On the road again: Balticon, day 2

With con activities, work, and preparation for the new comedy show making me insanely busy, I'm going to keep these con posts short. 

I worked in the morning to prepare for the Baen Traveling Show, then led that discussion and slide show.  Fans packed the large room, we gave out tons of swag, other attending Baen authors--Chuck Gannon, Steve White, and Iver Cooper--spoke, cover designer Jennie Faries shared her perspective with the crowd, and everyone had a good time. 

I spent the next few hours grabbing lunch at a local pizza joint, checking out the dealers' room and the art show, and working on tomorrow's comedy show. 

Next up was a panel, "Titles Without Stories," in which three other writers and I made up plots to go with titles that audience members tossed at us.  The room was small, hot, and crowded, and though I didn't do as well as I would have liked, I think everyone present enjoyed themselves. 

After that, I worked more, with a lot of my energy going to the show tomorrow.  I'm still trying to decide just what mix of new and old material to feature, because I definitely have too much in my draft set list.  I'll probably decide at the very last minute. 

I spent the evening at Kyle's eating tasty Indian food, watching a ridiculous movie (I, Frankenstein), and enjoying what proved to be a very good card of UFC fights.  The final fight, a bantamweight championship bout between champ Renan Barao and challenger T.J. Dillashaw, was amazing.  Dillashaw entered the octagon a 6:1 underdog, but he dominated and ultimately finished Barao in a finish that no fight analyst predicted. 

More work on the comedy show followed.

Here's hoping I don't bomb on stage tomorrow!