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Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009, 04:49 pm
I should have clarified...

...but everyone's a mind reader, right?

Yesterday, when I was talking about "how to introduce myself" it was in the context of "you are on a panel for a con and sitting in front of the whole room and the moderator turns to you (and everyone else) and says 'introduce yourself and tell the audience about yourself.'"

The wrong introduction CAN set the other panelists' teeth on edge.

It's not a problem when you do one thing and say "I'm a writer and I write Celtic Fantasy" and hold up 50 novels. It's a problem for me when I may be holding up a textbook that I'm very proud of plus anthologies plus comic books (because I'm trying to get some attention for them at the convention.)

Meh. Humorist won't work with the scholarly stuff, will it. Maybe Maggie's suggestion of "I write and I draw" would work.

(fidget, fuss, worry... many things are on my mind so of course I go gnaw on the minor details to keep the big ones from overwhelming me right now.)
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Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009 10:14 pm (UTC)
[info]paka

Perhaps the correct introduction is anecdotal?

"I used to introduce myself as a scholar, but that sounded a little too overconfident for most people's tastes. So I write and draw, and try to do a little scholarship as well."
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Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009 11:49 pm (UTC)
[info]abirritate

Not to sound snappy toward you at all, but denigrating one's scholarship isn't cool or an asset to one's continued scholarship- especially when one is female and in the humanities. Sod most people's tastes.
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 01:19 pm (UTC)
[info]paka

Fair enough; "humorously faintly self-denigrating" sounds like an okay strategy sometimes, but not for all venues, and while I don't know enough to be sure your point about the gender part makes sense. So I have to go with what you say in your comment, the specific audience is the important consideration.
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 02:20 am (UTC)
[info]jomadge

"So I write and draw, and try to do a little scholarship as well."

LOL! I like this. Gets across what you've accomplished with a little wink thrown in.
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Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009 10:42 pm (UTC)
[info]black_rider

Oh. Well, when I have to deal with other people in my field, I just say "I'm the person who does X" and they usually already know who I am, since it's a very small realm...

They usually think I'm crazy, and even when they like me, they still get very twitchy that anyone else is on their turf. So I've absolutely no good advice to offer, other than that it bothers me less now that I don't care at all what they think.
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Tue, Jun. 30th, 2009 11:24 pm (UTC)
[info]abirritate

Hmm. That is a hard one. I wear many hats and struggle with this myself. In truth, I usually just omit the scholarly side when talking as a comic artist, and omit the comic stuff when talking as a comic artist.

If you figure this out, let me know. :)
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 01:22 am (UTC)
[info]haikujaguar

*thinks* I still go with "I write and draw" when I'm asked that kind of question on a panel (and if I'm also being asked to speak a little about myself then I will summarize projects I feel are particularly relevant to the panel or the con theme or whatever).
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 02:07 am (UTC)
[info]jomadge

Well, it's a panel, not a job interview. Whatever is relevant to the subject at hand is plenty, IMHO. Most cons hand out books that include bios of the guests. At the start of a panel, attendees who care who you are have already figured it out, and are just waiting for the introductions to be over so the interesting discussion can begin. :-)
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 05:20 am (UTC)
[info]wordslinger

Hmm. Maybe jomadge's got it. I should explain myself in the bio and keep it short and sweet on the panels.

I am, alas, terrible at writing my OWN bio. Perhaps it's time to learn a new trick for the old hound.
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Wed, Jul. 1st, 2009 06:02 am (UTC)
[info]kayshapero

I don't see why doing scholarly works, humor, or even humorous scholarly works don't fit together. "I write textbooks, draw comics and commit the occasional short story?"

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