Of Swords and Soulmates
Is this a kissing book? Of Swords and Soulmates features two couples (and sometimes more), with varying reading preferences and experiences, as they read, listen, and sometimes watch romantasy stories and discuss plot, fantasy elements, romance, spice, theories, and more. Join us for our non-expert opinions as we discuss, argue, rave, rant, and hopefully entertain. We may just help you find your next reading obsession or at least contribute to that TBR list!
Of Swords and Soulmates
Navigating Your First Book Con: Tips, Tricks, and What to Expect
Entering the bustling world of book conventions can be both exhilarating and overwhelming. Whether you're a seasoned con-goer or contemplating your first literary gathering, navigating these events requires strategy, preparation, and the right mindset.
Our hosts share their collective experiences from various book conventions, offering insights from both sides of the table. They break down what makes these events special—the unexpected joy of meeting authors on the convention floor, the treasure hunt for exclusive editions, and the unparalleled feeling of being surrounded by people who share your literary passions.
The conversation dives deep into practical preparation: from researching events thoroughly (Is this their first year? What are past attendees saying?) to the logistics of transportation, accommodation, and those easily overlooked hidden costs. The hosts emphasize the importance of bringing a book cart—that unexpected hero of the convention experience—and share clever organizational hacks like using post-it notes to mark signature pages and preparing an emergency "cosplay first aid kit" complete with safety pins and duct tape.
Beyond the practical advice, the discussion tackles important etiquette considerations that enhance everyone's experience. The team emphasizes patience, inclusivity, and respecting boundaries—reminding listeners that "cosplay is not consent" and highlighting the importance of making conventions accessible and enjoyable for attendees of all abilities. Their candid discussion about "acting right" provides a refreshing perspective on creating a positive convention culture.
Ready to dive into the world of book conventions? Listen now to arm yourself with insider knowledge that will transform your next literary gathering from potentially overwhelming to absolutely unforgettable. And don't forget—break in those shoes before you go!
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Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claim to be literary experts and their opinions are exactly that opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the Fair Use Doctrine.
Mari:Hello and welcome to Up Swords and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch and discuss romanticist stories. I'm one of your hosts, mari, and with me I have Kelly.
Kelly:Hey everyone, it's Kelly. We also have Ashley.
Ashley:Hey guys, it's Ashley. We also have Jonathan.
Jonathan:Hey y'all, it's me JP. I got a little cold so I may sound off, but I'm here.
Ashley:Yay, glad you're here. A little less, oomph.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:We got kid-germed.
Mari:It happens, the germs are everywhere, and so are the kids, so yeah, it's that time of year.
Mari:Yeah, yeah, they do carry the germies Well. Today we're going to be discussing book conventions or book gatherings, so I thought it would be just kind of us going over it. We're not going to get into the details of specific cons, conventions or whatever. We just want to kind of give everyone an overview of what they are, what to expect of them and how to maybe prepare for them. All right, so book conventions, book gatherings, what are they? So I went to a little wiki to get an idea of what conventions are in general. In general conventions, not specific book conventions are a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interests. The most common conventions are based on industry, profession or fandom, and book conventions specifically involve authors, readers and other literary professionals. So book fandom, so to speak. What would you say, what would you guys say, to expect if you were talking to someone who had never been to a book con? What would you tell them to expect at a book?
Ashley:con. So I feel like this is my area of expertise because arguably, I have been limited book cons.
Kelly:I have been limited book cons.
Ashley:I've been to limited cons we were talking about this earlier like, what reference do I have? Right, and arguably, I've really only been to a handful of things, and they all involve you guys. You are where you lead, we will follow. Yeah, I think you know as somebody who's relatively newer to the book con scene. Um, it's definitely gonna depend on the vendor, right? Like who's holding the event, because when we did fabled fantasy last year, in 2024, it was drastically different than an event that was held shortly after, which was held by was it alexia, I believe so, um, just a short time later. So the bar was set really high with fabled fantasy, um, who? And so fabled fantasy held a multi-day event. We at that time, jonathan and I, had only gone to one day and it was overwhelming, but in the best way, right, it was organized. We had signed up for our events ahead of time. I think the one thing that we weren't really prepared for was, like the convention floor, so like where you would go and see all the exhibits and events.
Jonathan:I think that's a you thing. Why? Because I've been to other conventions. That's kind of what convention is.
Ashley:Oh, so then, yeah, it's a me thing, which is fine, that's what you said you hadn't really been to other conventions before, so you were a clean slate.
Mari:You didn't really know what to expect.
Ashley:And so maybe I said we in the sentence and that's why he's correcting me. I tend not to say I a lot when having group conversations. I think of him and I as a team, so he's probably correcting me in that way. So yeah, I was surprised. I figured I was going to be able to buy things, but I didn't think I was going to be able to meet authors on the floor, like that.
Ashley:And so I was very unprepared, like I didn't have, you know, pens or you know, the books at home that I had been hoarding like a library dragon, and so you know not that I was opposed to buying things there, but there were things that we had already had right that we could have utilized in that space. So I think I'm definitely very excited for the future of book cons and I'm very sad that there aren't more in the Southeast region. Many of them seem to be in the Midwest.
Jonathan:What do you wish? Somebody would have told you before we went there.
Ashley:That I was going to be able to meet Juliet Cross on the floor. I knew that we were going to see her in like the panels, because we had, like, rushed to sign, to sign up for these panels, right, and so I didn't. I figured I was going to be. I thought there were going to be like local vendors on the floor but not like the authors yeah, on the floor.
Mari:Well, and, to be fair, that was my first book con. I'd been to other conventions, but that was my first book con, book con. I'd been to other conventions, but that was my first book con. So I was expecting the same thing as you, in that I was expecting vendors to be there, but I didn't think that we would be able to just walk right up to the authors and talk to them at their table, because the other convention fandom type conventions I'd been to the talent was always separated. It was you had to sign up, you had to pay, you had to get a ticket, you had to reserve a slot, stand in line, something. They were somehow like separated from the floor, the main floor.
Ashley:I like the word that you just used, the talent, because that's very much true. There was a lot of talent at the Romanticist Book Con last year and I think that was maybe the very optimistically like. The positive, overwhelming factor for me was the ability to meet some of those people. It wasn't clearly explained in all the event pages either that that was going to be available to us, so it was a delightful surprise in the best way. I was just unprepared for it.
Mari:Guys, what about you, kelly and Jonathan? What would you say to someone who hadn't been to a book con what they should expect to see or experience?
Kelly:I mean, I think it depends on what the convention is known for. You tell somebody what to expect if they go to Comic-Con is going to be different than what they should expect if they go to a book convention or if they go to some other convention like a Star Trek convention. So it's always going to vary. But essentially you should expect to you know, see other people that are into the fandom or thing that you're into, expect to possibly meet authors, actors, whatever that's in the thing that you're into that the convention's about, and of course, buy merchandise, which is probably the big thing about most conventions. And sometimes there's interesting discussions or panels or presentations.
Ashley:Yeah, that's super exciting. I don't think I, you know, as long as I've been a reader, I don't think I really ever connected with peers or like-minded you know, individuals like we have in this group on that level, to know that I, I guess I never got into comic books. So you know that scene was, I knew it existed at some point but I I'd never really gotten to, I've never experienced it. Um, or you know, mari, like what you do with, with dragon con, like cons as a whole, I think, were an experience that I've never been invited to or got to witness, not really on that on any kind of scale, alexia or Fabled Fantasy, because again, those are dramatically different, right, so this is, you know, this was pretty eye opening for me and I was very excited about it. Like I get to go shopping and buy books. You know what I mean. It's like going to Barnes Noble, but better because the authors are there. What do you mean? That was a whole new concept for my brain.
Kelly:Yeah.
Jonathan:So I challenge you with this Challenge.
Kelly:Yeah.
Jonathan:So expand your view of con to include expos.
Ashley:So I mean we were talking about this earlier too Like from an expo perspective, my experience has been bicycles with you. Husband and you worked in the outdoor sports industry for a number of years. You and I have been together. We're just rounding up at this point. It's not been 20, but it's close enough to where that's not a terrible.
Kelly:We're just counting decades now.
Jonathan:Yeah, we're just counting decades now.
Ashley:So I've definitely been to some bike expos, but I think I've not been on the customer side of that, I've been on the retail side of that.
Jonathan:So the setup, know the displays, the merch, how many years you've gone to kansas with me?
Ashley:kansas is now six years. Yeah, six years, and I guess I don't think about that in the same way, but I see where you're going my question for you is is that because it's indoors or outdoors for a con?
Jonathan:oh, and? That's I think I think that's a if, if cause, if the, if the, if the expo, the outdoor sports expo, if that was indoors, would you give that a title of a convention?
Ashley:I don't think so, because I think even the expos at Kansas, while you can buy things, it's not necessarily their main purpose. And if it is, it's to the riders, the racers, not necessarily to the general public it's a sharing of a common interest yeah, no, I. I now that you say it. I see it, but it wasn't, and I call it an expo.
Mari:You know, in conversation it's one of my favorite parts of kansas, but it's not something that I really get to do other than witness yeah, what would you guys say is the difference between an expo and like a convention If you were going to classify a thing, or is it just kind of the same thing? Just two different words for the same thing?
Kelly:Yeah, I think it's two very different things. I think a convention is something that you're going to somehow take part in, so like whether it's a convention where you're going to attend classes, workshops, lectures, whatever. Whereas an expo is more of just usually vendors or manufacturers showing off product. They're showing you a thing I see, right. So, like the New York World Expo was a bunch of manufacturing showing off. Here's the future of whatever and the products that we're going to make for it.
