Two weeks ago today, I was on my way to Bristol for the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet. It was to be my second year attending and if I include the amazing first Euro pride convention in Munich it was also my second ‘meet’ of this year. I am pleased to say that the Bristol weekend lived up to every expectation and then some. Two weeks later I am still buzzing from it and being driven by the energy that it created.

So what’s so great about these conventions? Why do we need them and why do they need us?

Much has been written by others over the last two weeks about the content of the Bristol weekend and the outstanding work of the team who put it all together. The truth is that many of the things that we might talk about as attendees would not make much sense to others and would always have to carry the tag line “you had to be there.”

That is the point. Meets and conventions may be fun and they may be places of learning, but most of all they are melting pots for writers, readers, illustrators and publishers. They are the focus for networking and developing the kinds of relationships which make us so strong as a collective.

One of the things I least expected when I joined this crazy world of writing was the sense of belonging. I’d always been led to believe that the life of an author was a lonely one. What did I know? Joining the community of m/m romance writers and readers has dispelled that illusion and now I am part of a wonderful, supportive family.

Of course that makes the UK Meet an important family get-together. Like any family gathering we all take different things away from it and our experience will always be proportional to the expectations, enthusiasm and attitudes that we bring with us. One certainty is that as a family we are powerful. Our genre maybe niche, but it is no longer small. We all know the challenges of the publishing environment but that is exactly why we need meets and conventions. If you are just starting out as a writer or reader you need the meet. If you are struggling to get yourself or your work better known, you need the meet. If you have accumulated experience than the meet needs you. If you are enjoying some success as an author or as a publisher, the meet needs you.

One of the most memorable highlights of the Bristol weekend was the keynote speech from Elizabeth North of Dreamspinner Press. It was great to hear the back story of a publishing house which is proving that it is possible to have success with integrity. What made the speech so memorable however was the way in which Elizabeth passionately made the case for us as a community. As individuals we have very specific roles. As writers, unless we write we are nothing. As readers we must read or we are all lost. Obvious? Maybe, but we all know how easy it is to be distracted from our core tasks at times.

As a community however, we have power and we have responsibilities. What we are doing matters and for some it matters deeply. Our stories can bring light to the dark corners of some lonely lives. We can give hope to people who have lost theirs because of fear and prejudice. We can inject love and romance into those who have lived without such feelings for years or even decades.

Am I suggesting that each individual writer has to keep those things in mind every time they sit down to write? No of course not. That kind of pressure would scare most of us to the point of inactivity. That is where the community comes into its own. As a group we achieve those things collectively. As individuals we can dream and let’s face it as writers we dream big every day. Let’s make sure that our own beliefs do not limit us.

The UK Meet is proof to me that when a group of like-minded people with shared values, common goals and fierce passions come together, energy is created. There are no limits to what we might achieve so long as we persist. I do believe that our community is coming-of-age and it is time to fly the nest. The world is changing out there but as Elizabeth reminded us there are still barriers to be broken down and borders to be crossed.

America has a great history of annual conventions and they have become an essential ’circuit’ for many in our community. The UK Meet has blazed a trail for Europe and it has set the bar high. Any who would question the need for the event might well reflect on the speed with which the tickets sold out this year. We now also have the fledgling EuroPride Convention which after this year’s hugely successful inaugural weekend in Munich roles on to Berlin next June.

Some people will always prefer to fly solo and that’s their happy choice. Many of us however prefer the sense of belonging to something bigger. I have seen how this event unites a wide range of very different individuals in a collective which is far greater than the sum of its parts. Once you have felt its power then in the words of the Borg Collective. “Resistance is futile.”

Is it 2016 yet?

TJ Masters is both a writer of gay fiction and a serial blogger.

TJ stalks the world of social media especially through his websites, Facebook pages and Twitter personas. If you want to track him down then a good place to start would be under his real name Tim O’Rahilly on Facebook where he likes to start every day with a positive post of some sort.