Our first DragonCon 🐉🎇

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DragonCon: What a ride!

I am so overwhelmed by DragonCon that I don’t even know how to start writing about this intense experience. I guess I’ll go for the “start at the very beginning” thang…

Firstly, this was going to be Archie’s first flight with me and as a service animal, and possibly his first time in a plane at all. We did as much prep as we could for it, but with my caring for my elderly mother, we weren’t able to do a dry-run at Logan airport beforehand, so while I thought he’d actually be fine, I did have tiny worries in the back of my brain that it might be asking a lot of him.

I shouldn’t have worried. Archie rocked going through security (where he was complimented going both there and back as “obviously a very well-trained service animal” — the ultimate compliment!)

I also was slightly worried that Archie would be afraid during take off and landing. Again, nope! He was fascinated by looking out the window, and watched all through take-off and then looked down on the clouds beneath us until he decided to have a nap. For each flight, the person sitting next to us was delighted to have Archie there, and the gal from the departure flight said it was an honor to have been part of his first flight experience

So, Archie was doing fine.

I, however, was barely hanging on. I was exhausted before I even left for the airport. By the time we got to ATL and I had taken Arch to the animal relief area and then found where my baggage was, I was barely able to see straight. I managed to find the rideshare pickup area and call a Lyft, but in stepping out of the airport I discovered why they call it “Hotlanta.”

I was not prepared. I was wearing sweatpants and hoodie for the plane, and the sweat started pouring off me. My glasses were sliding off my face and wouldn’t stay in place. I was panting in distress and trying to manage my suitcase, my backpack, and Arch in his travel bag. As I got into the Lyft, carefully setting Archie down, I tried to get my own self into the car and slammed my face into the doorframe.

Pain shot through me. I literally fell into the car. As the driver took off, I tried to put on my seatbelt, make sure Archie was comfortable, and check if my glasses were broken. I am blind as two bats, and if they had been broken I don’t know how I would have made it through the weekend.

My glasses hadn’t broken! However, the skin under them had split from the sudden blow. I, however, am not aware of this. I idly notice how painful it is, but I assume the trickles I feel running down my face are sweat.

Happily, my friend, the fantastic author Tiffany Trent, had already checked into our hotel room, so I marched through the lobby and up to the room with my bloody face, totally unaware of the vision I was presenting. When I got to the room, Tiffany took one look at me and said, “Are you OK?”

This was when I looked in the mirror. Oh.

So she got me ice, and I washed up the blood. But what an entry to DragonCon!

I have never been to DragonCon before, because I could guess how hard it would be for someone with a chronic illness—and I was right about that! But this year I was invited to attend as a professional, and the panels they offered me were amazing. So despite how concerned I was about how suboptimal this con would be for my health, it seemed worth giving it a try.

It WAS worth giving a try. All the panels I was on were AMAZING. And I met so many fantastic new friends 🤩

Getting from place to place was an ordeal. Everywhere was too crowded and too noisy. I had to be hypervigilant that no one reached out to touch Archie while he was working—despite two large “SERVICE DOG | DO NOT PET” patches and a bright red leash that said the same thing, some people will still just reach out towards him, usually over his head, which is the worst way to touch a dog. (Archie is trained to not respond, but he still shouldn’t have to deal with it.) And then there was the heat, which was a huge factor in and of itself. How all those people in elaborate costumes didn’t expire of heat prostration is beyond me.

But, yet again, entirely worth it. The first panel I had was Vampires: Return of the Monstrous. Wonderful questions, great panelists. It was put out Live on Facebook, so you can watch the whole thing here:

The next day I had two panels: Who Could Resist? (What happens when the One Ring lands somewhere far from Middle-earth? Would superheroes, space captains, or Anime icons resist its pull—or fall fast?) and then Same Places, Different Times: Historical Urban Fantasy.

The Who Could Resist Panel was a nerdiferous treat. A delightful conversation with my fellow panelists and the audience, so much fun that it was hard to believe it was my “job” to be there.

But the Historical Urban Fantasy panel was best of all. All the panelists were so inspiring and it took my own words to the next level. I was so happy with the panel before the final amazing moment…

When we finished, there was a loud round of applause. Archie had conked out on my lap, and the cheering woke him. His little head popped up over the table, and laughing, I explained to the audience that he thought the applause was for him. So they gave him a second ovation, just for him

On Sunday, my final requirement was doing a mentor session: 1 hour, 4 people getting 15 minutes each. I already thought that I’d had the best part of the con, but it turns out that I love doing mentor sessions! Everyone who sat with me had great questions, and it was an honor and a pleasure to get a chance to advise and guide them, trying to make their writing journey just a bit easier. I’m honestly going to be looking forward to doing that again all year long.

DragonCon was not easy for me, but it was still an amazing experience. And also, if Archie can handle DragonCon, he can handle pretty much anything. He’s really graduated top of his class as a service animal now, and that means the world to me.

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Hallowe’en Plans 🎃

Well, I had originally put in that so far I only have Pandemonium’s Spooky Geek Faire on October 11th—but unfortunately Pandy just emailed and said they are cancelling the event 😭

And that took down my plans thus far. I’m waiting to hear back from two other venues, but honestly, if they fall through, it might not be the worst thing. I did so much last year that I was crashed out for most of November. Having just one event during October is actually a sane plan (not that I am especially known for those 😂) and would actually leave me time to crank out the final 25,000 words of Blood Depths, which really isn’t a bad idea at all, instead of spending all my time on marketing and exhausting myself vending.

The event I loved most last year, that made the the most money I’ve ever made in one event (the Salem Vampire Market) is not happening this year, and I’m feeling quite grumpy about it because that’s the event I really want to be doing. So maybe that’s my sign to just give myself some space to write (and have a spoon or two to deal with my mom’s progressing Althzheimer’s) and just let go of the “It’s Spooky Season and I need every weekend booked!” stress I’ve been feeling.

Enjoy your autumn for the next two weeks, and until then, be good or be good at it! 😘

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