During May and June (and some days in July) I worked for a non-profit called the Cancer Challenge. It was started here in Northwest Arkansas and has raised over $9.5 million in the last 20 years to fund local cancer research and treatment. I really enjoyed helping there, but I had absolutely zero time to read or write, it seemed. I worked there full time and then worked part-time at another job, my regular veterinary receptionist's gig. The paychecks were great (I'd like to find a full-time job soon, please!) and it allowed me to fund a dream of mine. I was able to go to !
THURSDAY was a relatively slow day for me, though I was still running around in various directions. I got up early and went to the booth for an exclusive. I really wanted Headless Ned Stark, but I ended up with Superman, which was fine. He's a cutie. I also had a few panels I wanted to attend on Thursday, which I was able to do: Secrets of Writing Science Fiction/Fantasy and Geeks Getting Published & Paid. The last panel was the reason I was able to go in the first place-most of the panelists are editors and/or contributors on , and Dr. Langley was able to get me an extra professional pass. Without him, I wouldn't have been able to go at all!
FRIDAY I basically walked the exhibit floor all day (yay freebies and cool booths to ooh and aww at!), except for the Epic Fantasy Panel I attended and the random Ballroom 20 screening I wandered into. The Epic Fantasy panel had Robin Hobb, Raymond Feist, Brandon Sanderson, Christopher Paolini, Django Wexler, and Melissa de la Cruz. They were all very enthusiastic to be there and shared some really great information with the audience. Most of that tips I've heard from authors is the same-read as widely as you can, write from your heart, and you'll get there eventually. Raymond Feist had a really good tip, too: make sure your main character is someone the reader wants to root for! I did enjoy hearing about their upcoming projects and I will definitely check out all their new books. After the panel I was on my way to the signing when I saw that Ballroom 20, one of two main halls for "big" panels, was wide open. No line, no waiting. They just let us in! I wandered in for a moment and watched part of the panel for The Following with Kevin Bacon. But it was time for the signing, so I grabbed my copy of Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb and waited in line for her to sign her. She also gave me a really cool bookmark, that I've sadly misplaced. I think it's in the bottom of my bag. After that, I wandered back into Ballroom 20 and watched the pilot for a new show on Fox later this fall, called . The pilot was really good, and I hope that this show survives its first season and becomes a regular Fox show! Karl Urban in my living room every week? Yes please!
SATURDAY I spent all day in line for Ballroom 20. One of the main reasons I've wanted to go to Comic Con for so many years now is the True Blood panel. With so many talented actors in one room talking about one of my favorite shows, how could you go wrong? Saturday started really early for me. I met up with some friends early in the morning in line. We waited around for a while and then finally they let us into the convention center. We had to go up the escalators and around to the back, where we were made to wait in more lines under tents outside on the balcony. Eventually they let us inside Ballroom 20, and my line-buddy Gen and I made our way to the front of the room. We got pretty good seats, too! The first two panels were from ABC, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Once Upon a Time. I'm really excited to see OUAT in Wonderland, because from the 19 minutes that they showed us, Alice is really kick-ass. The next four panels were all cartoons/animated series: Futurama, The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. The only one I truly enjoyed was Futurama, because the cast did a table reading right there in front of us. It was so neat to see how they interacted with each other even just doing a simple reading! The other panels were basically just "meh." The Simpsons had some weird musical number which had nothing to do with the panel at all, in my opinion. It wasn't even funny, though the performers were good singers. It's not their fault, really.
Then after American Dad finally came True Blood! I can't really describe the feeling seeing all those actors on stage after years of watching them on my TV! The questions were great and the dynamic between all the panelists was wonderful. I think that maybe there were too many people on the panel (ten, I think?), because it took forever to get down the line sometimes. But I enjoyed seeing them all, especially Rob Kazinsky. He's a new character on the show ("Ben") but he was also in the movie Pacific Rim recently, and he did a wonderful job in that. I'm excited that he's joined the cast, and I hope that he sticks around for a while. However, the biggest thing that was announced during that panel was that True Blood is coming home to its roots. Executive Producer Brian Buckner told the audience that the show will condense its stories and bring the show back to its root in Bon Temps, focusing on the relationships between humans and vampires in the small northern Louisiana town. I hope what he promised is delivered, because True Blood's long-winded and frankly winding storylines these past seasons have been ridiculous. I'm a huge fan of the show and its source material (Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries series), otherwise I would have stopped watching after Season 4. We can only hope that some of this "back to basics" mentality will show in the next four episodes of Season 6.
SUNDAY I spent just wandering around and looking around the exhibit floor some more. I left the convention around noon with my cousin, who lives in San Diego and came to pick me up. All I wanted to do was sleep, but we spent the day wandering around Del Mar beach, looking in the little shops there, and finally ended it by going to see R.I.P.D. at a theater that serves you food! That was an experience. I spent way too much money, but I really enjoyed myself, too. I think my home town needs one of those theaters!
Then on MONDAY I came home. I arrived later than I thought I would, but that's all well and good. I slept like a baby that night and even Tuesday night! Overall I have to say that Comic Con was a great experience.
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