This past weekend, I was Author Guest of Honor at Cleveland ConCoction!
I never expected this to happen, or at least, I expected it to be something that would come after… well, after what? Winning a major award? Getting a “big five” publishing deal? Being a “GoH” was firmly in the fantasy category for me right up until it happened. A reminder that these are things that happen TO you, not something you make happen.
My lead-up to the convention was anxiety-maghedon. How could I be sure to be the very best GoH and prove that this convention had made a good choice in entrusting this special post to me??
First, I wanted to have something cool to give away, so everyone at the con could say “I got a cool free thing from a Guest of Honor!” Bookmarks were an easy get – I have, in the past, made my own bookmarks at OfficeMax, cheaply, and they all got given away so they must work?
I couldn’t find my old bookmark files. I tried making new ones, badly. I found Canva had easy templates for bookmarks, and you could order them printed! I paid a BIG FEE (100%) for express delivery but… they are not here yet so… don’t pay for express delivery from Canva printing. (In their defense, it’s possible it’s just, oh, asshats are actively ruining our economy and trade?)
To avoid said asshats, I searched for a local Cleveland printshop to order coasters, but the “proof” email got spam filtered and… yeah those arrive Wednesday, they say? Look, I’m not good at this!
And then, and THEN, the cover for Andrei and the Hellcats dropped the DAY BEFORE THE CON. So, yes, I made ANOTHER rush order of bookmarks from Canva. These are also not yet here, but seem to be shipping at the same time? What even is rush shipping?
But is he not pretty? Pre-Order My Boy Here!!
So there I was, the day before the convention, and all I had in my give-aways box were five coasters left over from last year.
Gracie had designed some paper dolls for me, so at least I had those! I just had to lay them out! I laid out the dolls with a QR code and some text and printed them out. Then I thought I’d check to make sure the clothes fit?
The doll clothes did NOT fit. They were both too big and too small? How did this happen? I spent several hours in panic before Brian, my dear hubby, took over with his copy of Adobe Illustrator and sorted it all out.
And lo, the day of the convention was here, and I started it out by rushing to OfficeMax to print paper dolls (as well as some extras of my cut-out spaceship.)
I packed, re-packed, questioned my sartorial choices, and packed again. I looked in alarm at my stock of author copies, wondering if I would completely sell out as GoH? How will I make sure I have enough for Cleveland Fan Expo two weeks later?!
Insert panicked ordering of more books, with express shipping.
I decided to wear a crown. I had ordered this crown for my 50th but had ended up not wearing it. (It was gold tone with white stones and I had ordered silver tone with pastel colored stones and anyway, I had other tiaras in silver. I digress.)
I kept putting it on and taking it off, unsure if this would be seen as me being too big for my britches.
I was told I’d be provided a hotel room. I wasn’t sure if I should ask about that at registration or author’s alley? They pointed me to the con chair who asked, “Was there a problem at the hotel desk?”
Which is how I learned that you are supposed to just tell the hotel registration desk that you are so-and-so! They have a list.
Then it was time for Opening Ceremonies… would I have to make a speech? What would I say? EEK!
I got to a seat early, fussed with the crown, and the MC merely said, “Our author guest of honor is here, Marie Vibbert!” and the room applauded, and she asked, “Got anything to plug?” So I said, “Buy my books!”
No speech! The thing I was most worried about was not a problem! Now what?
Folks, I’ve been to ConCoction about…. what? Eight or nine times? My first one was ConCoction 2! I missed a year here and there, but not many. Yet, I walked in feeling like… well, it was still ConCoction, but I was someone new? That is how it felt. People I’d seen many times, who perhaps had not noticed me, well, they noticed me.
Not that I was swarmed with admirers! There were plenty of people at the convention, I’m sure, who had no idea there even was an author GoH. They were just there for the cosplay, or just the game room. This was good. It reminded me I wasn’t required to be “on” 24/7.
…I tried to be “on” 24/7. In lieu of scheduling panels for me, the convention said I could drop in on any panel I wanted, so I went to far more panels than I usually do, wanting to give them their money’s worth, and I sat in on readings, too. When I had a spare minute, I sat at my table in Author’s Alley in case anyone wanted a signature.
I signed four books, over all, and I had three people tell me they had come to the convention just because I was GoH! awwwww!!!!!
The best moment by far, however, was a young lady shyly telling me how much she loved Galactic Hellcats. <3 <3 <3 There is nothing like that sincere fan moment, when you can tell they really were emotionally invested. <3 <3 <3
With help from my friend Julie, we had an impromptu panel on promoting books, which filled the room! And then I did a reading from Andrei, my first time reading from it in public! I immediately wanted to edit every other sentence on the first page… sadly, I am waiting on the publisher’s edits so I shouldn’t do that just yet.
(I crashed after that and took a nap. Barely woke up in time for dinner!)
There was an “Author’s Soiree” Saturday night. It was very chill, just sitting in a circle, chatting. I skipped across the hall to Barfleet to get my boogie on and found they had DELICIOUS pizza. Then back to author room to rest my feet before bed.
Sunday was daylight savings, and so I slept in, as is required. I barely made it to the 10am panel, double-fisting the caffeine – tea in one hand, diet coke in the other. By the last panel of the day, I had major brain fog, but the audience was very helpful in coming up with questions.
Closing ceremonies were better attended than the opening, and I took a bow and said “Thank you!”
And then just as quickly as it came, the convention was over, and I was exhaustedly helping tetris all the stuff into my car. We left with a lot more than we came with. We were giving a friend a ride, said friend and hubby had both won games in the game room, and I had collected four boxes of books from my writing workshop to sell at a table at Cleveland Fan Expo in two weeks!
Somehow, we got it all in, and had a Mexican dinner that couldn’t be beat at El Camino, just a mile from the hotel.
Now… what even is normal life?
