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!

Not-Posting, GayRomLit Style

Happy Friday, folks! I'm down in New Orleans at GayRomLit, so this'll be a short post. But I promise you stories and pictures when I get home on Monday. (Or maybe Wednesday; who knows how long I'll need to recover from rooming with Cat Grant and E.M. Lynley ;D)

Finally got to meet a ton of folks in person, including Riptide First Wavers Bryl Tyne and Brita Addams and the Riptide art director L.C. Chase. Also finally met Rowan Speedwell (eeeeeee!), Marie Sexton, J.P. Barnaby, Rick Reed, and many more, including some absolutely fabulous readers. Much fun--wish you were all here.

Now off with me to the riverboat cruise/book signing. See you Monday!

New Orleans Bound! :D

I'm very excited to tell you all that I'll be attending the GayRomLit Retreat in New Orleans on October 13 to 16! For a while there it was looking like I wouldn't be able to make it, but now I've made my reservation and booked my flight and will be cramming into a room with authors Cat Grant and EM Lynley, who graciously offered to share their space with me in the sold-out hotel.

I want to give a special shout-out to the event organizers here, because even though I missed author registration by a mile, they were wonderfully responsive to my desire to be involved as an author in the retreat and added my name to the Dine with an Author event. Five retreat-goers will be selected at random to share a meal with each participating author. For me that'll be lunch, since nobody wants to be anywhere near me before I've had my coffee in the morning :-) I'm planning to make up some exclusive swag for my dining pals, so, a question for all you lovely folks: if you were eating lunch with me and taking home some special swag at the end, what would make you happiest? Feel free to think out of the box here, though if you really would love something simple like a t-shirt or a mug or the like, I want to hear that too.

I'll also be doing something else at the event during downtime and after hours (NOT during any scheduled activities) that, at the moment, must remain Sooper Seekrit. But it'll be simple, fun, and as engaging as you'd care to make it. The Sooper Seekrit Activity will be co-sponsored by Aleksandr Voinov, who sadly will not be able to make it from London to NOLA to participate but who will most assuredly be there in spirit. I promise we won't keep you waiting too long . . . keep an eyeball or two peeled for more Sooper Seekrit Activity info in about two weeks.

In the meanwhile, if you're going to GayRomLit, drop a note in the comments. It's a pretty small event, so odds are good we'll all run into each other at some point throughout the weekend, but I'd love to know who's attending and who I might finally get a chance to meet :-)

See you then!