Kelly:Yeah, whereas a convention or a conference, products that we're going to make for it, yeah Whereas a convention or a conference is something you're going to participate in.
Mari:That makes sense.
Jonathan:And I would say the expos that she's been to, that's exactly what they do. There's panels, there's a large amount of product demonstration, but there's product selling. It is meet and greets, it is panels, it's just.
Kelly:That's the large side of things for her there.
Jonathan:I would say it can be, it could I? I think it. I'm going on a limb here, a roof, um. So I've been to a lot of different, a lot of different outdoor expos and some where they did both the expo and the convention, where they were, where they had the panels, where they were doing the, the trainings. Here's how to hear let's go, let's go get certified in this product, let's go over the ins and outs, let's talk to the, the athletes, et cetera. And then the outdoor side of things was this is the product. Take a closer, look at it in the wild and I think, the big. If you can get a roof, I think you can almost always call yourself a convention.
Jonathan:But I think the interesting part when I drag Ashley to those things is that she's an outsider looking in and it doesn't have the emotional connection to it. I think that's the perspective that I was looking at. That's how I was viewing the book con last year went to it as I was more of like an outsider. These people didn't the authors. It wasn't like, oh, I get to meet this author, I'm so excited, this is great. It was just like oh, here's a person who are you again.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Okay, cool, and that's how. So that's how she is in the outdoor sports stuff. But and so it's interesting for me to put that hat on and definitely got to see some of some of your excitement from like an audience perspective. Like Marnie, I get to see your you light up over authors and have more specific questions and and engagement there and I was like, oh, this is a unique hat to wear, like it's nice.
Mari:It's nice to see things from multiple perspectives, because two people can experience the same thing but, based on what their expectations are and what their prior experience is, they're going to feel different about it. So generally I would say, at a book convention people can expect there to be books for sale, for there to be panels, most likely by either the authors or with authors on them, or maybe other fans talking about specific topics book signings, maybe workshops, book related merch um, and then a lot of times book conventions specifically tend to have some sort of like a party networking ball type event, and on one of both nights I've noticed that all of them it a ball, but it could be a karaoke event, it could be book trivia, it could be, you know whatever, but they're usually some sort of like come together type socializing event. So it gives you an overview, audience, of what to expect at a book con. So let's get into the pros and the cons of book conventions, and I figured we could talk about this for readers versus authors, and I would say for readers versus professionals, because that could be authors, it could be artists who are like the book, illustrators, or it could also be vendors.
Mari:So a pro of a book con for readers would be that you get to connect and meet with people that have similar interests. You know whether it's a just general reading or whether it's a specific con like Romanicy Con, where it's going to be Romanicy fans, you know, or like a sci-fi book con or a comic con. You're going to have the ability to maybe interact with people who, like that, may like that really weird specific niche thing that you like. You know, maybe nobody else at home knows what you're talking about that kind of thing you like.
Jonathan:You know, maybe nobody else at home knows what you're talking about that kind of thing that that can come with time too. Yes, yeah, you may dip your toe in to one and, like I totally still feel awkward around people, even if we have like a similar interest, and like I may just want to hang around you.
Mari:Yeah and that's. That's fine, and even just like being there and seeing other people excited about the same thing that you're excited about, even if you don't interact with them, can be interesting as well. You also get to potentially meet authors. You can interact with them, you know. If you choose, you can maybe do signings, you can maybe let them know what you liked or, if you had, if you had weird question where you're like hey, I read your book and this one thing was bugging me. Please answer my question, you know xyz you may get tattoos yes the whole the pillar, the whole situation.
Mari:That's exactly what I was thinking of, rl perez. We had a question for her and she answered it, and and if you listen to our Romanesie Con Retrospective episode from 2024, you'll know what that question was.
Jonathan:Treasure hunt there.
Mari:Yeah, you might be able to get special, might have access to special editions of books or images or whatever that are only available at the con or that are more easily available at the con. That may sell out before you know if you got them through other means. That's oftentimes something that you can get as a good thing for going to a book con. You might discover new authors or books that you didn't know of. But if you're there for that niche interest and you like maybe there's five authors there and you like three of them then maybe check out the other two because maybe you'd never heard of them but you'll probably like them too. You know, like their works as well. I would say we all discovered new authors by going to that Romanescon, which was our first book con together. Like there are plenty of people that we hadn't heard of before.
Jonathan:Definitely Like there are plenty of people that we hadn't heard of before. Definitely there's I think there's a few like DJ Russo that was. I learned a couple things there. I learned about a one-handed read that I didn't understand Initially. They had to embarrassingly explain that one to me.
Mari:There's another one that I was introduced to that I just haven't had the time to get around to read, but I think that was being might even change your perspective on something you've already read before you know, maybe talking to the author or talking to other people who've read the book and thought about it a different way. Another potential pro for going to these events is a lot of times there's like cosplay potential, and cosplay could be dressing up in a full costume that maybe you've wanted to wear, but it could also be like wearing that really nerdy specific book related t-shirt that you want to wear and like have other people know what it's about, you know, or maybe a cool hat or whatever maybe you know. Specifically bring out your, your things related to the the con that you're there for and maybe connect with somebody else over it.
Jonathan:Yeah, it takes. Here's the thing. I think it takes a lot of courage to put, for people to put themselves out there in a space, courage that I don't necessarily have entirely here. But I think that when I look at people who are dedicated to the craft and the skill that is cosplay as creative and unique and everything that you have to do, that goes into taking something from a book and bringing it to life with either imagery in words or even like a character that maybe they have a visual idea.
Jonathan:But how do you take that from from from a 2d space and bring it into you know, a 3d 40 area and then to risk because it's like this is truly this is an invention of sorts right, there's some skills like here's how to paint, here's how to airbrush, here's how to use foam, here's how to work with leather, but to take to say, hey, you know what, I need a unicorn horn and it has to be erupting from you know whatever it's, it's, it's there's so many different techniques that have to be. There's not a book on that. There's not a book on like, hey, okay, how do I do movie, movie style, cinematic, latex makeup and then have foam and then work with airbrushing and you know all. And then let me go find a seamstress or a seamster and figure out how to make this all come together Like that's.
Mari:It's an art form. It's an art form like anything else and it's a craft that you, you know, develop your niche and what you like doing, what you don't like and what you enjoy doing of costuming. You know, some people like being super realistic or authentic, like if there are pictures or official illustrations, or like mainly you see this with a lot of movie costumes. But you see people who are really specific to like authenticity. And then you see people who are all about like making it their own or mashing it up with something else or like, okay, I'm going to take this character, but what if they did X, y, z, like?
Mari:I put together a very lazy cosplay for Dragon Con one of the nights, which was Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. She's a 15 year old witch in the book and in the movie. So I was like what if Kiki were all grown up and were like out on the town? That's the outfit I'm going to put together. So I did like a grown up Kiki out on the town and I'm going to put together. So I did like a grown-up Kiki out on the town and sometimes that's a fun exercise, just like in other art forms. You know, sometimes, like in writing. People will be like oh, I'm going to write this space adventure but I'm going to make it noir, or I'm going to mash up these two things and see what kind of story I come up with. Or I'm going to draw this pumpkin, but I'm going to do it in the style of Picasso. You know that kind of thing where you play with your toolbox to get different results that you may not have gotten if you were just trying to copy the same thing exactly.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah, and I love that, I love that yeah it's fun.
Mari:It's fun to see what people come up with, Like the imagination and the creativity people have is really fun to watch. I think Now for vendors, authors, professionals, what would be the benefit to them, what are the pros for them of doing a good book convention? I would say definitely exposure. Like I said, we've all were exposed to people we wouldn't have necessarily heard of if we hadn't been to these cons Sales you know some events they'll have better sales than others, but generally it's an event for you to sell your product, your book, your merch, whatever Networking you might be able to, you know, meet with other professionals and collaborate with them, Like maybe someone that does art for your book or maybe you have merch that you want to do and of networking and connection, whether that's connection to other professionals or whether it's connection to, like, the people who are reading, or, you know, consuming your craft, whatever you're making, whatever you're doing.
Jonathan:Yeah, definitely Like I think. I think, man, those are great bullet points. The exposure part is a challenge, right. The exposure part is a challenge, right, it's one-on-one conversations and a lot. So hopefully they brought their water that day, because a lot can be riding on it. Are you in the right position? Who's next?
Mari:to you.
Jonathan:Do you have somebody that people want to visit next to you, to you? Do you have somebody that people want to visit next to you? And there's, like this byproduct of you know, traffic that's just happening by because of a more popular or established author. How many of the conversations are you? Everything's it's it. There are some. I think there was some. There was one interaction where I had, where I was like trapped in a conversation I think I was trying to get away from it and I just couldn't.
Jonathan:I was like oh no, I gotta get out of here. But and those are rare, those were rare, don't get me wrong, and I don't know if we ended up just buying like a small thing just to kind of terminate the oh thanks, I'll just take this and thanks so much.
Mari:Well, that brings us to our cons, yeah, the cons, the downsides for readers, one of which is that pressure to overbuy. You know the pressure to spend money that maybe you weren't looking to spend. That is there because it is a sales event. You know they're looking to sell, whether it's their artwork, their book, their merch, whatever, and you may feel compelled to buy because you may feel you can get away from the table or you may feel bad for them. So that would be a con is that there is the pressure to buy.
Jonathan:you know that's something to kind of consider, um it's like do you ever go, you ever buy like ice cream at the ice cream parlor? And they just like hand you the popsicle, but then they turn the screen around and they're like and it says like tip. And then they look away because they're like I can't watch this. This is a cringe moment, right, like sometimes, like that's a con. I feel like that's rare, but I know that it happens, right, I mean, I don't know that. I felt that overwhelmingly. Maybe I'll track it this year.
