I know, I know, this is two weeks late, but since I went camping last weekend, this is the first I’ve really had a chance to sit and process… while finally watching Ted Lasso in the background for the first time. (Loving the show, but Jamie is a bit of a prat. That is all.)
So, Apollycon… hell, it was overwhelming as fuck. I am a relatively introverted extrovert, so making new friends in the crowds wasn’t hard, just exhausting. Overall, it was a fun time and the people were great; the operations? Well, that’s a harder thing to judge – it seemed like no one really knew what was going on, though I understand that the majority of the people making it run were volunteers, so there’s that. Personally, I think that equipping them all with walkie talkies or having a few point people with them might have made things go easier/smoother on everyone. I found that if you had a question and you didn’t have “the” person, you could be waiting for ages while they ran off to find the person with the answers. I’m sure that people have already waxed on about the line situation, but it was just… not great. That said, I did bring things to amuse myself, but didn’t find a need to pull those out because I was lucky enough to be next to some pretty excellent people and had fun chatting about books (of course). New Instagram friends were made, contests won, authors met (and fangirled over)!
The signings were overwhelming, but I loved getting to meet the authors I’ve been reading for the past few years. I was lucky enough to get face time with most of the authors I wanted – even with the wrist bands (thanks Becca for helping me on the Helena Hunting line, x!). I mean, my #1 priority was to meet Juliette Cross finally – I’ve been reading her since I did Romanceopoly 2020 and fell in love with Wolf Gone Wild and I’ve been a Patreon supporter for almost as long. We’ve talked online, but meeting in real life was a bit nerve wracking for me – like, in my head, we’re totally friends, which yes, I know sounds really weird, and I didn’t want to go full fangirl on her, so I went partial fangirl on her and Jessen (her niece and cohost of the Smart Women Read Romance podcast) instead. 🤣 I also was delighted that I got to meet Natasha Madison and tell her just how much I love her Something So, This Is, and Only One series and how I’ve made fellow hockey romance loving friends read them. I also may have mentioned something about how she is a master at ripping my heart to shreds, taping it back together, and putting it back in my chest with each book. (I did forget to ask if the coach from Michael’s book was based on Tortorella and if Wilson was based on Tom Wilson. Maybe when I see her at another signing someday. Ha!)
I stressed for days wondering what I was going to have the authors sign if I didn’t have a book handy and ultimately, I decided that I would have them all sign my Kindle cover with silver Sharpie. Not the most original, I grant you, but the most heartfelt to me. Almost my entire library of books is on that tablet and it means so much to me. Roan Parrish may have had the best reaction when I asked her to sign it: she told me that she was touched because she knew how much that meant to a reader and that she was among the first to sign. Her eyes lit up and she gave me a huge smile when I handed it to her. Now I just need to find something to help preserve those signatures – some spray on clear coat or something. Luckily, I ordered a backup cover because I anticipated not wanting to use the original until I could protect the signatures. Honestly, I’d do it again. I mean, people went all out and had authors signing canvases and book covers (Book Beaus?)… and some brought ALL the books to sign. (One woman brought every Tessa Bailey book she owned and while there was a 3 book/item limit, she found kind people who only had one or two things to sign who were willing to take a book or two of hers along with them. I mean, that’s how I got the entire All In series signed – I made friends with someone while waiting and she had a really low number for Helena Hunting and offered to take two of my books with her. Thanks, Elizabeth – you’re the best!)
I still need to do a photo drop of my pics on IG at some point, but we’ll see when I get around to that. I mean, it *is* two weeks later and I’m just getting around to this, haha! I don’t know if I’ll do Apollycon next year or if I’ll do another conference – Book Bonanza is looking pretty good and their author list is pretty awesome… We’ll just have to see. One thing that I will do is go with a friend this time. Going by myself wasn’t too bad and I met people, but I think I would have handled the crowds and managed myself better if I had been around people I already knew.
Did you go to Apollycon or some other convention? What did you think about it? Would you do it again?
Bookish, Nerdy, and Curious 