I'm back from DeepSouthCon! I had a terrific time; I don't think I've laughed so hard in ages. I will never be able to listen to Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" again without snickering.

I was going to go into a play-by-play description of my activities, but then I realized that most of the activities involved "pitting." Toni Weisskopf introduced us to this term. "Pitting" or "going to Pit" is getting a small group of people together, staking out a place in the lobby or the bar, talking about anything and everything, and making fun of passers-by. On occasion we take breaks from our Pit to go eat. Though it usually ended up simply being a temporary relocation of the Pit. The "Baby-Alive" eating method was demonstrated on one such outing.

Well, we didn't just Pit. We also did a panel or three, and mixed and mingled some. It was a very small convention though, and so it had minimal programming and a very relaxed air. The guest of honor, Michael Bishop, was very friendly and outgoing, and a very interesting man to boot. Yet another author to be added to my reading list.

I also got to meet David B. Coe, the author of Children of Amarid. He joined our pit on Saturday, discovered that we were way cooler than most of the other g/e/e/k/s people there, and so hung out with us the rest of the weekend. David even corrected my pronunciation of "yarlmuke." We decided that David and Kurt had been separated at birth, for their senses of humor were frighteningly similar. (Oh Spare Us.)

All in all it was a very fun convention, even though we didn't do much. The hotel was sorta cruddy, and the air conditioning was not functioning all that well, but the chance to see old and new friends was well worth it.

I also received some very encouraging news from Toni Weisskopf about the status of my novel manuscript. I'm not going to say much more than that since there's still a long ways to go, but it hasn't been rejected yet.

I took lots of pictures, but I have no idea when I'll have a chance to get them developed and scanned and put up here. It may be post-Worldcon by the time I do all that.

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I have about 24 hours to finish my packing, do my errands, and tie up the rest of my personal business before I leave. I'm ready, I'm excited, and I'm motivated. It's going to be a fun summer.