Ashley:Yeah, I think I called it something slightly meaner in my head, but it was like a pity buy, Like I felt some pressure to buy some stuff from some people that I normally wouldn't have. But I don't think I've regretted any of those purchases in hindsight.
Jonathan:I feel like you missed an opportunity for an alliteration.
Ashley:Did I. What is it? A pity purchase, a pity purchase.
Jonathan:Not to label it, but I mean it's a transaction right. So, if I took their time and energy. Maybe I'll just transact because and maybe that's a book on my shelf that I don't know I like yet, but I'll like it, yeah or not? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, sometimes those turn out well.
Mari:Those gambles do turn out well, but either way, there's a pressure to spend more money than maybe you were budgeting or that you initially intended to spend. So it's a situation where you may be pressured to buy or spend more than you were as a reader, as an attendee, more than you were expecting to as a reader, as an attendee, more than you were expecting to. Concurrently, there might be things that you want to buy but that they sell out really quickly, so some things are sold out in pre-sales. I would say that sometimes, another con is that cost versus expectations, you might build up what the situation is going to be in your head, either from pictures you've seen before or from other events you've been to or other events you've heard of, and it may not be what you expect it to be in your head, what you've built it up to be in your head.
Jonathan:We had that situation too, where they used stock photography on the site. It wasn't a bust. I don't want to put it in that I'm not going to put it in a bust bucket, but it wasn't an accurate it wasn't quite the same as advertised.
Mari:For sure, correct yeah.
Ashley:I didn't even think it was close to.
Jonathan:Well, it wasn't an accurate representation.
Mari:It also was fairly affordable compared to other things. So I mean, I do try and keep that in mind, but it definitely wasn't what was in the pictures. Another potential con would be not having access to the authors, or not enough access to the authors. You know, every con is different. Every event is different. You'll have different levels of access and you may not have the access that you thought you were getting when you may have bought a ticket, and then the last thing would be for an attendee would be waste. A lot of times you get things in like a swag bag. You get pick up a billion business cards or stickers or bookmarks or postcards or whatever. You then have to figure out what to do with when you get home.
Jonathan:What do you do with them?
Mari:I've gotten better about not picking them up if I don't have a use for it. Even if it's free Like if it's a sticker I want to put on a thing I'll pick it up. If it's a business card or postcard, I'll usually just ask if it's okay if I take a picture of it, and that way I don't have the thing to carry home. Because even if it's something that I'm interested in let's say it's a company or an author or an artist that I'm interested in what am I going to do? I'm going to look at the card, I'm going to get their information Instagram or whatever and I'm going to follow them. Then what?
Jonathan:Yeah, no, I'm with you. So I think, in from the sales side of things, I was not really good about having cards. A lot of times companies would send you cards and when customers would ask me if they would be like, hey, can I get your card, that was the signal to me that this conversation was ending. It was just a ticket to the door and I would just say like hey, I don't use cards. And they would say, if you'd like my contact information, it's on the receipt.
Mari:When you buy something, See to me that would feel very pressure-y and I'd be like, okay, thanks, bye.
Jonathan:That's perfectly fine and I would be okay with that, because when people say like so and people buy differently and it may not come out quite as harsh.
Jonathan:So I might look at you and say and understand that, okay, this person, depending on how our conversation went, you may need more information, you may need more time, or it may not be the project, the product for me, exactly, no, exactly. And when the? So, when the when the question of do you have a card comes out, there's a measure of is this person just asking for a ticket to the door, free pass to the door, I'm going to let them off the hook, kind of thing. Versus if, if, if you needed more, I'd be like, hey, listen, I don't have a card, but here's my email address.
Jonathan:You have questions you get home. Think about that, or it might be. I don't have a card, but I have a checklist. Here are the questions that I would be asking myself in the future, and then I'll write my email address on it, kind of thing. But yeah, I'm with you on that one. I'll tell you what I will pick up, though, if they're handing them out stickers and bookmarks. One, because I use bookmarks. I use bookmarks more for somebody who audio books.
Mari:the heck out of stuff.
Jonathan:I use bookmarks to keep track and go back and reread and if there's not a misprint but a difference in print, I'll pick up on that in the book and be like, hey, that's not what they're saying in this audio version, like kind of thing, and I'll go back and mark it. So they get banged up over time and then usually, like I'll leave the bookmark in the book when I'm done reading it, I just put it back on my shelf. So I ended up buying like stacks of useless bookmarks and so if they have one that's free to me and I bought their book, I'm going to pick it up. I'm going to use that as a tool to read it.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Or if I have friends, I oftentimes will pebble friends across the country who also read and who should have like-minded stuff. So I'll say like, oh, here's stickers that I picked up at a convention and here's some bookmarks and please, you know, here's $5 set of headphones, please enjoy.
Mari:I tend to. If it's a book I like and there's a bookmark, I will pick up the bookmark for it and I'll keep it in the book. You know if I've bought the book. Other than that, I will pick up. I like to do bookmarks as souvenirs, so like if we go to a specific bookstore and they have a bookmark, even if I have to pay for it. I'll usually do that and then I have like a.
Mari:I have a container of bookmarks like it's a little square glass, like I think it's supposed to be for a makeup brush box that I keep on on our bookshelf and it's got like bookmarks from different stores. We've been to um but if if it's like just generic little bookmarks, I tend to not pick them up because I know I'm going to end up probably throwing them away. I don't use bookmarks as much. I'll use a bookmark maybe while I'm reading the book, but I do a lot more ebook reading and that has, like the all the bookmark stuff built in Um. I have gotten better about bookmarks because I used to just whatever was around was my bookmark. There's a leaf that's going to be my bookmark and I think that's great too.
Jonathan:Like it, it's a unique, a receipt, yeah, receipt sometimes, oh yeah, all the time all the time, all right.
Mari:So for the professional attending people, whether it's the authors, the artists, whatever some of the cons of going to, the downsides of going to like a convention situation would be, once again, the cost versus expectations. Like they have to factor in the money that they're putting in to get there, the money that they've put into their stock, whether it's books or whatever. A lot of times they have to spend money to buy the table, the space at the event and a lot of times they have to provide swag or whatever for the event. So all that money they've spent into it, whether or not they're going to get something out of it, whether that's profit back or exposure or whatever they're looking to get out of it, sometimes it doesn't pan out to be worth the cost, not to mention as a producing, writer, artist. Whatever it's time spent away from, whatever it is you do, whether it's writing or drawing or, you know, making a thing for vending Time that you're there selling it is time that you're not making it.
Jonathan:Yeah, yeah, I agree, I think I bet you so. So I'm not. I don't know what happens in the background, but my assumption is that sometimes, if you have tiered types of authors, where there's like a group of authors who are held at a higher, like they're a draw, they're bringing people in just for their name being their top billing, right, I imagine they're free, right, they can just hey, we reached out, we'd like you to come. They're probably not paying and they're probably being comped some sort of travel expense to be there, because then they become the product, right?
Jonathan:Where on the floor, where we may see more of the.
Mari:Not the headliner. People yeah.
Jonathan:Correct. Yeah, there's probably a cost associated with that and, depending on the amount you know, publication there's probably. I bet you there's probably some sort of tier with them as well.
Mari:Yeah, and I'm sure different conventions do things differently, but I know that that's something that, like authors and whatnot, have to think about. The other thing would be turnout Like are there going to be enough people coming to this event to justify you being there and you putting all this cost into it? Are you going to get the sales or the exposure out of it? And then the flip side.
Jonathan:You have to factor everything in.
Mari:Yeah, the flip side is there's going to be too much. Like is there going to be overwork? Like, are you going to be expected to be sitting at your table signing or talking or selling for you know, eight and a half hours, nine hours with no breaks, because you can't leave your table, because the convention is going on the entire time.
Jonathan:Oh yeah, julia Cross sold out of books last year. Like as an author, that's like that's a success. But you've left there, you've left some money on the table Right and if that and that's kind of not what she wants to do.
Jonathan:Right, but but yeah, I and I also think like the the turnout side of things how do you gauge that? Like you really you can't go? Like I'm not gonna say you can't, I don't want to be as definitive with that, but there's probably a measure of, like you want to get do a pulse check. Hey, well, is this a first year event? What? What other events have they hosted? Yeah, and what does it turn out like?
Mari:Right, I assume that the people I assume I've never, you know, been a professional person at a this type of convention, but I assume that there's some sort of conversation between the authors or whatever, and the people hosting the event and be like, okay, well, we've sold X amount of tickets, so that gives them an idea of what, how many people will be there. You know that kind of thing. Like I know, at Monsterotica Book Con that I went to earlier this year, the majority of the authors sold out. It was, it was a successful situation for them. So, yeah, you just these are the questions that you have to figure out, the gamble that you're doing as a, as a person, as a professional attending that event. Okay, so let's say, you hear about a con, you hear about a convention and you want to. You think about going. What should we guide people to doing before, during and after?
Ashley:So first thing, yes, yes, I was going to say first thing research and after. So first thing, Buy the book cart.
Mari:Yes, yes, I was going to say first thing, research, decide if you want to go right. So, is this an event that's happened multiple times? Can you see what it was like last year, what people said about it last year? Photos, videos you know, testimonials and not just from like the official website or the official podcast that's associated with the convention. You know testimonials and not just from like the official website or the official podcast that's associated with the convention. You know, but like just general Joe Schmo who went, what they thought about it. But also, if this is the first time this con has happened, which lots of events you know, every event has a first year. You can still do a little bit of research about, like the people who are putting on the event, the, or the person put on the event. Have they put on other events before? You know?
