OryCon is a great local convention where I can see other writers in the northwest and see people I don't see so often. As well as seeing people I do see often, but in a fun, good times environment.

X and I headed up there on Friday. We stayed in the Oxford Suites which is next door to the con hotel. It's cheaper, but the biggest perk is free breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning and it's not your normal continental breakfast. They have eggs and french toast and other good things. The other perk is two drink tickets per person for Friday and Saturday night in the bar. This means leaving the convention, which we did on Friday, but missed out on Saturday.

We didn't go to any panels on Friday. We hit the dealers room. We hung out in the lobby area visiting with Steve and Chris York, Jay Lake, and other people who came along. I got my Jay Lake pin. I'm drawing a blank on what all happened on Friday, but I do know when we went back to the Oxford Suites and had our free drink I had an empty stomach. They had chips and veggies and cocktail weiners and cheese, but I didn't eat enough to fill my gut. I had two beers, plus third one because someone gave us their tickets, plus a fourth because we helped the bartender with the keg. Four beers on an empty stomach and I was buzzing pretty good. I'm not used to that. It was an early evening that Friday night!

After the evening of drunken debauchery, Saturday brought convention activities. In the dealers room I bought copies of Greetings From Lake Wu and Polyphony 3. Shortly after that I ran into Leon West and had him sign his story, and then I ran into Kathy Oltion and had her sign her story too. While saw Jay plenty of times during the con I neglected to have him sign Lake Wu. Neither did X and she was part of the Greek Chorus at Jay's reading. Well, we know where to find him if we want them signed.

It was panel light at Orycon. I liked the panel on anthologies and how they're pitched and bought was a good one. However the last twenty minutes turned a bit chaotic when audiance members added their anthology ideas. I wanted to listen to the panelists talk about publishing.

After that panel Dave Bischoff invited Marty Greenberg to the bar and bunch of us sat around to chat. While in the bar I saw Gardner Dozois come in with Leslie What and Nina Hoffman. Gardner wasn't part of the con. He had just finished the short story workshop with Kris Rusch on the coast.

I was late for Jay Lake's reading. I heard the end of The Angle Of His Dreams.

In the evening X and I ended up dinning with Alan Clark and Paul Groendes. We went to the Mongolian Grill. I haven't been there in awhile and I went back for seconds. I'm afraid I ate too much, but man that was good. It was also good to talk to Alan Clark. He lives in Eugene and I probably should visit him more often. I took advantage of this small dinner party to talk to him. He has a good business head, as well as being a great artist. He learned a lot as he advanced his career, like finding out skills he never knew he had that were beneficial. And he never considered working in horror until he got involoved with it. He found his niche there. He's happy that he could make a living at his art.

Alan and Paul got us into the artist reception which is by invite only. We had some wine and looked at the art. I never spend that much time around the art gallery at Orycon, so that was something different and something fun.

One of the highlights of the evening was talking to a former workshop member, Damien Filer. He moved away from Eugene to Florida almost seven years ago and he was in Portland on other business. He stopped by OryCon to see some old friends. He'll be stopping by the workshop on Tuesday. Hard to believe it's been almost seven years. A lot as changed in that time.

I stayed away from beer Saturday night--I was bloated from dinner! But it was a late night, losing X for awhile, and hanging around the Baen party. Jay lake, Bridget Mckenna, and others. It was a great time.

Sunday I was ready to head back to Eugene and we hit the road immediately. We never did go back to the hotel. The drive home was rainy and windy--post Orycons can be like that. The ferocious fall weather is here. I'm anxious get some writing done--need to bring a story to workshop on Tuesday--and work on that novel.