Post-Convention Post!

Hello!!!! I am so glad to be back! Not that I really went anywhere, but it feels like it. Last week was magical; a term I don’t use often, let me tell you. But it really was. I’ve been going to When Words Collide for years now… if I remember correctly this was my fifth year. Year two and three, I was on panels, but I didn’t have any books out. It meant that in addition to me occasionally feeling like I was unworthy of being up there with published authors, I also had to deal with looking at people earnestly excited to meet me and read my books and not have anything to give them. So finally being able to have my book to show at the panels and being able to direct people where it was selling was wonderful.

First, let’s talk about the panels. I was on four panels, as I mentioned last week. All four went wonderfully. I felt a little unworthy and fan-girly about being on the East vs West panel, which came through in a slight inability to pronounce Japanese/Mandarin words correctly. Other than that, I feel that I did really well, showing my knowledge, talking with the other panellists and discussing the topic. We took questions and everyone left excited to have listened to us.

The two about social awareness went really well, too. I was intelligent and able to discuss my positions easily and intelligently. Being on the panel with Adam Dreece was as fun as I thought it was going to be. He may have stole the show, but he still made sure that all of us got a chance to talk, to discuss our positions and that we got to have discussions across the board. My favourite panel was actually on the bad guys though. It was a wonderful panel with a lot of energy and a great crew with me. We talked about monologuing, about the different classifications of bad guys, what we liked seeing, what we didn’t like seeing, what annoyed us and what interesting things you could do with your bad guys. It was awesome.

I got to have dinner with Laura VanArendonk Baugh and Rhonda Parrish (you’ll remember that I was part of her Giftmas last December) and a few other people. We had great conversations about everything from the food we eat, to religious beliefs, to what panels we’d been on and what we’d been doing all weekend thus far. It was wonderful and the dinner was very tasty. I really enjoyed it.

At the signing, I left Laura and Rhonda and found a seat at a table with two wonderful writers. I was fully expecting to talk to two or three people who stopped off to see the other two at my table, maybe show them my book and tell them where they could pick it up later if they wanted, and that was it. Instead, I was lucky enough to sell most of my copies and talk to a whole lot of people. I got to catch up with a few people I hadn’t gotten to see yet that year and had four people ask for my autograph. I was over the moon!

My table mates were awesome as well. Amanda Witow had some of the best swag I’ve ever seen; book lights, tote bags, bookmarks, pens… she had something for everyone. She was nice enough to give me a pen and sign one of her tote bags for me. Nicole Bross was super friendly as well and had the coolest prop I’ve ever seen; a working purple typewriter; a Remington Portable #3 from 1929! Apparently, she collects them and fixes them up, which I think is pretty darn amazing. She said she has 20-30 already, which is just an incredibly awesome thing to collect!

This is the Remington #3 in orchid that I mentioned above. Isn't it gorgeous?
Picture attributed to Nicole Bross

And that was my weekend! If I have any regrets, its that I had no extra money and wasn’t able to come home with any extra books for myself to read. It means I’ll be looking forward to next year all the more. Were any of you at WWC? Let me know how your weekend went? What panels did you go to and what books did you come home with?