Jonathan:we did so like romancy con. That was a. That was the inaugural event in orlando and that by no means was a, was a was a bad. There was stuff to learn yeah but it was a. It looked like a fantastic turnout, an abundance of authors, so so like not knocking inaugural events.
Mari:No, they're just a little bit more of a gamble because you have to do a little bit of deeper research.
Jonathan:Yeah, I would say step one should. I think you should look at the presenting person's website, the. I see a lot of different websites for conventions and there are some that offer more detailed information and I feel like if they're offering more detailed information, then it's a more substantial and robust website. Also looking at what's linked to that site social media channels, etc. And start going down that pathway there before booking a flight or committing to tickets. Oftentimes you can get an idea of like who's going to, who's going to what authors. Do we anticipate being there?
Mari:Right, yeah, cause they'll. They'll have some sort of a list or something on their page, and then you can go further. So this is a little insight into me. This is how I handle a lot of times. Anxiety and stress about new situations like this is I will research the heck out of it. So I'm like, oh, okay, there's this event. Let me read everything on their official website. Ooh, they have a whatever Instagram or social media. Let me read everything there. Oh wait, they have an email list. Let me get on that email list. They have a Discord, let me get on their Discord. And there's Reddit. So by the end, I feel like I know. But then I'm also like, oh, these people are going to be there. These authors or artists or vendors or whatever are going to be there. Then I start following them on social media and see what they're saying about, maybe what they're excited to bring out for that event, or release for that event, or show people for that event, because that gives you an idea of how excited they are for it, how optimistic they are about that event.
Mari:Other than that, though, I would also look into where's the event being held. You know both the geographic location, but also like. Is it in a hotel? Is it in a convention center? Find out about that place so you know what to expect. You know something that's held in one room one large room of a hotel is going to give you an idea of the size and scope of the event, versus something that's held in five hotels, for example, or a convention center. Look into the weather and what's going on in that location at the time that that convention is supposed to happen. For example, maybe going to New Orleans sounds great at any particular time of year, maybe you'll go to an event in New Orleans and go to a convention, but maybe you don't want to do it during Mardi Gras. Maybe that's not your jam.
Mari:It's a completely different, you know, feel in that town during Mardi Gras than during, say, the rest of the year. So just find out what else is going on geographically or around that time of the year in that location, because that's going to give you an idea of what to expect and whether or not you want to go as well. Any other researchy kind of things you guys can think about, Kelly or Ash.
Ashley:I think tracking the authors and their social medias has been really key to me in the last year or year and a half and understanding what events that they frequent to because they're, I think, while they're obviously trying to sell a product right, at the end of the day it's their art they're trying to make a living. I find that, especially in the romanticist genre, they seem to be very authentic and if there's a problematic situation in an area, geographically, or with the vendor holder themselves or with other authors, I find that they have the most tea right, and so if there's a concern that you have as a human, you know, considering the world that we are in right now, the authors, I feel, and their followers, are being very vocal right now, and they're also going to be what I feel is a healthy guide as to whether or not a particular oops, sorry a particular event is worth venturing to.
Mari:Yeah.
Ashley:All right.
Mari:So let's say you've done all that and you decide that this is the con for you. You want to go to this thing. Next thing you do is you need to book everything. So you need to buy your ticket to the event, whatever level of ticket, that is, if there's tiered tickets, whether that's like a general entry pass, a super duper, extra VIP, whatever. Whatever your ticket to the event is, buy it. Also, research whether or not you're going to have to buy multiple tickets or sign up for multiple tickets. For example, you may buy a ticket to an event but then you might have to buy a separate ticket to a ball or whatever if you want to do that.
Mari:Or ticketed event for author signings. You know, pay attention if there's auxiliary events related to the main convention that you want to go to and make sure you purchase all the tickets for the things you want to go to. I would say your travel tickets. Whether you're driving there, make sure your car's in good shape, or whatever. Whether you're flying, you might need to buy your plane tickets and if you're flying, then you need to figure out if you're going to have to rent a car or how you're going to get from the airport to this hotel or wherever the convention site is, whether it's going to be a light rail, a subway, rental, uber, whatever Lyft, whatever your situation is, plan that through and think about that as part of the total experience you're going to have and the total cost you're going to have to set aside for it.
Jonathan:Absolutely Kudos to you if you can find the hidden costs.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:They're in there. What's parking like at the venue?
Mari:Yes, are you staying?
Jonathan:on site Is parking included. What happens? What do you do? Where are you going to eat?
Mari:Other than the lodging, whether it's hotel, obviously, yeah, do your lodging, whether it's hotel, whether it's Airbnb type situation, whether you're doing a roomy type situation, sharing a hotel with somebody else. Get all that resolved ahead of time. But also think about reservations, depending on the place and depending on what you're wanting to do. Sometimes, if there's like a restaurant you want to eat at or an event you want to do like a local show or you know whatever you might have to set up, set reservations for things too. You know that you might want to think about ahead of time and doing all that, any other booking kind of stuff you guys can think of.
Jonathan:You know I think you nailed it there Reservations, I think, are often overlooked and I think that we spend, as human beings in general, we spend a lot of time in our own personal bubbles and we don't remember that when we get there. There are lots of people who are there to do the same thing we're there to do, but there are also people who, like you mentioned earlier, they might be there for a regional football game.
Jonathan:They might be there for an event that's taking place. In our case, in Orlando. There are lots of events that are happening.
Ashley:All the time, like regularly, the nearest food.
Jonathan:The nearest abundance of food is going to be at a themed off-property kind of resort space, so there's going to be a need for reservations, I think. Do we? I mean we had, did we have reservations?
Mari:or reservation.
Jonathan:I think we did, I thought you guys did we maybe did and I think we ended up wait, even just waiting a little bit more right.
Ashley:I think we no. So we had reservations with our sister and we did that at Springs.
Jonathan:Oh, we must have been there for a different reason then, because I distinctly remember being at Disney Springs with Mara and Kelly.
Ashley:Yeah, I think we went there for a different situation, but I don't remember. Maybe it was not the first book con. Maybe it was the second.
Mari:Yeah, I think it was the second. Yeah, okay was it yeah yeah, you're right. You're right, cal gotcha. That's actually a good point though, because, like, I always think about other events happening, because I've been to dragon con for a few years now. Dragon con's in atlanta, and every year that dragon con goes on labor day weekend in atlanta downtown there is always a sportsing football event some sort of big football situation and some sort of concert, all on the same weekend, all in the same area.
Mari:It's a strange mix of people, let me just put it that way. So, yeah, there are things going on outside your bubble, believe it or not? Yeah, absolutely so, yeah, there are things going on outside your bubble, believe it or not? Yeah, um, all right, once you've gotten all your stuff reserved that you can't ahead of time, next thing would be to pack. So for a book convention, like ash mentioned, check out what you can carry, because books are heavy. Um, poor kelly carried all my books last year, so many times St Kelly.
Jonathan:Yeah, I'm going to make him carry mine this year.
Mari:Well, no, because we have book carts this year. So, saving everybody's backs and shoulders. Yeah, find out if what kind of like a cart or book or book cart or like wagon-y type system what you can use to carry stuff around, because you're going to get tired carrying your stuff around all day. If there's any weight to it and books are heavy, they just are.
Jonathan:Don't assume. Don't assume that what you're bringing is allowed at the venue Right. Check what the venue, because I don't think we can't take wagons right.
Mari:Right Wagon. Well, it depends on the event. Most book events that I've seen don't allow long leg rectangle wagons. They allow something that's about the footprint of a book cart and the book cart. I don't know the exact size off the top of my head, but it's like the size of a laptop, more or less. It's a square tote, a square box with wheels, and you wheel it around.
Jonathan:Like a milk crate with wheels.
Mari:Yeah, yeah, and it's what most book cons allow. There may be some variation, like some of them will allow if it's the same footprint but taller. Like you have one of those like bags, shopping bag things, they'll allow that. Sometimes they'll allow a book bag like rolling book bags or rolling luggage. You know, it just depends. Pay attention to the FAQ of the event you're going to and if it's not there, ask. But yeah, figure out how you're going to carry your stuff around. If it's a book convention, highly recommend something with wheels.
Jonathan:Something that I've been. I started loading our book cart as we go through books with that and authors that will be there. What I've been doing as I load the book cart is I'll flip to the page that I want them to sign, I'll take a post-it note and I'll write their name on the pay, on the post-it note upside down, and I'll stick that to the, to the title page or the page that I want them to sign. And I'll stick that to the title page or the page that I want them to sign and then I place it in alphabetical order inside the book cart so that way when I arrive at their booth or their table I will grab the book, pull it out and they can just open it directly to the page where I want them to sign. And if I wanted my name signed on it, I would spell my name on that.
Mari:Yeah, that's good, it makes it faster for everybody. I would spell my name on that, right. Yeah, that's good, it makes it faster for everybody. Another thing that I've heard well, also, leave space in your book cart for anything you're going to buy, because if you've done pre-orders or you're going to buy books there, you're going to need space for that too. And also something I've heard that people do that I thought was a good idea that I think I'm going to do this year is carry some sort of like a pencil box or an envelope or something in your book cart that you can put the little things that you buy or pick up. So if you do pick up stickers or bookmarks, that way they don't fall out of your book cart or get crushed with the books. They have a safe little spot for them. So think about some sort of a little like separate pouch or pencil box or envelope or something for the smaller things that you might buy that also need to be protected smaller things that you might buy that also need to be protected.
