I had a lovely time over Memorial Day weekend at Balticon, the Maryland Regional Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention. The link there goes to the 2017 Balticon, but if you go to balticon.org you will be redirected to whatever the current year is.

Balticon technically starts on Friday, but my Friday included being interviewed by Focus on Fantasy Romance (see the video here), so I didn’t show up at the convention until Saturday morning.

The first thing I did was check in to the Broad Universe table in the dealer’s room, drop off my books, and sign up for a few hours “broadening” the table (thanks to one of my fellow Broads for that one–sadly I can’t remember who!). I also said hi to some friends, and then headed off to attend a panel on cover design.

I already knew most of the things discussed in the panel (which isn’t to say that I execute any or all of those things well/perfectly!), but I did learn something new about fonts and textures (or rather, when not to use special effects), so that was valuable.

I then went to a series of panels about podcasting and audiobook narration. You might be able to guess (and you would be right!) that there’s a reason for my interest. I haven’t finalized all of the details, but I am planning to start a monthly podcast either this month or next month, depending on how quickly I can get things up and running. I plan to use the material from my romance pet peeves and sex and romance blog series as most of the initial fodder, but I am also going to open it up to any questions about writing, books, publishing, or anything else you’d like to hear me talk about!

The next thing on my agenda was the Rapid Fire Reading with Broad Universe.

Each author had about 4 minutes to introduce their material and read. I was the only one who picked a passage short enough to stop before the moderator cut me off, which was nice because I got to end on a dramatic note. (I read the first scene from Memories of Magic, up until the point were Olivia opens her eyes).

On Sunday, I spent most of my time hanging out in the Dealer’s Room with the Broads, chatting with passersby about books and other things. I also caught another panel about podcasting (this one talked about crowdfunding, specifically through Patreon, which is something I’ve been considering for a while anyway). After the panels were done, I got to go to dinner and chat with some writer friends, which was fantastic.

On Monday, I once again spent most of my day in the Dealer’s Room. I only left to chow in the con suite and to check out J.L. Gribble’s reading. But, I sold a book, so that was the highlight of the convention for me. Sadly none of the authors sold much at our table–or anywhere else in the Dealer’s Room. All of the vendors complained at the low sales this year. But I don’t mind–that was one sale I didn’t have before!

So in all, a great convention. Next time I’ll either stay in the hotel or find someplace closer to sleep so that I can attend more early and late panels.

Leave me a comment about what you’d like to hear on a podcast, or send me a message on Twitter or Facebook. If you want to hear about it, I want to talk about it!