One of the things I got up to while on my blogging hiatus was attending my first-ever convention. It was a book convention, which should surprise absolutely no one. Even better, it was a romance book convention! Steamy Lit Con took place in Anaheim, CA and it was held almost literally across the street from Disneyland. This was the first year for this particular convention, and in order to raise funds to make the convention actually happen, the organizers offered some special perks and packages in addition to the standard convention tickets.
One of those perks was the opportunity to spend a day at Disneyland with some of the attending authors. I tried to resist. Really, I honestly did. And I was doing really well with that right up until the point at which they announced the authors who would be involved. They divided the participating authors up into groups of three or four, and each group I think had slots for like four or so attendees. And there were several of the groups which definitely interested me, but I was still holding strong. And then they announced the group of three of my favorite authors ever: Karelia Stetz-Waters, Alison Cochrun, and Rebekah Weatherspoon. That was it. I was toast. All of my willpower went up in a rainbow-hued puff of smoke and I was reaching for my wallet before I could overthink it.
The only way this situation could possibly be any better was…if nobody else purchased spots in this group. Which they didn’t. Which meant I got to spend a magical day with three amazing people and I didn’t have to share them with anyone.
It was eleventy-thousand degrees out that day and my feet may never forgive me for what I put them through. Seriously, you should have seen the blisters. Unless you’re squeamish about blood. In which case you absolutely should not have seen the blisters. And I even wore Hokas! But the damage was done and I ended up wearing flip flops for the rest of the week because I absolutely could not even consider putting real shoes back on my poor, abused feet. But even limping with pain I still enjoyed every minute of my day with these three lovely people.
We didn’t do a lot of rides for various reasons, but we did tackle the Star Wars area of the park pretty thoroughly (once a Star Wars nerd, always a Star Wars nerd). The day was filled with dole whips and silly pictures, smiles and laughs, first roller coaster rides and great conversations. And of course all of the hallways you could ever ask for (exactly three people will understand that 😂).
Below is just a quick peek at our day. I looked like a purple tie-dyed disaster, especially once the sweltering heat and overpowering humidity set in, but I don’t care. This will be a day I will never forget. ❤️
