As I get ready to head out to Gay Rom Lit, the M/M Romance event in Portsmouth, VA, this Wed to Sun, I’m packing stuff and muttering about swag – those promo items we give away to readers.

It’s great fun to hand out stuff, but always a debate in the months before about what to get and how many. I’ve done plot-bunny stress balls

and chocolate

and rubber ducks

and sanitizer and screen cleaners, along with pens and magnets and stickers and post-it notes and bookmarks…

I have something fun this year (shh, it’s a secret.) I hope folks like it. I hope I got a reasonable number.

But as fun as swag is to give away and to collect, it’s the people at GRL I can’t wait to see. This is my one event this year, and always the place that recharges my writing batteries. It’s the one place I manage a moderate amount of people-ing (because this is my tribe.)

Remember if you live in the Portsmouth area, the Saturday signing event (two groups by author first name – 10:00 – 11:30 AM and 1:00 to 2:30 PM)  is free and open to the public. Come on by, say hello, meet authors, pick up said swag if you like.

I can’t wait to see everyone there.

(And if there’s a kind of swag you like the best, or wish you’d see at events, tell me here. It’s never too late to start planning for next year.)

– Kaje Harper

Oct 2023