Jonathan:There's a great tip there, for sure. I happen to have an abundance of zippered bags.
Mari:Same. They can be so pretty, other than the tote book cart. I would say your clothing, costume, shoes and I say that clothing would be, when you're tired and you don't feel like messing with it, whatever your comfort clothing is. So you might have these grand notions you're going to wear costumes, you're going to wear something unusual to what you normally wear, but bring your comfort stuff too. If you're a dress kind of person, or if you're a jeans and t-shirt kind of person, or shorts, whatever your comfort stuff is, bring it, because you're going to be tired at some point and you're going to want to wear just your regular comfort stuff, so pack that.
Mari:If you are planning on doing a costume, go ahead and get everything together for that costume and put it in a bag and seal it and pack it and you can just grab it and go in one spot. That is the best tip I've ever had for any costume stuff I've been to, because generally you're not going to wear your costume stuff, anything else you know, so you're able to put it aside, whether that's in a garment bag or like some sort of a big Ziploc bag, whatever your situation is a separate tote bag. Just go ahead and pre-pack it and have it be ready to go way before you're ready to pack everything else. So you have all the pieces and if there's something I've learned from the old belly dance days is do a dress rehearsal. If you're going to be wearing a costume or something weird like put it on, make sure it doesn't hurt when you have it on for five minutes.
Jonathan:Oh yeah, you know, make sure If it's uncomfortable for a minute, it'll be uncomfortable for hours.
Mari:Yeah, I did a rookie mistake. I bought this cool bat headband at Epic, or Kelly got me at Darkmore and I was excited to wear it to Halloween, horror Nights and Kelly, I think I had it on for what five minutes and I was like this is too tight and it's giving me a headache. So yeah, dress, rehearsal, put your stuff on and like, do whatever you're going to do around the house, read, do whatever you normally do, but like, put it on and make sure that you're going to be okay with wearing it all day, because if you're not comfortable in it, you're not going to be comfortable out in public and in a situation where you're on your feet or in line or, you know, in a weird situation. So, yeah, and I would good sorry.
Jonathan:Along with that, I would say, I would suggest put together what I would call like a first aid kit for your for your cosplay.
Jonathan:Like there's a small roll of duct tape or some super glue, yeah, a needle and thread, because you just so. Random buttons, safety pins, all small thing, yes, velcro, all small things that can go into something, a Sharpie AKA liquid anodizer or pocket anodizer, you can, you can do, do. You can do minimal repairs and rescue. Maybe not even yourself, but if you just have that small little first aid kit of cosplay supplies or like a rocket pack of cosplay supplies, then you might. You might save someone else's day too shoes.
Mari:Don't. Don't break out a new pair of shoes for, like a convention, ever, ever, you need to break in your shoes ahead of time, wear them, stand in them for a while.
Jonathan:Amara, you've touched on a pet peeve of mine for sure. Don't ask social media for the recommendation of shoes. It takes a little bit of time. But yeah, if you go into a book I'm not a bookstore go into a shoe store and oftentimes you can get sized. They'll scan your foot and just be honest with what your intentions are. The same way, you would go into a bookshop and maybe ask hey, I'm looking for a book and I want this style or this character or this trope. Go into the shoe store and say, hey, I'm looking for shoes. I'm going to be on my feet for six to eight hours. I'm going to be moving slowly, standing and talking, and this is how I want to use them. What shoes would you recommend that fit my foot?
Mari:And your preferences, because I love my sandals. I have my waterproof Chaco sandals that I wear all summer. But if you're not a sandal person, like if you don't like your feet out, or if it rubs your feet or if you know something between your toes bugs, you Like it doesn't matter if I think that the most comfortable things ever they're not going to work for you, you know.
Jonathan:Exactly, exactly. I think that's what stops me from like a dragon rider costume is I'm like, I'm like I feel like a dragon rider would have a swell pair of chelsea boots, but I'm not gonna wear those all day, so I'm gonna wear on cloud shoes. So I gotta look for a cosplay that leans into that, or find a way to put some kind of decoration over top of it yeah, yeah, any other clothing, costume, shoe kind of stuff guys bring a choice.
Jonathan:It's. I was in the field like when I say in the field, not like like with potatoes or anything like that just like I was out and about servicing accounts and, uh, a customer handed me something and it I I pulled on it and I got soaked so much water and it was comical and I was just like here I am on this trip and I said, can I use your bathroom? And he says yep, and I went to the car and I got my spare and it came and I went into the bathroom and it came out and it just so happened that everything I wear is the same. So I looked exactly the same, just dry and pressed, when I came out and he was just.
Jonathan:They just said, hey, that was a pro move. And then it's like well, bring a spare yeah, definitely bring a spare.
Mari:Yeah, I would say even for shoes too, because, like I, I my feet get sore very easily, even if they're really good shoes that I wear often and that I like. Often. I have a hard time wearing the same pair of shoes two days in a row if I'm going to be on my feet for many, many hours both days. So I usually have to have a different kind of shoe. So if you have a two-day event, bring two pairs of shoes at least.
Jonathan:And there's nothing wrong with having cosplay shoes and then saying like, okay, well, I'm traversing this space, so I'm going to take my cosplay shoes off and put on my sneakers and just put my cosplay shoes in my bin or my cart or in my bag and I'm going to walk to where I need to go. And when I get there and there's opportunities to interact as a cosplayer, I can put my cosplay shoes back on.
Mari:Absolutely All right, but enough about shoes and feet. Food, food, snacks, water bottle. Bring snacks. Bring something that's like you can just leave in your bag, that's not going to melt, that's not going to leak, whether that's like a snack bar or it's a bag of like nuts or chips or whatever, whatever you like. Bring snacks. And bring a water bottle or beverage of some kind. You know whether that's an empty water bottle that you're going to fill there or whether it's, you know, bottled water that you've bought. Whatever Hydrate and do snacks, because you're probably going to be excited to be there and doing things and seeing things and talking to people and you may not do the normal stuff that you do in your normal day, like drink enough water or drink enough beverage or whatever, and have snacks, and then you're going to be either sick or crabby and nobody wants that.
Ashley:And, in that vein, if you are a millennial or older, pack the pain meds. Yes, pack the ibuprofen, slash Tylenol. Whatever that drug of choice is for you, for us it's ibuprofen. We pregame that stuff now, like before a park, before an event. We just, we know it's going to be a long day and, to your point right, we're going to forget to eat, you know. But when we leave, so don't you're going to be talking, so don't you're going to be talking to people, you're going to be touching hands, right, touching spaces.
Mari:so bring your ibuprofen, bring your emergency bring your hand sanitizer like be a responsible adult wash your hands more than you think you need to?
Jonathan:yes, I I would say this if you're with a group of people, ask for what you need. We're not always sure and I think we've done this in the past of what I was like. Hey, I, I can't do anything unless I have.
Ashley:I need sugar, I need to eat something yeah so it was like so yeah, if you're with a group of people, understand that they don't feel your stomach yeah and that you may need to say hey guys, I need I, you, you press on, I gotta get a sandwich and or, like in my case, if we're outside right and I don't have enough sunscreen to carry me throughout the day, I'll ask a stranger if I, if I, if I, you know, can't go purchase it in a small quantity myself. But yeah, you'll see, and people will be happy to help in that situation because you're not going to contaminate their stuff, right? They'll be like oh yeah, no, girl, you don't want to get cancer nobody wants to be burnt to a crisp no, they feel you because they've been there.
Ashley:Unless you're hades, unless you're what hades did he really burn people I don't know.
Jonathan:Sometimes I think they usually deserve depends what book, who depends who's writing them.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:The heat miser.
Mari:Any other food stuff.
Ashley:No, you crushed it yeah.
Mari:And definitely the meds Chargers. Bring your chargers for your devices or a backup battery and a battery.
Mari:Yeah, some sort of backup battery. On our notes I wrote diary when I meant battery. Oh, that's okay, Nice. Yes, a battery. I mean I guess you could bring your diary. If you want to Bring your chargers, bring your portable battery type system.
Mari:Make sure it works, make sure you know where it is and you have a good place to carry it with you so you have access to it and not just for your phone, like whatever it is you're using. If you're using your Kindle, maybe, or your reader, e-reader device, and you're going to want some sort of charger for that. If you're using some sort of separate like camera system or little recording system, whatever you're using, you're going to need some sort of you know battery source for that. So, just make sure you bring all of that. Um, a lot of events now have like trading or trinket trading, where you can make stuff and trade it with people, and this is a good tool if you're like a crafty person and but maybe not an extrovert. It's a way to interact with people without having to talk about anything other than hey, I've got this thing to trade, Would you like a thing?
Jonathan:I think you know I love that part.
Mari:I know you do, I know several people who do so. If that's your jam like, bring whatever it is you made, whether you 3D printed stuff, whether you made bracelets, whether you you know whatever you did stickers, whatever you've brought to trade, don't forget to bring it and have some sort of container to carry it in, cause it's not just packing it in your bag but like okay, are you going to?
Mari:how are you going to have that with you to be able to interact with people and give it to people? Is it going to be in a separate pouch? Is it going to be, you know, strung on what you're already carrying? You know, figure that out.
Jonathan:I think what we do last year the fairy terrariums, and those were glass, yeah, and those were glass, yeah. So it was a real danger that, if you like had too many of them together, you were going to have some weaponized fairies, yeah, yeah. So be prepared, like you said, I feel. Sometimes I feel bad. I want to give, like I think this year for some authors. I want to do a more useful gift, so I'm going to do some bookmark. What are the other bookmark purses? Is that what they are, where it's like a shoulder strap with with the book, with the fabric piece in between that serves as a bookmark oh, I haven't seen this.
