On the road again: Balticon, day 2

Despite sleeping almost nine hours, I awoke exhausted; I clearly have a lot of catching up to do on sleep.

Lunch had to be brief, and the nearby options are limited, so we ended up at a Chipotle for an unremarkable but completely reasonable meal. 

My first panel came with the title, "Reading As a Writer."  Five of us discussed how we read, what we read, and what we recommended people read to see examples of great craftsmanship in different areas.  The very small room stayed packed, people seemed interesting, and as best I can tell, it went well.

I roamed the con for a bit, checked out the art show and the dealers' room, and did some work I needed to accomplish.  I'm still not done with it, but getting closer.

My other panel today was supposed to focus on how to handle exposition, though the title, "Gadgets in Fiction: How Do You Work Technology into your Story?" made it sound more limited in focus than it actually proved to be.  We discussed a wide range of topics related to technology in fiction--and, on occasion, in the real world.  The packed room seemed interested throughout, and I generally enjoyed the discussion.

Dinner took us to Brian Voltaggio's Aggio in downtown Baltimore.  I hope to write a full review of the meal later, but in case I fail to do that, let me give you the one-line version:  Go there and order pasta. 

Party crawling and work filled the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow, my panels begin at 10:30 a.m., which is not my favorite time by a long shot, but which I agreed to accept so that I could host the always popular Baen Traveling Roadshow.