I know I promised to get back with A.B. Gayle on how GRL was and if I thought it was worth it.
Yeah, it’s totally worth it.
I went into it a little concerned because I am not the most social of people Curmudgeon wouldn’t be too far off. And I did keep to the fringe of things (other than when I sang “Welcome to the Jungle” at karaoke…I’d like to blame alcohol on that but I wasn’t really that drunk…I’m just a ridiculous ham) but I still managed to meet people I’d only seen in the pixel and found out that people have actually read our books.
Yeah, I know, as much as Treva Harte loves me, she probably wasn’t paying me out of her own pocket for three years, but still I was surprised. Not just that people had read the stories, but had real opinions on them and most of them appeared to understand what we were trying to express! I met VJ Summers who actually liked The WASPs (which given some of the reviews I thought was only a story a parent could love) and has us convinced we could do a sequel.
We met and chatted extensively with Z Allora Allora. She’s such a bundle of wonderful energy and she didn’t seem to think our concept for Black Gold 2 was totally insane, which gave me the confidence to jump in and attack the rewrites. Also, she was one of my stalwart defenders when the go-go dancers got too close and gave me The Fear. One day I will write up why stripper/dancers give me The Fear, but these ones did seem pretty nice and didn’t smell of Axe (okay so I guess given that description, The Fear is self-evident.)
I also met E.M. Lynley who edited Bedknobs & Beanstalks, one of the first anthologies I was even included in and who is kind of to blame for me. I swear, she’s been everywhere and she showed me that a geoduck was, which I’d somehow always thought was like…a gemstone. Like a geod? With uck attached to it? But no, it was a creature that looks like a giant cock. At least, that’s what I remember. There was a lot of Icelandic alcohol involved.
Oh yeah, Icelandic Princess, Erica Pike, brought alcohol, some of which tasted like cumin, some tasted like old paper, and the last tasted like cough syrup and I swear cured me of my sore throat.
Thursday Euclid is going to be so proud I remembered so many names because I am notoriously awful. “You know, that person with the stuff! I want to friend them! I need their name!” But look at me, namedropping like a mofo. Okay, it kinda helps I knew the names before and didn’t have faces. The faces part is easier for a visual learner.
So, I met Christy Lockhart and Treva Harte whom I’ve been working with for a couple of years but now I can identify them in a public setting! And there was a Loose Id little dinnery thing where we supped on appetizers (okay admittedly I kinda lost weight in ABQ because I wasn’t super impressed with NM cuisine and was on the move a lot) and I chatted about snake shifters with Tara Lain and femme dom with Belinda McBride. We had a little lobby political discussion with Lynn Lorenz (who is also a Texan!) and the other Loose Id laydees and it was just so…like everyone was already an old friend. We all had this common bond of our writing and interests and politics and I wasn’t nearly as guarded as I am day-to-day.
Oh! And I almost forgot a super awesome part! So, we did the book signing and I sat with Cherie Noel (I know, right, how cool am I?) and a pretty woman with a camera stopped by and shot some pictures of me with my inflatable sheep Jody (who has a slow leak, but thank goodness Thursday is so good at blowing) and I thought that was cool but then later she came back and she was ELISA ROLLE.
See, here’s the thing. I’d never met her (obviously) but she’d reviewed some of my very first works and it really did give me some confidence even when it kinda felt like no one was really getting me. I know I’m not the only author who has been the beneficiary of that kind of support and so I was really pleased to meet her and shake her hand. Or hug her. I don’t really remember what I did, but I hope I let her know how much that meant to me.
So, you know, I found out I had fans and I found people I fanned. I attended publisher forums and got to know better what the different publishers were doing with their imprints and what they were looking for. I did some crafts ate some cake, sang badly, and met some really awesome people, some of which I already kinda knew. I know I left people out and awesome discussions but there is truly too much to cover in a blog space.
