It’s been more than two weeks since I got home from DragonCon. I think I’m *almost* recovered… which is almost a joke.
If you’ve ever thought hey, I’d like to geek out, talk books, and not sleep for six days, all while surrounded with roughly eighty thousand of your new best friends, DragonCon might be for you!
This was my first year attending, and I went as a tourist—no panels, no meetings, and no obligations. I was fortunate to be with a great group of fellow authors who are long-time con pros, and I was warned about all the important stuff in advance: no heels, avoid hard commitments, and don’t look at the schedule too hard.
Cause the schedule is huge, guys. At any given time, you could have found me quite happily settled in any of dozens of panels.
So I took it easy. And I managed to do something I’ve never done before—kept a list of what I was doing on each day! And while I’ll spare you the blow-by-blow, I’d love to share some of my highlights with you…
Brainstorming and hatching schemes with fellow authors.
Hanging out in the Baen Con suite with some of the coolest authors and pros I know.
People watching in the Hyatt and Marriott Marquis… I wish I had taken more cosplay pictures! Some of my favorites were service dogs partnered up with their people, but there was so much awesomeness I had whiplash by the end of the first night.
Programming and panels. Just too many to choose from. My favorite panel was probably “It’s the End of the World (and We Show It)” which included panelists and friends Kacey Ezell, Charles E. Gannon, Robert E. Hampson, and S.M. Stirling. It was a fascinating and thought-provoking panel on world tragedies, what constitutes “the end of the world”, and how fiction can be used to evoke empathy and understanding in fantasy and science fiction settings.
Great eating… I went in expecting to subsist on M&Ms and fast food. Instead, I somehow ended up spending more time fine dining than getting my hands covered in greasy fries (though all the fries I did have were delicious). Featured restaurants included Meehan’s, Ray’s in the City, Atalian, Big Kahuna, and Ted’s Montana Grill. It’s safe to say I did not go hungry on this trip.
Sunday night (/Monday morning?) 2AM Crüxshadows concert and a quick cameo appearance at the rave around 3AM.
Hours spent wandering the vendor hall.
I found some truly incredible posters in the artist’s alley from Gallery Gerard, a husband-wife duo with ridiculous amounts of talent. Go check them out!
We closed out the weekend on Monday a quick visit to the DragonCon store, so I could buy a patch (which I collect!) and sitting around the writer hangout at the Westin bar. I’m so glad we stayed through Monday so I had a bit of time to decompress (and catch up on some sleep!) before catching a flight back to Virginia the next day.
Fellow adventurers, I already have a ticket for next year. See you there!
