Yaoi-Con

This is going to be very TL;DR

PART ONE: AIRPORT ADVENTURES

Our plan was to get in Thursday night and be all rested and settled to tackle the day on Friday. As you can already tell, this plan failed.

It all began when our first plan departed late, I no longer remember why. It should have left on time, but did not. Anyway, we got to Atlanta just in time–I mean just in time to watch our connecting flight pull away from the gate -__-

The best part of this is that they should have held the plane. We went up to the counter to get our new flight in time to watch one of the clerks yell at the other for not holding the plane like they should have. The douchebag next to us at the counter was being a total asshole about how he needed to be on that flight, how dare they, blah blah blah. But there were only two flights a day, so no one was going anywhere until morning. Them’s the breaks.

Unfortunately, between when we landed and when we had to leave, there was no real time to get a hotel. So we had to airport camp–in the coldest goddamn fucking airport on the planet. Nobody really slept. By the time we finally landed in SF, got to the hotel, got checked, got our booth set up, and finally went to dinner, we’d been awake for 36 hours straight.

Fun times. Never fly AirTran. The people were all awesome, they really were. But the overall service was x_x
 
 
PART TWO: DEALER’S ROOM

Saturday! DR fun begins! We were nervous, because there were lots of shiny tables and most places had multiple tables and we only had our one little one. But, [info]drowning_london put together an awesome stand for our banner so it stood out really well and people kept scoping it ^__^

We got a lot of compliments on our tag line, and scores of them on our covers. That made us really happy, since LT3’s covers tend to be very different from industry standard. We’ve always been very adamant about the look and feel of our covers, and take a lot of pride of them, so to actually hear so many people compliment them was nice ^___^

The whole thing actually started off with a bang. It was quiet at first, but then we got a flood of people who knew us, wanted to say how much they liked us, and one insanely crazy awesome woman bought like one of almost everything! We were all O_O and totally blown away and it was really fucking neat.

THEN THEN THEN Grim and her sister came by and brought me cookies and banana bread (both of which were fucking delicious) ^___^ How awesome is that? Then they bought books, and they came by again the next day and it was loads of fun 😀

Hyperjirou came by as well to talk and buy books and just generally be awesome. She once bought me two really neat fan badges from these guys and told me where to find them at the con ^__^ So now in addition to my Fai/Kurogane and Zoro/Sanji badges, I now own Cid/Vincent, Sanzo/Goku, Doumeki/Watanuki, and a cool Hellsing one ^__^ We also got one for Sammikins, and one for my dad :3

I also mosied over to the Dreamspinner Press table (there were three independent publishers there: us, DSP, and Blind Eye Books) and bought Blood Howl cause it’s a kickass book and I wanted it in print. I also wanted Mary Calmes’ Warder series and totally would have dropped all my play money to obtain the print versions, but alas they were pretty much the only books of hers not in print 🙁 So I got another random one that is not typically my thing but I like her writing and am willing to try it :3 Plus, she was there and really nice so I wanted to buy something for her to sign ^___^

Which leads me to the authors I met while there: Amy Lane, Mary Calmes, Clare London (who was double plus awesome because she recognized my name on my badge while I was poking around DSP and said she liked my stuff, and later on Saturday she came and chatted with us at the LT3 booth and said I should totally do a guest thing or whatnot on her LJ sometime. That made me happy, even if I’ll prob be too shy to remind her about it).

Then I almost missed a panel because I screwed up the time, but I made it! It was the Overcoming Writer’s Block panel by the awesome babes of Yaoifix ^___^ They did a really awesome job, and it’s always fun to see just how differently all writers do their thing. I actually spoke up! (this is huge for me, I’m quiet as a mouse at such things). Then afterward I chatted with (harassed, really) Rin Sparrow, who is nice as nice can be. She came by the booth later and bought books ^__^ That reminds me I still need to reply to her email ^^;;;

Major props belong to [info]jolena and [info]drowning_london who were the best sales people we could have ever asked for. Sasha and I are the ‘hide behind the table in fear’ type. We do not make good sales people, not even a little bit. But Brandie and London were on it like a boss. They were really damned amazing at drawing people in, chatting with them, telling them about the books. We kicked ass because of them, definitely and totally.

