Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Professor McGonagall

Sunday, we had breakfast at the Down Home Diner in the Reading Terminal Market before heading over to the Marriott for the day's activities. I stopped first at the "David Does Hollywood" panel, which was David Mattingly talking about his work as a matte artist in film.

There were a small number of people there, probably because most people who were interested in his work had attended yesterday's event. Or again, it was a little early.

We had to wait for a projector to be set up before he could start, but he seemed very relaxed about the whole process. He's a pretty laid back person. When he finally did get his projector, he encouraged people to ask questions as he showed some of his matte painting work in commercials and film. Most recently, he had done a lot of very impressive work with I, Robot, the best reason I've found yet to finally see it.

It seemed there were a lot of artists in the audience, asking technical sounding questions about how he worked. And of course, he answered all of those easily and gave them recommendations.

Afterwards, I introduced myself and told him I'd be interested in interviewing him for Wild Violet. He said he'd be happy to and that as soon as he and his wife finished checking out of their hotel room, he'd meet me in front of the Starbucks in the lobby at about quarter of 1.

I checked in with The Gryphon and then stopped through the dealer's room to pick up a couple other things I'd wanted, including a beautiful butterfly necklace for myself and a copy of Josepha Sherman's book, Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts. For the rest of the day I tried to locate her to get her autograph, unsuccessfully. Ironically, I discovered when I got home that she had already signed it!

Then I headed downstairs to Starbucks. It was a little too noisy to record the interview, as I always do, on my mini-tape recorder, so I suggested we find a quiet room on the 300 level, where there wasn't as much going on that day. He agreed, after first buying himself a bottle of water and me a Starbucks Frapuccino.

It didn't take us long to find a room. As it turned out, we found one next to the "Bad Anime, Bad" panel where a bunch of my friends were. We could hear them laughing throughout, but not loud enough to be a concern.

David Mattingly was really great to talk to. He's an interesting blend: enthusiastic about his creative projects but at the same time being a very calm, mild-mannered sort of person. We had a great conversation, and I was really happy with it. At the end of it, he even told me I'd asked some good questions.

As we were walking away, I told him something that had been a lot on my mind as I interviewed him: namely, that he looks a lot like my brother. Taller, yes, and before my brother cut his ponytail, but otherwise, very similar.

There was very little time left in the "Bad Anime, Bad" panel, and I was looking through my schedule to try to figure out where I could connect with David Weber. I ran into The Gryphon and told him about my dilemma, and he said, "Oh, I just saw him in the dealers room."

So I dashed in there and found him, surrounded by fans, just heading up to his 2 p.m. panel. When I got an opportunity, I said hello and asked him if I could walk with him up to his panel and work out when we could do the interview. He suggested that I meet him at about 4 near the sushi bar in the hotel lobby, because he was going to go down there after his panel. If not, he said he'd been in the lobby area.

I had enough time to check out one of The Gryphon's panels, this one about anime, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Anime, But Were Afraid to Ask." That was, dare I say, an animated discussion. I wrote a note to The Gryphon telling him about my plans for the rest of the day, folded it into an origami envelope, wrote his name in a big heart on front and had the other panelists pass it to him. Then I waved as I slipped out the back door on the way to my final panel.

The panel was called "The Politics of Writing Groups" and was being held in Salon A upstairs. The previous group in that room had been so small they'd pulled chairs into a circle on the floor. The moderator of my group, Hildy Silverman, thought this would be a good idea, rather than sitting up on the stage acting like gods.

At first, only the other panelists showed up, Scott Edelman and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, whom I'd met two years ago at a Halloween party. Sundays is a slow day at Philcon because many people have to head home as soon as they check out of their hotels. But we did actually get barely enough audience members to outnumber the panel.

We all introduced ourselves and got started. We sat in a semicircle down front, and invited them to come closer. They took up seats in the first two rows. We talked to them about how to get the most out of a writing group when you're dealing with difficult personalities, and also how not to be one of those personalities yourself.

At first, Scott and Danielle were doing most of the talking, but I finally got my points in there, and they built off some of them, which was nice. Namely, I listed three main problem personalities: the Know-It-All who criticizes everything, Mr. Nice Guy/Sappy Sue who is all hearts and flowers and never says anything negative; and The Artiste, who defends everything people criticize in her poem by saying, "Yes, I meant to do that."

I encouraged the audience to look for what could be useful for their writing and to not automatically discard everything these people say. The most important lesson is not to take any of it personally but, instead, to see how other people are interpreting the work. That way, you can tell whether you're close to achieving what you'd hoped.

I felt as if the people in the audience got some useful information, especially at the end when we opened it up for questions. They asked us where to find a good writing group, and we gave them a host of suggestions. Mine was to attend readings or open mic nights and make connections with the people whose work you respect. That way you can find out what's happening in the area.

Afterwards, I chatted a bit with Danielle, who's busy as always. She was all smiles, as always. I could see why she'd already attracting a fan base. One of the audience members was there because of her and wanted to know when her new book is coming out.

I couldn't hang out too long, because I had to get downstairs for my interview. Just as I was making my exit, somebody else came up, vying for Danielle's attention. I bid her a cheery good-bye.

Fortunately, my timing was perfect. David Weber had just finished eating sushi with somebody The Gryphon had been talking to this weekend, a professor of military strategy who's developed an intriguing space battle game. I chatted with them while waiting for the bill, and then I suggested we go upstairs and talk in the Game Room, where we could find a quiet table easily.

We took a table in the front corner and got started. It was interesting that his demeanor was different than it had been during his keynote speech yesterday. Then, he was jocular, telling jokes and relating stories. In this case, he was much more serious, scholarly, even. I supposed that's partly because I set the tone by asking somewhat academic questions. But I also think it's just part of his facility for alternating between a very rational way of thinking and a highly attuned perception of the people around him. In that way, he's both logical and empathic, a rare blend which explains a lot about his writing.

Our discussion got very interesting towards the end, as we crossed from talking about SF to talking about some bigger issues that are important to him in the world, which he does address in his works. I was pleased with how it went. Afterwards, he breezed from the room, off to meet with someone else.

I crossed the room to where The Gryphon was hanging out. We were both hungry and wanted something to eat before we went our separate ways. He would be staying for a PAGE meeting, while I would head home to tend to the animals. Unfortunately, the sushi bar was closed, so we ate at the hotel restaurant. I had some crab cakes (yum), one of my perennial favorites.

We talked for awhile about how the weekend went before I escorted him back to the Gaming Room and got my coat. I tried to figure out if anyone else was heading home, but The Dormouse told us that just about everybody who wasn't staying for PAGE had already left.

All in all, I had a great time this weekend. I met a lot of great people, made some contacts, had some fun. I'm going to sit down with the information I gathered and come up with a list of ways to improve my writing career.

A couple of Renaissance men

More from Philcon 2005:

December 12, 2005 - Mythical Apocalypse

December 13, 2005 - Light Side, Dark Side

December 19, 2005 - Philcon Fragments

Philcon 2004:

December 14, 2004 - Friendly Philcon Morning

Philcon 2003:

December 15, 2005 - Convention from Another Planet

Copyright 2005 by Alyce Wilson

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