Before I started writing, I never had anything to review. I did the same thing, year after year – nothing photo worthy, nothing blog worthy. But in recent years, things have changed completely for me. I have a life now, and this year was glorious.
The Dreamspinner Author Conference
I love that the DSP author conference is so early in the year because it really sets the tone of the new year. The 2014 conference was our biggest yet – over 100 authors, editors, and staff attended and it was an amazing opportunity to sit and talk, collaborate even, with some of the powerhouse authors of our genre like Amy Lane, Rhys Ford, Mary Calmes, and Andrew Grey. Their books resonate with such a large percentage of our reader base, it’s an incredible opportunity to just pick their massive brains on getting books into readers’ hands. Plus, they’re some of the sweetest people you could meet.
We set goals, talk trends, and give each other tools to make us all stronger as authors and in other areas like marketing and strategy. It’s also a chance for friends from all over the country to hang out – I got to see Chris Koehler who I see maybe once or twice a year, Andrew Gordon whom I adore, Posy Roberts, Shae Connor, Tara Lain, and an entire host of other authors whose company I am very happy to spend time in. It’s the one event during the year that doesn’t feel like a popularity contest. We’re all just the same kinds of people doing something we love.
If you’re a Dreamspinner author – it’s definitely a not-to-be-missed event and in 2015, we’ll be meeting in Orlando!
OutlantaCon
I love OutlantaCon. It’s this tiny little con in Atlanta for gay geeks. There’s really no other way to describe it – and we have so much fun there. I did something like 12 panels at OutlantaCon this year – from Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter and each was met with amazing enthusiasm by those who attended. These are some hard core fans.
I also got to hang out with some of my truly favorite people – Kage Alan, William Cooper, Kiernan Kelly, Shae Connor, TC Blue, Ally Blue, Eden Winters, and Java Green. You’ll recognize a lot of these names from the Butt anthologies because that’s where the anthology idea started – with this wonderful group of people.
One of my favorite parts of OutlantaCon is that it IS in Atlanta, which as most of you know, I’ll be moving to in April. I have a lot of amazing, supporting friends there including Perry Cavalari, Jake Driver, Eddie Polidura, sweet little pup Isaac, Zack Taylor, Shae Connor and others. They have made it possible for me to break out of my shell some and move half way across the country on a grand new adventure. I cannot wait.
RT – Romantic Times
This is the big one, but this year, I didn’t put any pressure on myself to be the social butterfly. I went as Jamie Mayfield and my goal was to bring our LGBT kids something they could identify with. I talked to a lot of librarians who were thrilled to see me, gave out 200 Jamie Mayfield backpacks, and sold a fair amount of books to librarians, concerned parents, and even a few kids.
One of the best parts of this year was being able to hang out with some of my favorite bloggers. For the first time, I finally got to meet Brandilyn Carpenter of Prism Alliance. I also adore Joyfully Jay and Jen from The Blogger Girls. It was so great to see them mingling with the other romance bloggers and making names for themselves. One of the things I love about the bloggers in our genre – they like each other. We don’t see catty infighting, and you didn’t see that at all at RT. They’re such an amazing group of people.
Oh, and I may have met a beautiful go-go boy at Oz.
IML
IML is always fun for me. It’s a chance to hang out with like-minded people and not feel like a freak. IML/Grabbys weekend also means that some of my more colorful friends come to Chicago to hang out for Memorial Day weekend. Friends like Drake Jaden, Dire Callahan, and Dire’s wonderful boy Growler who are the ones I got to spend most of my time with. I also got to see Dirk Caber who is always awesome to hang out with, Johnny Parker who was in the running for the big title this year, and always adorable Duncan Black and Eli Lewis.
Gay Days
Gay Days Orlando is the epitome of too many boys, too little time. Seriously, thousands of beautiful guys take run of the city and it is just a fun and amazing experience. We spend our time at Parliament House mostly because that’s where the dealer’s tables are set up. It took a couple years for the guys there to realize I wasn’t selling lesbian books, even with the gorgeous guys on my covers, but this year I actually sold out of books before the event ended and spent my evenings playing with the boys.
The highlight this year, more than seeing Howard, Drake Jaden, Ryan Rose, Jimmy Fanz, and my favorite bartender Shaun, was finally getting to meet mi esposo bello, Eli Wyn. Eli and I have been talking on twitter for about four years. About two years ago, he put up a throwaway comment on twitter about marrying the first person to find him Darth Vader pajamas. I won that little challenge and the joke of marriage just brought our friendship closer. When I found out he was going to be close to Orlando at the time I’d be there, I invited him up to spend the night hanging out with us. It was an experience I will cherish for a very long time.
Wow, that’s a lot of stuff happening, and we’re only through half the year!
Blue Ridge Mountain Retreat
Shae Connor organized a mountain retreat for a bunch of writers to come down and spend the weekend in this gorgeous cabin a couple hours outside Atlanta. A chance to visit Atlanta again AND hang out with my friends? I’m ALL over that. So, several established authors like Sara York, William Cooper, Shae Connor, Rowan Speedwell, and me took new authors Perry Cavalari and Eddie Polidura and headed to the mountains where we spent a relaxing three days hiking, writing, hot tubbing, playing Cards Against Humanity (which we are ALL going to hell for), and playing Mario Kart. It was a fabulous time.
Atlanta Pride
Atlanta Pride is one of my favorite times of year. I don’t have many friends in Chicago, so to go down to Atlanta and be surrounded by people in such an amazing celebratory atmosphere is wonderful. This year, I had decided not to go. It’s an expensive endeavor with the flight, hotel, etc. but my friends Jake Driver and Eddie Polidura were having none of it. They decided that not only would I come down for the weekend, I would spend it in their guest room. Now, if you’ve ever seen Jake and Eddie in person, you’d be crazy to turn down an invitation like that, so I readily agreed. We had a BLAST – hanging out, going to Piedmont Park, playing at the Eagle, and walking in the parade.
Sunday at the parade, Jake and Eddie introduced me to the Leather Panthers who were so very kind and welcoming. They opened their arms to me, let me walk in the parade with them, and made me feel included. It really meant a lot to me.
Gay Rom Lit
GayRomLit is the big conference for us during the year. It’s the one where we are recognized, where we have to be on all the time from start to finish because we’re the ones people are there to see. It’s a pretty stressful event for authors, but one that I love going to so that I can meet all the people I talk to over Facebook and Twitter and all the readers who so love the same boys that I do – Brian & Jamie, Aaron & Spencer, Ben & Jude, and Julian, Simon, & Robbie. This year was no exception, and I could not have done it without my amazing assistant William Cooper and our friends Michael and Anthony Kudo.
It was a fabulous time getting kicked out of the lobby for playing Cards Against Humanity, or the following games with Amy Lane and KA Mitchell (who is wickedly good at it, I must say). I also had a fabulous time with Joey D and Johnny who are some of the warmest, sweetest guys I know.
My only regret is that I wish I’d have figured out that Dumbledore mask was going to screw with my eyes before I wore it all night. That was a pain!
All in all, with best sellers like Robbie and Spencer, the working boys Andy and Vinny, and the fun little sprites Butt Ninjas and Butt Babes in Boyland – it was a pretty stellar year. So, thank you to all of my friends, my M/M Romance family, and my readers for such an amazing opportunity. I look forward to spending 2015 with you from my new home in Atlanta and having a great time with my friends.
