The perils of panel!

There are a lot of parts of 221B Con that I love. Most of it, actually. The one part that I have the worst time with? Panel application time.

I mean, when you're at the con itself, you have the delicious agony of wanting to go to everything, but having to squeeze in meals and deal with the simple fact that you can't be two places at once. It is literally impossible to do all of 221B Con. Choices have to be made. Once choices are made, though, all you have to do is then walk into a room and sit down. Easy peasy.

But panel application time is looking at a list of about seventy panel topics and picking not only a few that would be fun, but also finding the ones that you are also qualified to sit on. And if you don't get down to "Insecurity, Imposter Syndrome, and other Creative Pitfalls" and know exactly why that panel exists, well, believe it or not, it is possible to feel insecure enough to apply to a panel whose very theme you suggested back in the fall.

But enough whining. Time to buck up, remember that I might be qualified for a panel or two, and hit that list. One technique I've learned over the years is that sometimes, you have to charge headlong into the thing that frightens you the most. So "Holmes and Watson -- We think the Queen is Stunning Too," here I come. I know Howard Ostrom is going to walk into that panel specifically to tell me how unfunny he thought Holmes and Watson was, as I know his penchant for going after Elementary panels, and he's liable not to be the worst of it. But just as John C. Reilly's Watson gave his all to protect his Queen, so, too, must I stand for that 2018 Queen of Sherlockian Films.

Going to pass on "Arthur 'Continuity' Doyle" this year, after doing it last year and before. Enjoyed the last couple, but I went hard on continuity at last year's "Holmes in the Heartland" conference, and need some rest on that topic.

I had to check my e-mail to remind myself what panel topics I suggested and might want to support -- and it looks like "The Unreal Podcast" made the list. Doing "Sherlock Holmes Is Real" has been a curious little trip and I'd love discussing that with some other travelers on the fictional podcast road. Hoping I can get a key Academicasaurus podcaster to apply for that one as well.

Turns out "Sherlock Holmes AUs Before They Were AUs" and "Sherlock Holmes Users Group" were things I sent in, so I put in for those as well, but man, four panels seems like a lot -- I mean, I go to 221B Con to absorb info from panels more than to prattle on about my own business (which I certainly do plenty of right here). So hopefully one of those will get enough potential panel-folk that I can take one off and not miss too much else. But we shall see. As with everything else 221B Con, I want to split myself into four and do as much as possible.

Okay, I've hit the send button on that thing.