Ashley:Oh, I've seen the trend, but I didn't know what it was called um, it's, I think I.
Jonathan:I don't know if it's called, I don't know, but yeah, so I have picked up a bunch of shoulder straps and I just I still have to go, I have to go and sew them all up. I got everything all all together, so that's what I'll probably do this year for them okay.
Mari:In addition to that, I would say, if you do have stickers to give away or like business cards or whatever, if you do have something that you're wanting to share with people, don't forget to bring those and, once again, have them in a way that they're easily accessible, that you can give them to people if people ask for it or if you want to give them to people. And lastly, in all your packing also leave room for the stuff you're going to buy. If you're going to buy, however pro tip from Kelly if you don't just figure out where the closest place you can ship stuff out and, like you know, ups or USPS or FedEx stuff home.
Jonathan:That's a great tip, kelly, especially with books, because I think, kelly, you can do like UPS, like if it fits USPS, like if it fits it ships, kind of thing right. Ups, like if it fits USPS, like if it fits its ships, kind of thing right.
Kelly:Well, USPS has the one price for a box type thing, but it fits its ships. But one of the things that you also can do is UPS. I don't know if FedEx does it too, but I know UPS does the whole. Like you can ship your luggage home and it's based on the size of the luggage and not the weight of it.
Ashley:Ah, if hack, yeah, because if you go overweight and you're flying.
Mari:That stuff is expensive and those books get overweight real fast. I wouldn't know anything about that. The other thing I would say in the preparing phase is what I call the girding your loins phase, and this is where you prepare yourself mentally and physically for the event, kind of like it was a sporting event, whether it was a race, whatever, whatever your thing is. So the first thing would be your plan of attack. So if there are maps available of what the floor is going to look like or how the convention center is laid out or whatever, look at those maps, figure out what you want to do. Are you wanting to go to a particular area first or a particular floor first, or have you signed up for a thing and you need to make sure you can get from this place to this space fast enough? Make sure that you do that. So figure it out so you have a little bit of a lay of the land ahead of time, if you can. But also if the event which more and more events now have apps particular to you, know specific to that event, download the app. So sometimes on the app it's just a schedule of the panels or the authors are going to be there, which is fine. Sometimes the app will give you the map of the area or it'll give you, like, the ability to get into a waitlist.
Mari:Monsterotica BookCon was the first experience I had with this, where they did this amazing job with a waitlist like a digital waitlist on the app. So you didn't have to get a ticket, you didn't have to stand in a physical line for four hours. You signed up in this digital queue, you went and did your stuff, you talked to people, you interacted, you maybe sat and had a cup of coffee, whatever, and then look on the digital queue it's time for me to be at this place for this line. You get in line and it's you and maybe five other people and the vendor or the author or the artist handles those five people, and then the next five people are called up digitally. So check to see what functionality is available, if the con that you're going to has an app.
Jonathan:Absolutely. Also give yourself room for error, Like don't plan everything by minute.
Jonathan:Can you imagine, as wiretight as I may be, if you gave me an itinerary to stick to and then something threw it off, how trying to stay flexible can be a challenge sometimes. So but if you said, hey, we're going to aim, just loosely aim, we're going to be. We're going to be on the interacting on the main floor for X to Z, we're going to try to get something to eat. At this point we have panels over here. Here's breathing room as well. Kind of thing Like plan, but don't be strict.
Mari:Right Pack but don't overpack. Plan but don't overplan. Got to find that sweet spot for all of it.
Jonathan:That's going to be different for everyone too, Right?
Mari:right. Break in your shoes. If you haven't already, I say that again break in your shoes. If you're eligible, get whatever shots you need to get ahead of time. You don't want to be sick leading up to the event or at the event. So if you're able and eligible to get vaccines or whatever, get them.
Jonathan:I fully recommend rabies.
Mari:I mean, yes, nobody wants actual rabies, Get the shots please. But also, like in the days leading up to the event, eat and drink and sleep well. So give your body the so it can be in the primest shape it can be for whatever event you're going to put it through. So, like you would pre-hydrate before you're going to go out in Disney or Universal all day, or you're going to run a 5K or whatever prehydrate, make sure you eat well leading up to whatever your normal, whatever eating well looks like for you. Maybe that's high protein, maybe that's lots of fruit and vegetables. You're most likely not going to get your preferred diet stuff at an event. It's going to be weird stuff that you're not used to. So get your body in whatever good shape it is for you, whatever that means for you, leading up to it, and sleep well leading up to it, so that you can be at a point where you can physically and mentally enjoy that event that you've put all this planning and money into.
Jonathan:One of the things we used to say at before, like sporting events, was it's not what you do the day before, it's what you do two days before. Yeah, so like there, you imagine the day before this event, if you have travel, you're not going to sleep well on a plane.
Mari:Right.
Jonathan:To get the stress levels. Even if you, once you get through the travel, get to where you're going, get checked into the room, you're room the odds that your heart rate's going to be elevating. You've experienced some level of stress going into it. Those are high odds there. So don't beat yourself up if you don't have eight hours of blissful rest the day before, but try to set yourself up. Mara said stock up on those things before, two days, before, three days before.
Mari:Yeah, okay, let's say you're there. Things to think about during the event. First thing register. Whatever registration looks like, you know whether that's signing in, whether that's showing them your app on the phone, showing your ID. Get registered for the event. Have that be the first thing so that you can be ready to go and get whatever last minute information or changes or things may be happening at the event. Make that be your priority.
Mari:The second thing is, within the confines of your ability, reach out and socialize. Maybe that's the people around you in line. Maybe that's somebody you know who's looking at the same book that you're looking at. Maybe somebody is wondering something out loud that you know the answer to and you can help them. Maybe you guys are wearing the same fandom shirt or whatever. You know the people who are there are there because they like the same kind of stuff that you do. So think about socializing if that's your jam, if you're feeling it, and also, on the flip side, if you are more of an extrovert kind of person or somebody who socializes more easily, be patient with the people around you. You don't know what kind of day they've had, you don't know how people are reacting to crowds or what situation they had. Yeah, have patience, have great, give people grace and have patience.
Jonathan:Absolutely, especially if you're trying to get somewhere. Nobody knows what panels you've booked or where you want to be next, and so if somebody's in your way, I got hit by a car today walking what? Yeah, we were at. It wasn't a big collision, it was just like she ran over my foot. But in her world she, we were on, we walk on, we walk on the left side of the road, but in her world it was.
Jonathan:She saw a vehicle coming on the right side and she was just impatient and needed to move her vehicle past me but never gave us enough time to move to the side of the road. So she just kind of bumped into me and then ran over my foot and then wanted to yell at me and I was like she says that was a car on the other side and I said yes, ma'am, and I'm a human being. I was like please don't lose sight of that. Like this is a bus, there was a bus. I was kids going to school, so there's a over. You would just be concerned about getting to where you're going. So the idea here is like just slow down.
Mari:Yeah, give grace, it's not that important. Really it's not. It's not that serious, it's not that important. It's not life or death, I promise. And if it is and you're not like fire, police or paramedic, then it's not your issue, correct, let the professionals handle it. Second thing would be to pace yourself. Like you might be excited and you're there and you want to do all the things. It will be there the entire time. You don't have to do everything in the first hour, in the first five minutes, like hydrate, take a rest, whether that's sitting down or actually going back to the room for a nap, whatever it takes eating snacks. Pace yourself. Sitting down or actually going back to the room for a nap, whatever it takes eating snacks, pace yourself so you can be in a good space to enjoy it the entire time that you're planning to be there.
Jonathan:And it can be like drinking from a fire hose, like when you walk in. It can be like whoa so yeah you should pace yourself. That's great advice, Mari.
Mari:Yeah, the last one is kind of general, but we all know what it means. You know what it means. You know what it means Act right, act right. Y'all Just act right. That's the best way I can say it.
Mari:So there are people who are going to have differing experiences than you. Like I said, maybe they're having a bad day, maybe it's their first time out of the house in who knows how long. Maybe they just had somebody die, maybe this is like the biggest thing they're going to do all year. Whatever, just know that not everyone's experience is your experience and be okay with that. Let people enjoy things. Yeah, you know, let people have their moment. Also, know that different people have different abilities physical, mental, etc.
Mari:And not all disabilities are visible and not all disabilities happen all the time. So for me, this was the first DragonCon where I've had to use my cane. I didn't use it the entire time, but I used it some of the time and there was a marked difference in how people treated me when I was walking around without my cane versus with my cane. I'm walking at the same speed, more or less, whether I have my cane or not, but if you're behind a person who's using some sort of assistive device and you're in a hurry or you need to get somewhere fast, you don't have to say anything snarky, you don't have to breathe loud If you're able to walk around them. If you're that capable and and speedy, just walk around.
Jonathan:Maybe say excuse me, but just walk around you can ask permission you don't have to like comment in a snarky way um, yeah, no, yeah, people are human beings I had some of that.
Mari:Yeah, also, like I said, just know that not not everything that's going on with everybody is visible. You don't know their medical history. You don't need to know their medical history. Like I said, if you need to go around, go around in a nice way, walk like you would drive If there's a slow car in front of you.
Jonathan:Unless you live in Florida. Yeah, let me rephrase that Walk like you should drive. I just told the story about how I got run over.
Mari:Yeah, like you should be driving, you know. Look, look around and safely pass people. If you need to pass people, if you suddenly need to stop, go to the side of the road, go to the side of the walkway and stop. Don't stop in the middle of like everyone around you and expect everyone behind you to just stop. Just stop behind you and not knock somebody over Like come on.
