2014-08-16 09:46 - A newbie's day at #Loncon3

A short day, it must be said. Getting to the Excel Centre in East London is "easy", unless easy means "quick".

Anyway, I managed to fit in a panel on writing YA, to get a handle on how they run them. No surprises, so I'm confident about my own panel on Sunday.

I got to a reading, by Madeline Ashby, from her forthcoming book, Company Town . Not YA, but that's no problem. My main interest was - once again - to see how it's done. Conclusion: the bar isn't insurmountable.

I found the British Science Fiction Association stand, and as it offers peer critiquing from other writers, decided it was worth a punt.

And thence to the SFWA reception. There were a lot of "old friends" who recognised each other instantly and settled into cosy groups, plus as many "lost sheep" - writers from the oddest corners of Europe mostly - who braved the social barriers and managed to survive a whole evening of striking up conversations with total strangers. I count myself in the latter group.

A learning experience...