Convention Recap: Dragon Con 2023 - Attending Faux!

There is a phrase I have usually heard in reference to football, Act Like You've Been There Before. Usually its said about someone who is showboating too heavily after scoring a touchdown. The implication is, that if you scored on the regular, you wouldn't be acting so wild because it would be old hat to you at that point. This is advice that I think stood me in good stead this weekend at Dragon Con.

You see I was not an Attending Pro (a somewhat nebulous term that denotes someone significant enough to list on the website/app/schedule but not quite notable enough to be a Guest (of which there are only about 3-400ish)). So I have dubbed myself an Attending Faux, because I did all the things an Attending Pro does, I just had to work a little harder to organize it.

My understanding is that if you are a recognized pro, you get added to a list so that Track Heads for all the various tracks can add you to panels with ease if you are a good fit. Certain tracks pretty much only allow actual pros to be on panels I have learned (which...would have saved me a lot of time asking over the years lol). If you aren't, you just have to network and weasel. You wouldn't know it to look at me, but this 300+ pound, 6'1 frame is mighty fucking limber when it comes to weaseling onto a panel. (Pro tip: don't just show up to a panel and ask to join it, that is super bad form. Proper move is ahead of time send an email/message and let them know if there is space/a cancellation you are qualified and available.)

Last year when I was spelling out what success looked like to me, I put 'Do Six Panels at Dragon Con' on there. At that point I had only done the one, so I knew it was going to take some doing. I of course had hoped this would be the year, but I knew there was a good chance with my luck it might take more. But I did it! I did exactly six! I was blown away!

But, I did my best to try to play it cool. Inside I was shrieking like that gif of Jonah Hill, but outwardly I tried to keep calm. I was surrounded all weekend by so many authors who I intensely respect and admire, and universally they treated me like I was just one of the gang. Which, yeah, I guess I was? Because authors are cool like that. Sherilyn Kenyon has sold 70 million copies of her books. I've sold about 2,500. And she didn't bat an eye sitting down next to me at a panel. I mean she probably came to regret it once the dick puns started flying out of John's mouth, and I brought up my Bathtub Djinn, but then who wouldn't?

I guess what I am trying to say, in an overly complicated way, is those of you out there who are like me, and spend most of your time feeling like you don't belong: you do. You bring value just by being you. Just like I bring bad puns and a history of really, really hard won lessons from being weird and dumb.

My watershed moment was sitting there with Patrick Dugan in the Westin Bar. This was my first time getting to really hang with him (it was fantastic), and we were talking about our panels we were doing. I explained I was doing six, how that had been my goal, and that I hadn't been granted attending pro status so it had taken some wiggling when it came to the Dcon App (it was actually relevant, I wasn't sitting around complaining I promise). And he looked at me and said something to the effect of "I am one, and I'm doing six panels. You're doing great!" Hearing that from someone so well regarded...damn, it was wild.

I don't know. Until that moment I don't think it had really clicked for me that I was doing it, really doing it. That I was essentially a pro in all but title.

It still feels surreal.

But I like to think I didn't show it too much. I think, other than gushing to Matt Dinniman and David B. Coe, I think I pretty well acted like I belonged there, with minimal fanboying.

Like I had been there before.

Just know that inside I was giving every NFL star a run for his money when it came to celebrating.