Jonathan:I always say try to treat people, try to treat strangers as if they were your sibling.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Like, if I would give that same space and grace to you, Mari, then I should be giving that same space and grace to someone else.
Mari:Right.
Jonathan:Also, if it doesn't hurt you or anybody else directly, keep your mouth shut.
Mari:Keep moving, yeah go with the flow. I would also say people who are using a chair or helping somebody else use a chair, like, or people who are who have kids in like a baby, baby, buggy, baby, stroller situation. If that thing is on wheels, whether, whether it's a person, baby, whatever you move out of their way, don't expect them to like, maneuver out of your way. It's a lot easier for you to sidestep than for someone in a wheelchair to have to like change their direction, you know, or in a scooter, or whatever. So think about what's the easiest way to make this flow of movement better for everyone. Oh, just take a step this way. I'm going to take a step this way. Get out of your way.
Mari:We're good, you know also talk to them yeah, yeah, that's another thing I was going to say. Like that, one year during halloween, horror nights, when I, when I was in the wheelchair and kelly was pushing me around, it was interesting seeing how removed I felt. I can't speak for everybody who's used the wheelchair, but, like at that time, I felt very removed from everybody in the conversation. I was literally on a different level, like my face was on a different level and I felt like I was invisible in a lot of ways. So, just like, pay attention to people around you, look up, look down.
Jonathan:Yes, exactly they're. You know they're. You know they're all everybody's. Everybody's there and once you don't. I think society as a whole oftentimes is not every time, but oftentimes we're like, hey, don't stare, hey, don't, don't make this uncomfortable, you know. But at the same time acknowledge this is a human being and they have thoughts and ideas and experiences. And just because they're on a different level doesn't mean you can't talk to them and say, hey, what do you think of this book? Hey, what's going on here? Or, you know, even if it's, if you're in a hurry, hey, well, I am late for this really crazy thing. Would you mind if I scoot by?
Mari:Exactly.
Jonathan:What side would you like me to scoot by on?
Mari:Right, right, exactly Once again. Act right, kelly. You're the one who had to push me around that year in the chair. Is there anything else you would add to that?
Kelly:No, I mean that's one of the biggest problems with most conventions is people are just not acting right. People being rude, people forgetting they're in a public space.
Mari:Yeah.
Kelly:People just forgetting that you need to shower. That's a big problem at nerd cons specifically.
Mari:Yeah, multi-day cons definitely yes.
Kelly:Like I get it. We all want to stay up and experience as much of the 24-hour convention as we can, but you need to shower.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:Is there a pool? Because I feel like chlorine maybe could substitute Real shower, real shower.
Mari:Water, soap shower, real shower. I would also say if there are stairs and elevators in this situation and you're able to use the stairs and the elevator gets backed up, which often happens when you have big groups of people, let the people who can't use the stairs use the elevator and, like, try and use stairs if you can.
Jonathan:I feel like we're good at that as a group, like, very like. I think if you catch us, and like the four of us in general, on the moving walkway at places, it is because we've reached our limit.
Ashley:We're trying to get out of there faster, we're just exhausted.
Jonathan:I do feel like anytime we see stairs we're just like I guess stairs it is kind of thing Right, I'm cool with that. But yeah, I think something to keep in mind for the men in our group. There's definitely a skewed demographic at the book cons.
Mari:Yeah.
Jonathan:And there's going to be a time when you have to use the restroom and you'll. You may notice I think kelly and I went through that this past year where the men were restricted to a, an auxiliary like single stall bath, and it wasn't an issue. I'm just saying like just don't come in as a dude and be like this is my bathroom.
Mari:Yeah, you know it's it books out better for everybody. Yeah, yeah, you know, actually monster erotica con did a really monster got a book con did a really good, handled this very well. What they did was there were there were two bathrooms in right next to where the all the vending and book stuff was going on and and they labeled them all gender neutral. So it was just everybody use everything, and there were never any lines outside any of the bathrooms.
Jonathan:Yeah, and I think even with the use of the men's facilities at Romanescon, there still might've been a line for women.
Mari:Yeah, probably there was so many more like female presenting people there than male presenting people Absolutely Just visually looking around, from what I remember.
Jonathan:Yeah, and you're not getting an advantage because when you there's the number of pieces of waste equipment I don't know what to call these things. In the facility, men's rooms are typically split with like a right, a wall device?
Mari:it's not. You're getting double the stalls.
Jonathan:Yeah yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm not missing and I'm not. I'll be honest here I'm. If I had to go, that bad I would, but and couldn't wait. I just go to my room yeah, that's the other thing.
Mari:Like if you, if they're don't forget, there are bathrooms elsewhere usually like if there's a long line and you really have to go, like there's probably another bathroom that you might be able to walk to and get to quicker than you would waiting in line. So most public places have more than one bathroom area. Just because it's not the closest one to where the book convention is happening doesn't mean it's the only one. So once again, it goes back to look at your maps and see where the bathrooms are and things. The last part of act right that I will say is if you see something going on that isn't right, either speak up if you're comfortable and safe doing so, or find someone else to handle the situation. If you are in a situation where someone is being sexually harassed or being picked on or something is going on and you don't feel comfortable maybe standing up for them or saying, hey, that's not right. You know, stand up, for if you feel safe to do so, if you feel safe and comfortable doing so, then say something. If you don't feel comfortable or safe in that situation, find somebody these events have security whose job it is to deal with this stuff. Find somebody and say something.
Mari:Oftentimes bad situations can be kept from getting worse if people speak up. So don't treat people like you wouldn't want to be treated, but if you see something, say something Like I have been in a situation at a convention where I got groped and I didn't really know what to do and then after the fact I found out there were multiple people getting groped at that same, around that same time and place and I feel like if I had said something to the security that was there, maybe that person could have been caught or stopped. Of course you don't. You don't think about that in the moment when something is happening to you, because you're just like obviously flustered.
Kelly:You're like wait what? You're stunned. What just happened?
Mari:Yeah so. But if you're an outside person, if you see somebody doing something to somebody else, you're probably in a calmer headspace than the person that's happening to. So either say something if you're comfortable doing so, If not, it's okay. Say something to security or somebody Like if you don't feel comfortable or safe getting involved in actually stopping whatever's happening firsthand, find somebody whose job it is to do that.
Jonathan:Something I do in difficult situations. I try to practice like a handful of like one liners not jokes, but like if we, if we were in a space and somebody said something that was that was questionable, it would be my, my response to them, and I think Ashley knows this is well, that's a. That's an interesting thing to say out loud. Or even if it's like vague, what do you mean by that?
Jonathan:You know, get, know, get, get, almost get curious and disrupt that behavior. And if it was hands for me, like if I was seeing somebody, if something was going on, it would be like what? What makes you think that that's the appropriate touch? Right now yeah and maybe, and maybe, and perspective is a thing, so you, you'll, I would look to the other person to validate as well right so like maybe it's, maybe they're goofing around and I just caught it at the wrong. Hey, what? What makes you?
Jonathan:and they say well, you know, that's my wife and my wife was just teasing me and you know yeah, that's, yeah, we're cool, right, right.
Mari:so context clues and everything else, but like, if you do see something, like you know, if someone's obviously groping multiple people without them interacting with the groping person, then obviously something's going on. Or if you know, there's one thing that science fiction, fantasy conventions I feel have gotten right and have, for the most part, drilled into attendees is that cosplay is not consent. You'll see it on stickers, you'll see it on T-shirts Cosplay is not consent. So what that means is if a person is in a very revealing outfit or dressed as a very, maybe attractive character, or even like sexual character or whatever, that doesn't give you permission to touch them, doesn't give you permission to touch them, doesn't give you permission to grope them, it doesn't get none of that.
Jonathan:like there's still a person, male or female here's a flex here that I that I've been kind of watching on social media when possible, it doesn't give you permission to photograph them in compromising positions, exactly Like it's. If, especially if, they have a unique and revealing costume. And there's, there's, you're going to get some, some B-roll footage, that's for sure, absolutely. But if it's not directed at you know, there's, that's the the gray area. If you walk into someone and you're oh here, jessica rabbit over here, let me take this picture, as she's tying her shoe and that's not.
Mari:That's hugely inappropriate like cosplayers put a lot of time and effort into what they're doing and they I've never, I've never, no, let me backtrack only only once have I ever asked someone in costume to like to take their picture and they said no, and that one time was because they were rushing off to a panel and they didn't have the time to stop and pose. And that's okay, that's fine. That's why you ask. But every other time and I've gotten like if any of you guys follow me on on instagram or whatever, you know, I take a billion pictures of people's cool costumes like you ask for a picture and they they will love to ham it up for you because they put all this work into it and, like people love to see themselves.
Mari:Yeah, afterwards you'll see people asking hey, I was wearing, you know, this Borg outfit or whatever. Did anyone take pictures of me? And they're looking for people who took pictures of them. So for the most part, people will want it, but they want to do it in a pose that they have practiced, not with, like, half their helmet off while they're eating a hamburger not with like half their helmet off, while they're eating a hamburger.
Mari:You know, if you see a meeting, let them eat their hamburger. Yes, please, they're as tired as you are, maybe more, I promise I'm a huge fan of backwards questions.
Jonathan:So if I, if I wanted a photo with you, it might sound like it's now about time for a picture, right, and oftentimes they're gonna say, no, it's not a bad time. But if it is a bad time, they'll usually say, yep, it's a bad time, but come back at this other time. Right, and I'll be and I'll be happy to. They'll give you the solution and when it's their plan, it goes to plan, so yeah so all this falls under the umbrella act, right?
