On the road again: Chicon, day 6
Last night, after visiting multiple parties and working, I slept for the better part of eight hours. It was glorious. I awoke feeling merely tired, as opposed to sick and exhausted, so I was pleased with my body's progress.
After some work, late brunch was at a well-reviewed vegetarian place, Green Zebra. The food was decent but no more, a far cry from what the reviews described. Not a bad meal, but not really worth the cab ride to the restaurant.
More work, then time hanging with friends, checking out the dealers' room, and so on. I didn't want to miss the Hugo Awards ceremony, so dinner ended up being a quick burger, chips, and soda at the once-famous (courtesy of Saturday Night Live back in the Ackroyd and Belushi period) Billy Goat Tavern.
From there, we headed to the main ballroom for the awards ceremony, stood in long lines for a long time, and ultimately found seats two-thirds of the way back in the large room.
The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony went well, and Toastmaster/MC John Scalzi did his usual fine job of running the show and being entertaining. I cheered for the winners and felt bad for the losers. I'm particularly happy to be able to report that my pal and cover artist for No Going Back, John Picacio, finally won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist. I say "finally" because this was his eighth nomination. In an earlier post, I urged folks to vote for him, and though all the nominees were excellent artists worthy of the award, I'm glad John won.
Watching the Hugo Awards ceremony is always bittersweet for me--and, I suspect, for most writers and artists. Realistically, I am likely never to be nominated, much less win, and that is a hard bit of realism to swallow. Still, as I have to remind myself regularly, in the end there is only the work. It is all I can control and all I can do, and when I hope for awards or bigger sales or greater recognition or whatever, that is my ego screaming, and I need to learn to ignore it. That is a lesson I seem to be taking a very long time to learn.
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2 comments:
I feel the bittersweet pain. I envy you getting your work out, but I know that alone isn't enough to solve the haunting drive of a type A personality. There's always the next peak that hasn't been reached. Yet there are so many obstacles beyond our control. For me, it's frustrating that reaching a dream is so different from the reality. Yet, when people from the outside saw my other dream happening to me, they just told me I was 'lucky'. They didn't see how fighting all those obstacles wore me out.
I'm sad you're stories aren't as appreciated as others. But I haven't a clue as to why one work is a success and another which is just as good not. Why are some stories deemed unworthy, yet when a author gets a name, suddenly the same story becomes viable? It's an interesting dynamic at work.
And I think I rambled and probably don't make sense.
Thanks for the kind words, Deb. Yes, I share the frustration with a dream's realization being different from what one expected it to be.
I also don't understand the dynamics of success with fiction, but as I said, I must push aside those concerns and just do the best work I can.
Thanks again.
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