GayRomLit Recap

Damon, me, Brita, Bryl, & Cat.

Happy Monday, all! I've just spent the last eleven hours dead asleep, recovering from the nonstop wackiness that was GayRomLit 2011. I've brought home lots of fabulous memories, a handful of silly photos, and, unfortunately, con crud (a cold), but I'm already looking forward to next year (it will be in Albuquerque, NM, by the way), and I hope you all are too.

Me fangirling on Rowan Speedwell (OMG!).

I'm a bit too wiped to go into too many details, but suffice it to say, the single most amazing part of this whole experience for me was finally putting faces to so many names. People I've been chatting with at Goodreads or Twitter for over a year. People I'm working with and even partnered with at Riptide who I met in person for the first time. Authors whose work I love and respect. Fans who wanted to talk about my work. Bloggers and book reviewers who work hard to improve the signal to noise ratio in our genre every day. It was a bit strange and overwhelming--and flattering like whoa--to have so many people want your autograph or your picture or a minute of your time. It was immensely gratifying to meet my peers and be surrounded by 250 people whose love of the thing I also love brought us all together.

The blogging crew.

The city itself was pretty special, though sadly I got to see very little of it. Hopefully when I go back for AAD in August of 2012, I can stay a few more days and get to see a little more of what's happening outside the hotel. But kudos to the GRL organizers, who did an amazing job; the whole con ran like clockwork, and everything from the author readings to the tours to the hurricane party around the pool were such a joy to be a part of.

I've shared a few photos in this post, but there are many more over at Riptide's facebook page in the GRL album. Other folks will be adding photos there as time permits, so check back on occasion for 7am grumpiness and 2am drunken shenanigans. If you have some of your own to share--photos, stories, experiences, etc.--please point us to them in the comments!