Brandie periodically vanished to rob booths of all things Dr. Who. She started the con with a very barren shirt. By the end of it, you couldn’t see the shirt for the Dr. Who badges and buttons. She also got a baby top hat, and she and Sasha got really cool pocket watches (they have to be wound and everything). I got the fan badges, two books from DSP, and then I bought a trilogy that one of the Yaoifix authors was selling; The Wizard of Bright Isle is the first book, I don’t remember the proper name for the trilogy. My collection of books signed by awesome authors grows and grows 😀

I will be doing a book pimp post later, for the books I read while I was stuck in airports and when I got up too early to do anything but read and chill ’til everyone else stirred :3 (I’m an early riser by habit, and don’t sleep well in hotels, so I always have lots of time to kill in the morning).

On Sunday, I went out with London to get lunch (that was a disaster, not even going into it, suffice to say all cities need to be Cincinnati where there is food every three steps) and when I got back I got yelled at for leaving because someone had come by to see me and she was crushed I was not there, but she’d be back.

Turns out it was lynnette lacy, who treated us like we were fucking rockstars or something ^____^ She hugged me (lots) and wanted a picture with me, and then one with Sasha. She brought a list so she knew which books she already had, and she was awesome and sweet and all my cool peeps totally blew me away with just how FUCK AWESOME they were ^____^

Also like every other person was all WHERE ARE THE DRAGONS FROM DWTD?????? and I told them February and that was true until like an hour ago, when i had to rearrange the schedule so now they’re coming out in March ^^;;;;;;

God, I know I am forgetting stuff and people, because so many came by the booth and practically everyone was so nice it left us flailing with happy ^___^

Another neat part of the con was that we were across from this really cool corset-making shop. I alas have forgotten their name and can’t find the business card, but they were seriously amazing. Their corsets were like nothing I’ve ever seen, just well made and very thorough, they knew their business and every single person who bought one walked away looking happy as fuck. They weren’t cheap either, most ranged in the 300-500 range, I think. But they had corsets for literally all sizes and shapes, it wasn’t one of those ‘skinny girls only’ clubs. The girl who won the raffle was not small by any means, and she got this beautiful corset and it looked so good on her and she was so happy ^__^ They bought books from us too, and the one guy totally kidnapped India Jackson and chatted with her forever.

India Jackson! That’s what I knew I was forgetting ^__^ LT3 is mainly online, in all ways, so it’s a treat when we get to actually meet our authors face to face :3 We got to meet India Jackson, author of Mohegan. She and her husband were wonderful 😀

Next year, I really hope I can buy one of the corsets :3 We really wanted them, they were gorgeous.

Lots and lots of shiny things, I wish I could have bought all of them. London and I chatted with an artist for a bit, we may commission her to do the character art for the cover of Pancraz & Vester’s story :3 And my crew bought me a bag with one of her chars on it! I would link to her website, but she does not have one yet, alas.

We went to this restaurant called the Elephant Bar twice, and a Bennihanna’s (I totally don’t remember how that’s spelled, but they’re always good, at least the ones I’ve been to) once, and they were delicious and it was nice to get out of the hotel for a little bit.

The only downside to the whole trip was that I missed meeting someone, because she could not make it to the hotel, I think, and I never was away long enough to do anything but grab a bite to eat 🙁 Plus, the hotel had the world’s shittiest reception so I think we kept missing chances to coordinate via twitter and such.

Yaoi-Con had a really great crowd; it was not nearly that diverse the two times I went back in its earliest days. It was neat to see just well it’s done for itself over the years ^__^ And many many thank yous to the awesome staff, especially Liz.

We will probably go again next year, so if you’re interested, start planning!

I am sure I am forgetting stuff, but I am still dead tired from all the traveling (thankfully the trip home was completely uneventful, much love to London and her family for helping us with mailing the boxes back home). So, apologies to those I should have mentioned her but did not. I am merely brain dead, and will rectify my mistakes as I’m made aware of them.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and chatted with us, bought books, or just paused long enough to grab a coupon ^___^ Thanks to Brandie and London for working so hard at selling, and many thanks to my pseudo-wife Sasha who managed the money and transactions and lots of other little details. As usual, I mostly just sat there and babbled when prodded and signed books (and I hope people like my ridiculous attempts to sign, I get so flustered and can never think of anything witty or clever or whatnot and my handwriting sucks ::sigh::). I am very good at doing nothing, it seems, whoops ^^;;;;

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3