I think I did okay for promotion and there were people who purposefully read every author who was going to GRL so if you’re looking from an investment perspective, it’s potentially worth it. I know A.B. Gayle is coming from a lot further away than most, but it’s a great time and next year is in Atlanta, which is fun to explore. I’ve only been a couple of times and usually for convention, so my memories may be a little gin-drenched, but they were happy and good food.
So do it! And drag Norma Nielsen with you, we have models to drool over!
This is a great post. And you’re right, I’m shocked and proud. You’re a superstar, Axl. Rock on. m/
I’m such a horrible ham. Did you expect me to actually do it?
Sooo jealous. I’m very glad you enjoyed it, Clancy. Thanks for dropping names. It’s seems to be all about the people, rather than the city. Sometime you must fill me in on NM food. Is it Mexican? Finding out what publishers want and don’t want would be good. I’m not sure that Atlanta interests me. It’s a long way from the parts of America I would want to visit after or before. The US is such a HUGE country! Thanks for all the goss, though. Maybe the year after….I might have made enough money from my writing then to justify the fare…..
NM food seems to be largely TexMex which I don’t care for, mostly because it’s done lazily but also Mexican food doesn’t need any Tex, as far as I’m concerned. It just waters it down and makes it bland. And many places that serve it use canned beans and prefab tortillas, just cheap things that are of questionable freshness. It’s also almost all jalapeno based and there are so many other awesome peppers to use, so many different flavors to explore. And though NM is in the SW, the “Mexican” food I had there was on par with what you’d expect in Wisconsin. Anyway, I’m picky. And I’m very spoiled when it comes to casinos, apparently. Las Vegas casinos have rockstar chefs (or at least restaurants owned by rockstar chefs) and have some of the best, freshest ingredients flown in from around the world.
New Mexico? Not so much. Just bear in mind that I am incredibly spoiled, so my criticisms probably make it sound worse than it was. And really, I didn’t spend tons of time worried about it. I just didn’t invest much time/money in eating. All things being equal, the convention food was probably better than the restaurants we went to and it was better all around because it was cheaper and it forced us to be more social.
Atlanta….that’s going to be a whole other ball of wax because the food there is good. Home cookin’ soul food, bbq, 5 star chef restaurants, I will not go hungry. There is world class food there from the hole-in-the wall bbq places to top chefs and you can spend as much or as little as you want. Convention food will have a hard time competing.
Outside attractions…well it’s mostly a corporate town. Last I was there I did go to a baseball game in their then-new stadium. Unless you like baseball, it’s just like, “oh, this is a big facility for sporting events.” But there are some interesting parks and you can see a lot of interesting structures where it blends old south with Ted Turner.
I really want to go to Savannah and may tack on a day or so to explore.
None of this is probably going to be great for me actually promoting, but maybe some other authors will want to explore the city more.
Also, they’re going to add an author track to talk shop more. I think that’ll be interesting to compare notes. Really the best times I had was doing just that though in a mostly informal structure chatting with other authors.
But yeah, US is HUGE. Most every city has something interesting about it. I’m potentially more jaded about the southwest having grown up in this area.
I was in incognito but Cherie didn’t keep the secret LOL no really, I don’t consider myself someone people would know and so I simply don’t point to my badge 😉 Very glad to meet you and Jody was a wonderful co-protagonist in your and Thursday’s pics.
LOL she did sort of bust you 😉 I didn’t even see your badge and admittedly I was like, “OMG SOMEONE WANTS TO TAKE MY PICTURE LIKE I’M FAMOUS OR SOMETHING!” and associated neurosis around “okay gotta make sure I don’t double chin” absorbed almost all of my brainpower when you first came through.
It was so great meeting you and Thursday. Oddly enough, I’d never heard of either of you, but I’m totally hooked now. You two rock (and I haven’t even read your books yet, but will be checking them out of the LGBT library – thanks SO much for the donation). I hope you both make it to next year, because I certainly am! And next time I’m bringing TWO bottles of Opal 😉