So Dragoncon was quite the whirlwind this year. It seems like more people showed up sooner, and lots more people overall. I have no way to know that, but if the packed hotels were any indication.
Anyway, I left Friday morning, heading for Atlanta, and as required by law, I took a picture of the Gaffney Peach.
I lucked out this year and thanks to the generosity of my niece, got to stay at the Hyatt. So we wouldn't have to pay for parking for two cars (remember, I'm a writer. We save money where we can). I met my sister at an undisclosed location, and we transferred all my packing from my car to her car.
Thus loaded, we drove to the hotel. Ah, such a simple statement. But remember, this is Atlanta. There is no simple "we drove to..." We were twenty miles from the hotel where we met. That twenty miles took us AN HOUR AND A HALF. That's right, we averaged 15 miles an hour on the highway. Boy, I don't miss living there.
But all horrible things must come to an end. We finally reached the hotel, got everything up to the room, and set out the snack buffet. On a budget, we were going to have most meals in the room.
Thankfully, I only had one event to attend that evening, which was the Falstaff Books Roadshow. So I told a nice-sized audience about my book Knight Errant and I'm confident every one of them immediately rushed out and bought a copy.
That taken care of, and wiped out from the drive and everything else, I was in bed by midnight. Long gone are the 3AM nights at the con.
FRIDAY arrived bright and early. Thankfully, my first panel wasn't until 10AM, so I was able to get up, have a protein shake and peanut butter sandwich (the breakfast of champions) then go to the panel. It was about getting into and staying in the film business. Well-attended by several fools who want to be involved in our crazy field. I gave them the best advice I could. Well, second best. The best advice is "find a different line of work."
Then it was time for the main part of Friday. Cosplay. I, like many others, am a huge fan of Dungeon Crawler Carl and its author, Matt Dinniman. So I dressed as Carl and my sister dressed as Princess Donut riding Mongo.
Then we went to the Dungeon Crawler Carl photo shoot, which must have involved at least two hundred people, if not more. Cool costumes abounded.
Then after the photo shoot it was on to the rest of Friday, but we shall continue this grand adventure in the next post. Until then, keep your stories alive.