I do not tolerate stress well. I eat too much. I sleep to little. And the anxiety of performance under pressure is panic inducing. But even though none of my typical support systems were in place I must say for me at Fandom Fest things were a smashing success by my standards.
I like to say that Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Fest/Mid America Comic Con is one of those places were the freaks and geeks of the fandom world go to congregate and mingle. Let's start with the one factor that I had absolutely no control over--the suffocating heat. At 105 degree heat with high humidity (weather we're still experiencing by the way here in the great state of Kentucky) it remained set on hell all weekend even at night. It kept the registration area warm all weekend long but the one thing different about this venue from last year was that for the most part it was nice and cold in places. Frigidly so.
Day 1 my official business? To take pitches and be a representative for my publishing house MuseItUp. I quickly learned, tools are everywhere and come in every shape and size. Like the 'serious' writer who decided to grace me with his presence. He asked a question. What is an author's platform and what did he need to get one. I being the naive person I can be gave him the full on truth. That at the very least he needed an official website, a blog, a twitter account, and a FB page. He asked how did you do that and write. I said rule of thumb was 1 hour a day or 1 day a week. He said he didn't think he could do that. And that Muse probably wasn't the house for him. He also said caustically that he had a day job and that I must have all the time in the world to write. I was insulted and Amy the author wanted to tell toolhead to take a long walk off a short pier. I have to discipline myself like anyone else. I told him it took hard work and sacrifice and that you had to find a way to make it happen. To say I wasn't happy with him well was an understatement. Still chewing on it. Took one pitch. They guy took himself way too seriously but I told him to send the story through. I thought it was a horrible pitch but the idea was interesting enough for me to give it the send through.
Day 2: the book launch. The B card support team came to play. Nicki Leathem (used to be Nicki Case) and her friends- Marcus, Darryl, Zach, Jamie, and Tommy helped me get all of my stuff to the room. My cousins Denise, Bridgette, and Mary Jo brought banners and dressed in costume. Only two people came to my launch but it turned out they were cousins on my McCorkle side that I had never met and had purposely sought me out. Pamela Turner was great too. I had a great discussion about my books and what inspired them and in the end Lee bought one. So I doubled the sales over my last booksigning.
Day 3 I had two panels to sit on, one on elements in world building for science fiction, the other social media. Well I was wiped out from the first two days. So I overslept. And getting my best friend and sometime co-author Melissa Goodman out of bed was no easy task either. After much hair pulling and gnashing of teeth we were on our way. But if you know anything about Southern Indiana or North Central Kentucky you know that the Kennedy Bridge is being worked on and traffic is a headache. I missed my first panel entirely. So I enjoyed the zombies, B-list actors, and a tinkerbelle too big for her britches not afraid to flaunt it. Vendor Hall was interesting to say the least. There was definitely a hierarchy going on Film/Vendors/Literary. There were even tattoo artists who were quite talented. The second panel went quite well. Sat on the panel with Delilah S. Dawson, Marian Allen and Rj Sullivan. I was much more comfortable this year than I was this year but I'm still learning as I go.
I handed out a ton promo swag which included all kinds of goodies sent in to me by the MuseItUp gang and the gift basket went to Lee McCorkle and his son Miller. Hey you're there you win! Next up is Context 25. What can I do special for that festival? Missy and I are attending together and have a table. It was a juried dealer's room so it's totally awesome that we got a table at all. I hope to see you there. http://contextsf.org.
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