My writing buddy who cannot be here asked me to do some entries on my experiences at Worldcon. One day in, I can say with certainty that I am already exhausted.

Then again, I did get up at 3 a.m. to make my flight, so that's to be expected.

Now, for some less 'Well, duh' observations:

1. I am at a weird stage in my career.

I went to a panel on how to obtain an agent, and honestly, having been pursuing one for some months now, what I got out of it was that I am mostly going about it the right way. Probably because I attended pretty much the exact same panel at last years Worldcon.

So, I am slightly past the point where this and the panels on scams writers face are new to me. I have most of this information. The validation of methods is nice, but not necessary.

However, I am not yet at the point where the panels on estate planning or writer/editor relationships is entirely relevant to me either. I'm going to them anyway so I have the information *before* I need it, but I can't say they fill me with a sense of 'I must go to that' I have had about panels in the past.

2. Actually, I am not particularly excited about the programming this year in general. There are many panels dedicated to areas of interest specific to Texas, or to authors who had a big impact here in particular. Granted, the con is in Texas this year, so this isn't weird. But, such regionally specific discussion does seem to be a larger percentage of the programming at this con than similar content was other years. This may be because there are a lot of largely general topics such as multilingualism or border issues in fiction which come up as concerns in places like this more than where I am from in addition to the panels on Texas gothic and such. So, while those general topics have broader application, they feel regional is scope.

Or, it could be that exhaustion has made me delusional. Tomorrow I may think the program is heavily slanted towards pink elephants in fantasy.

Even if not, I suspect a solid six hours of sleep will make what seems like lackluster panels a lot more interesting if only because I will once again have enough energy to care about more than not getting a horrible sunburn and finding the nearest coffee distribution point.

3. Even if I don't find that buried passion for the panels, that's okay. This con, as I think I mentioned before, is about different things for me this year. I believe I have talked to more people today than I did the entire con last year.

And they are awesome. Why the heck wasn't I out there getting to know people sooner?

4. I have a habit of expanding to fill all available space. This is the first time I have roomed with someone I had not previously known for a decade, and I have become obsessively aware of every item placed anywhere in the room.

Mind you, the awareness hasn't stopped me from spreading out. I'm just trying to be neater about it. I made sure to hang up my wet towels, for example.

I may be the worst person ever to have as a hotel roommate.

Now I need to go and find a cup of coffee so I can stay awake long enough to attend the Writers' Workshop Meet & Greet. More insights tomorrow.