Well, I did it. I drove myself to Louisville twice to participate in the Imaginarium convention. If you have ever met me out in the wild, you may not know I have crushing social anxiety and I hate traveling. It took me 10 years to get up the nerve to take part, but I am glad I did!

Unfortunately, my friend that was going to be my buddy did not get to go this year as planned. So, I headed off in my car to a place I’ve never driven to on my own to do public speaking in front of strangers. YIKES!

Normally I feel awkward in these kinds of situations where I have no idea what I’m doing, who I’m going to hang out with, or where I am going. I even stopped at my best friend’s house on the way up there to try to drag him with me on one of my days. Of course, he was sick and couldn’t come. Thus, I was on my own.

For the first time, I didn’t feel like an outsider. People who had no clue who welcomed me like an old friend. I spoke at several panels and even taught a class on Serial Reading. And I had actual people show up to hear ME tell them about Kindle Vella and Ream. Several students even said I had gotten them highly motivated. Plus, I learned things from the panels I took part in!

I also had a great time talking to the vendors and panelists. I don’t normally get to do that when I’m selling my own books as I am usually by myself, but I wandered around for two days this time. Everyone I met was super nice. I couldn’t buy everything I wanted, but I tried to take a card from all the people I spoke with. Hopefully, I can buy something from them soon.

The dinner was delicious and although my book, Requiem For Dead Flowers, did not win the top poetry award, I still had a fun night. Even after the grumpy server tried to take my chocolate cake because she was sure “that doesn’t come with your meal”! Uhm. Ma’am, they promised me chocolate cake when I paid for my reservation over a month ago. You do not take the slice of cake from a fat lady who is tired. In order to avoid any other complications, I ate my cake right after that conversation..which meant I ate a salad and then a cake…LOL. Fortunately for me, the people at the cash concession stand were friendly when I escaped to find a Coke. (The tea was BLEAH even with 4 packets of sugar.)

If you are looking for a convention full of cool people and things, attend Imaginarium! Who knows, maybe next year I will actually sell books. But yeah, I am definitely going to go back!