Incoherent thoughts on a great weekend

Some final thoughts on #Glasgow2024 Worldcon before I get too distracted back into the real world.

• Cons are flipping lovely. This is my thirtieth year of going to them (!) and I couldn’t have had a better one to mark that.
• After thirty years it turns out a lot of people at cons know me. This is weird.
• Volunteering for panels and events is great and gives something back
• I volunteered for a bit too much possibly
• All fun, but I missed so many people and things
• Those who volunteer for the behind the scenes stuff are to be lauded to the highest of hills and proclaimed before the gods
• I have now appeared twice on stage at the Armadillo and want an Equity card
• I have now been part of a brilliant team who produced an excellent (if I do say so myself) anthology which not only launched but sold the fuck out.
• I will live off that joy for a very long time
• Worldcons are huge. While it means more chances of seeing old faces, it also means more chances to miss so many people.
• I possibly prefer the Eastercon size just so I can get around everyone and not have to trawl three bars.
• Cons are a surreal world where you can buy books and not care about having time to read them or space to store them.
• People at cons like tablet. I may bring more in the future.
• Despite all the gravitas of Worldcon, there is still room for silly items with trebuchets or people in dinosaur costumes and that is wonderful.
• I can moderate panels successfully and should be braver about volunteering for that in the future.
• Even after five days, I still enjoy the Dead Dogs parties for their ability to throw up weird conversations
• I can identify Parma Violets by smell alone, even after five days of drinking
• Thanks to volunteering, I drank less of a night than I used to and this is no bad thing
• I nonetheless still drank enough to over-enthusiastically pimp tablet, so it’s still a bit of a bad thing
• I co-edited a book that sold out!
• No matter how sober I am and how many notes I prepared, I will always come away from a panel realising I forgot something.
• Many people like Alasdair Gray, this is good.
• I really need to set aside time for the Art Show as I barely saw it
• This probably saved me considerable money, so maybe not.
• Glasgow cons are great, someone should run more.
• Not me
• Worldcons are great, but flipping expensive, someone should run more close to my house.
• Not me
• A con with two ceilidhs is a work of genius
• But maybe put the first one in a bigger room next time
• A Dead Dog ceilidh is a work of genius, letting me sweat out so much of the crap I ingested all weekend
• Talking about writing in the bar is a joy
• Saying on a panel that I do writing is a special wee thrill
• I need to write more so I can keep doing that
• Cons are flipping lovely. Here’s hoping I get to more soon.
• I’m already signed up to Fantasycon in October and Eastercon and World Fantasy next year will be looked at just as soon as my credit card stops smoking.
• Yay for the surreal, joyous, nonsensical world of gibberish that exists inside a con venue. May it always be there but may I remember to pace myself when in it.
• Would you take tablet from this man?