Mari:word yep, anything else anybody wants to add to that?
Ashley:No, I think you guys covered that very well.
Mari:All right. So then, the last thing that you don't maybe think about is after the con. So you've gone to your event. What do you want to do afterwards? Sleep, yes. Recover Definitely Number one. Recover, but also reflect like was it what you expected it to be? Was it worth everything you put into it? Money, time planning Is it something you would recommend to other people or that you would want to do again?
Jonathan:Yeah, I think that's great. Like, try to leave those things to the end. Make those mental notes, but try to like you're right, leave those things to the end, don't let them consume and define the event for you.
Mari:No, no afterwards yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's like this is once you're home, once you're done, after the fact, also feedback. So most of these events have an official feedback, whether it's an app or they maybe send out a survey or they just ask questions on social media or whatever. If they're asking for feedback, give them feedback, whether that is positive or negative. You want it to be truthful and you want it to be critical, and so what I mean by critical is you don't want to say, oh, this event sucked. Ok, that doesn't tell anybody anything. Like what about it sucked? What did you not like? Like what could be better. So be constructive in your criticism. Give details so that if somebody else is thinking about going, that they will have your input as well.
Jonathan:I would also say attack problems, not people.
Mari:Yes.
Jonathan:I think a lot of people lose sight of that. I didn't like this person. Okay, what was the action? What was the problem? And I'm going to be honest, not that they might be asking for it, but it's probably not a bad idea if you have the bandwidth and the ability to say hey, I had this problem, this is what I came up against, but I feel like this could be a solution.
Mari:Right, yeah, if you can give feedback absolutely.
Jonathan:Yeah, it may not your solution may not be the answer, but it's still. It may trigger. I can't tell you how many times I'll have an obstacle or a problem in front of me where it's hey, this is a problem, and then, like two hours later, we'll be handling a different problem and the solution to that will trigger me exploring a different solution in another situation.
Mari:Yeah, and don't be shy about that, because throughout history oftentimes a solution to one problem is a solution to many problems. So like, for example, if you like to watch your TV or movies with closed captioning, you can thank disability representation for that. Like I have to read it. I have to read closed captioning. But lots of things for that. Like I have to read it. I have to read closed captioning. But lots of things like that.
Jonathan:It helps more people than just who you might be initially trying to help. Yeah, failure can be a solution too. Post-it notes that was an attempt to make a very strong adhesive and they failed. But they didn't classify it as a failure. They were just like. We accidentally made this very gentle adhesive.
Mari:So, yeah, what can we use it for?
Jonathan:Exactly. If you have a solution, share a solution.
Mari:Yeah, also follow up on any networking or open issues. So, like, if you met somebody at the con and you were like, oh you know, maybe, or like I like X, y and Z, you should, you should try this other thing, I'll send you a link on it. Or maybe you were going to follow up with somebody for, like, try and get an advanced reader copy. Or maybe you were talking about something completely unrelated to the con, but it was somebody you met there and you were going to message them about something. All these like open-ended issues that you maybe didn't do because you were in the middle of experiencing everything at a con. Go back and like, close those loops. You know, do the things that you had said you were going to do. If you're going to get back to somebody or send them something or message them or whatever, go back and do that stuff.
Jonathan:But have forgiveness if somebody doesn't, don't chase them down. I was at an extremely busy event last Saturday and came across somebody who promised to share links to watercolor painting videos, but they had a very challenging. Oh no, I'm screwed with you it's me. I'm the problem. I'm just messing with you, mara. I thought that would be a cute. Don't read into that, I am not. I didn't even think about it.
Mari:You're about to get a flood of watercolor videos once we finish recording.
Jonathan:Don't read into that, I just can't. It was me being cheeky.
Ashley:Gentle reminders are preferred. Yes, I was not.
Jonathan:I was not even thinking about it until we just started talking, so don't.
Ashley:Yeah, we've been busy Like same, same, same. I'm just goofing.
Jonathan:I know you keep that in mind, like I have like for me. If I was waiting on that, I would nudge it.
Mari:But yes gentle, a gentle kind yeah, and I don't think anyone would have any any anything negative to say about that. Absolutely correct correct.
Jonathan:So space and grace for people because you're traveling, they're traveling right to get home, they have to unpack, they have to remember, and if a few days goes by it nothing wrong with shooting a message saying hey, it was great to meet you, by the way. Have you had an opportunity?
Jonathan:right, exactly any other feedbacky kind of stuff um, you know what I think would be super great I don't know if we have a resource for it um, if we had like a 10 point checklist. Is there there a way to even and this might be ad hoc, but like it might be worthwhile to link a checklist of like, just even if it was like the categories that you have broken out here, like maybe some things to keep in mind what goes in the bag, what to do when you get there.
Ashley:What to do afterwards. Are you guys ready for this? I got a Jonathanism.
Jonathan:Shoot. What did I do?
Ashley:Thank you for volunteering.
Mari:Yes. You've just been voluntold, jonathan, thank you.
Ashley:You did it yourself, dude. Okay, that's fine, you level this, just drop it in Excel.
Mari:Yeah make it an Excel thing.
Jonathan:Yeah, okay.
Ashley:Now he's excited, you guys can see his face, I win Yay.
Jonathan:Mic drop Appreciate it.
Mari:Last thing I would say is think about, like, organizing your memories, however. You like to maybe keep a journal of the things you've done, like a travel journal or an event journal, or maybe you like to post photos or do scrapbooking whether it's for personal stuff or for posting publicly, it doesn't matter. Whatever you do to like, process your memories, keep your memories, have something to be able to look back on, whatever that looks like for you. Leave time in your schedule after an event to like, do that.
Jonathan:Maybe the weekend after that's what you're going to do. Yeah, oftentimes we take a lot of photos and I think they just end up kind of like getting lost in the phone. So taking time, like you said, to just even if it's just organizing a bucket on cloud for the event, you could do that preemptively too.
Ashley:I'm going to say Marie's really good about that. I feel like cataloging her trips and her experiences that way.
Jonathan:Preemptively, you could set up your folders.
Mari:Yeah, so that's something that I do like to do. So I like to use Dropbox, but whatever, whatever you like to do as soon as I'm going to an event. So, for example, I've already pre-bought my ticket for DragonCon 2026. So I've created a folder in my little Dropbox where I keep my photos DragonCon 2026. And so I've already started to put in there, like my screenshots of the tickets I bought, just in case something gets lost. So I have one place where I have everything there and then, as I start, like when I do start going to the event and taking pictures and processing them, or screenshots, or something I'm trying to remember, like maybe look up this author, or connect with this artist, or whatever, I have all that in one place, rather than a billion random screenshots somewhere in my phone.
Jonathan:Correct. That's a great pro tip and there's lots of different resources for that stuff as well, like Microsoft, loop, trello, dropbox, cloud, google Cloud, right. Some of those are a lot of. Those are free resources. Google Cloud is a free resource and Trello has a free version, and they're all things that you can use to track events and to plan.
Mari:And I would say, if you're more of a tactical, physical touch kind of person, I'm trying to remember it was for Monsterotica BookCon and I don't remember the name of the person who did this, but they basically pre-created a scrapbook for the event, with the author to interact with. They had a page that was already filled out with, like the books that they have read and they had to check. They checked them off as they read them leading up to the event. They had a spot where they wanted the author to sign and like they had left a spot there for a picture. So when they took a picture with the author and they would get that, they would like stick it in there, you know, whenever they got home or whatever. But it was like a pre-done scrapbook, I guess, or journal or whatever and everything was just very easy and ready to go.
Mari:But like think about it. Like five years from now she can look back on that and be like oh look, this is when I met, you know, tiffany Roberts, or Regina Bell, you know like, or Opal Rain, and it'd just be right there, very easy.
Jonathan:So there wasn't a lot of it was a way to organize herself ahead of time and also make it easy afterwards yes, and I think in the moment too it can make it easier how many times you get in front of an author and you're like, oh, you wrote, what book did you? Okay, you wrote this, if you have that sheet, and you're like, yeah, I wrote this. I read this book from this author and this is the character. This is the character that I most like. That's.
Ashley:So, that's what kind of goes on. Physical goodreads is what she did. Yeah, yeah, and it wasn't for anybody but her.
Mari:You know it's not like she was posting it anywhere, it was for for for her own, like enjoyment and memory jogger, and, like you know, I'm sure she enjoyed doing it too, just because it was like a fun craft project and make it an event out of it. So, yeah, even if you not like a somebody who's going to post your stuff publicly, do stuff for yourself. Yeah, all right. Anything else we haven't talked about for these events that we want to bring up before I wrap it up?
Ashley:No, I think we covered a lot we did. I can't wait to look back at Jonathan's checklist.
Mari:I know, maybe we'll have to post that once you do it.
Jonathan:So fans, yeah you feel free to judge it.
Mari:If you need to, you know, send us a gentle reminder If we haven't done, it Comes full circle. Yeah, all right, kelly, you got anything to add?
Kelly:No.
Mari:Okay, all right, so we are going to wrap it up then. Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes, rate, review and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us and let us know what you're enjoying. Follow us on Instagram, tiktok, youtube or Goodreads at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website ofswordsandsoulmatescom. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for a future episode, book topic, et cetera, feel free to reach out to us. If you want to read along with us as we prep for a new episode and get chapter by chapter interaction, join our Fable app book club by searching for the Of Swords and Soulmates book club. And, last but not least, we hope that you'll join us in two weeks for our next episode, when we when we will be discussing vampires of el norte by isabel canes. Bye, bye, you.
