Last weekend, I took part in my first, but hopefully not last, Comic Con event when I attended Con Nooga 2022 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I've always considered myself somewhat of a nerd of all trades - I'm a board game dork, a theatre geek, a word-lover, and a sci-fi/fantasy/action fan in books, movies, and television. I also know who I am outside of all of that, who the world sees when they look at me or spend time with me. I'm a midwestern suburbs white family woman 20+ years into a writing career that mostly spans non-fiction. I'm everybody's mother, everybody's sincere friend, an idealist, and a bit of apple pie on the side.
I did not appear the same as the others at ConNooga!
Crap, I thought. They're going to find me out! They're going to discover that I am nothing like KevTheRamenMan, the adorable glittered gals of Antagonist Alert, or this sweet thing blind in one eye who embraced their disability with their costume. I feel like I'm going to have to con them all into believing I belong here.
Suddenly my little booth didn't feel adequate for this crowd. I'm just the girl who geeks out when Captain Picard (@DaleKolbus on Instagram) walks by. I wondered how I would manage this event, a far cry from the many publishing conventions I'd attended over the years.
I could nOt compete!
That's when I made a decision. I was not going to compete. I couldn't. Seriously, when I share some of the awesome costumes from the event, the other authors and neighbors I had, and the community existent there when you read the rest of my recap throughout this week, believe me when I tell you competing with it was not going to be an option. All I could do was be myself. So, that's what I did.
I served up my apple pie energy each day and in each interaction because I was there to show the guests a world where we CAN all be ourselves and work toward a better humanity.
Linda, the leading lady of the 26th century of my book, exerts an independence that leads to an entirely new people: The Zoeans.
Miriam, the leading lady of the 30th century timeline in my book, is a Zoean working to unify all of humanity.
Connection is kind of what's at the core of At Fault and that's the book I was there promoting since it went into preorder mode last week.
Stick with me this week as I share all of the amazing connections I was able to make and how they connected me even more deeply to the work I was passionately bringing to the table . . . er . . . booth at Con Nooga 2022.
Until then, and as always, Be Gloriously Human!
Your Apple Pie Author
~JS
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