continue to wear masks and practice social distancing, etc.)
I’m always rather shocked when I get to sit on the same panels as legit famous people (in this case, convention guest of honor Troy L. Wiggins and former GOH Catherynne Valente). I like to think that I hold my own in these discussions; the best part about this community is how incredibly open and supportive everyone is, so even the occasional misstep is not really cause for concern.
The particular highlight of the day for me was finding out that an attendee of the fantasy taxonomy panel was there specifically to see me. She had lovely things to say about Steel Blood! A bonus lovely perk to how amazing this community is that we also had some mutual friends, and I could join them in a group chat later in the evening to continue some of the panel discussion and actually meet her “in person.” I hope to do so for real someday soon.
