Recently I asked for help in selecting which conventions I should go to in 2015. At that time I already had my mind set on three: Capricon in Chicago in February, Wiscon in Madison in May, and the Nebula Weekend in Chicago in June. There’s also a session I’m giving at the Writer’s Institute in Madison in March and a workshop I’m attending the end of July but those don’t really count as conventions.
The point behind asking was to see if there was another convention that I should consider attending in addition to those three. Here are the results:
You can see some support for me attending Confusion in Detroit this month and the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs in November. I won’t be at either of those, unfortunately, and it kills me to miss Confusion. It’s become my favorite convention. And look at the line-up:
Writer Guest of Honor: Karen Lord; Subterranean Press Special Guests: Ted Chiang, Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson; More Writers/Editors Participating: Saladin Ahmed, Scott H. Andrews, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Robert Bennett, Leah Bobet, Tobias Buckell, Rowena Cherry, Cinda Williams Chima, Wesley Chu, Myke Cole, Brigid Collins, Ron Collins, J.C. Daniels, Delilah S. Dawson, Seleste deLaney, Michael J. DeLuca, Susan Dennard, Tom Doyle, Steven Erikson, Janet Harriett, Carrie Harris, Merrie Haskell, Jim C. Hines, Douglas Hulick, Kameron Hurley, Philip Kaldon, Christian Klaver, Mary Robinette Kowal, Brian McClellan, Courtney Allison Moulton, Peter Orullian, Cindy Spencer Pape, Christine Purcell, Cherie Priest, Laura Resnick, Diana Rowland, Jason Sanford, John Scalzi, Catherine Shaffer, Ferrett Steinmetz, Amy Sundberg, Michael J. Sullivan, Patrick S. Tomlinson, Michael R. Underwood, Doselle Young, Lara Zielin.
Wow. Wish I was going to be there. That looks awesome. At this point, even if I wanted to go I have conflicts and I’m unable to attend.
World Fantasy is even tougher. It falls the same time as my state’s library association conference. No one is allowed to take vacation during that week (I was only able to attend this past World Fantasy because I was a judge) so I would have to head to Saratoga on Saturday and return on Sunday. That’s hardly worth the effort. I don’t expect to get nominated for an award, but should that happen I will make an effort to be there.
Same for World Con in Spokane. Unless I’m nominated for an award (which won’t happen) I won’t be there.
But as I thought about conventions of the holidays at the end of 2014, I started to think that my real plan should be to attend zero conventions in 2015. Conventions are fun, but they are expensive. I was doing well getting some traction on my debt (including some long outstanding EV debt and other fulfillments) when I went to World Fantasy and put myself back in a hole.
While the conventions I was planning on attending in 2015 were ones I could drive to—saving myself airline costs—there still would be hotels, meals, etc. If I really want to make some headway into my debts I need to curtail costs. Yes, I love being able to see people and interact with other professionals but that doesn’t outweigh other concerns. I need to get more out of conventions than just social interaction.
What that really means is that I need to spend 2015 putting money towards debt and getting projects finished so that 2016 can be a year I need to go to conventions. It’s likely I will drop in at Wiscon since it’s only 45 minutes from me.
I will miss all of you in 2015. Looking forward to seeing you in 2016.
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