After a reasonable night’s sleep in the hotel, I was up at 8:30 to jump back into it. (My sleep was as good as could be expected. I never sleep great in hotels, but I have my pillow from home and a noise app on my phone). Had some breakfast and attended a panel about how to write transgender characters. Not sure if I’ll ever have one in my/our books, but it never hurts to learn. The big takeaway is to treat transgender like any other person, and make them being transgender a facet of their character, not their whole character. Pretty sound advice.

Then is was time to do my panel on the unsung heroes of movies, the positions you see in the credits but have no idea what they do. Had a few folks show up to listen and me and the other filmmakers told some good stories and gave a little education on the difference between a grip and gaffer, and several other things.

Then it was time to sell and sign some books. So I set up my table, put on my friendly face, and starting hawking some “hot, fresh literature.” I found a receptive audience and, although I’m still not going to retire a rich man, some exchanges of goods and cash were made, So, mission accomplished.

After that was dinner and beer. Dinner was salt and pepper fried calamari, which, unfortunately, was way too greasy. The only bad meal I’ve had at the hotel, but definitely not one I would get again. I ended up eating only half of it.

The next panel was dishing about behind the scenes stories of projects I’ve worked on, which I did with four other people in the film industry. Again, only a few people showed up (have I mentioned it’s a small convention) but it was still fun hearing from other crew members about their experiences on set and the people they’ve worked with. The worst times on set make the best stories.

My last panel was The Best And Worst Gay Characters of 2017/18. Another intimate discussion with a small group where it was determined that, although gay characters are better than they have been, there’s still a lot of work to do.

Finally, I attended a fun panel on “Disrobing the Victorian Woman/Gentlemen” where two delightfully funny hosts taught about the Victorian style of dress while slowly working down to their underwear. It was an informative, amusing, and delightful event that the entire audience seemed to enjoy. I even learned a few things, like the historical reason of why it’s called a “pair” of panties. (Look it up, it’s pretty interesting).

By this time it was 1:00AM. Time for this con warrior to go to bed. Thus ended Day 2 of my OutlantaCon experience.