GLAHW preps for MCCC over many months and when the weekend finally arrives, it seems to whiz by in a flash. As exhausted as I am by the time it's over, most of me is disappointed that I have to wait 12 months before I can experience it again. Not that we don't have other cons to attend or activities to plan. It's just that MCCC is the first big convention we'd ever signed up for so it has a special place in my heart.

Day Two: Nicole, Sean, me, MontiLee, and Michael.

(Pic One: Thanks, Michael! Pic Two: Thanks, Shad! Pic Three: Thanks, Lupe & Tony!)

My body has mostly recovered from the weekend. I don't think I need to catch up on any more sleep but my voice still needs a little coddling. If I laugh too loudly, or try to sing in the shower or car, it sounds like I got throat punched by the King of Hell (Crowley, for those of you playing "Supernatural" at home).

The con was great for the group and individual members. I think everyone sold quite a bit of stock! We did have a primo location this year, on a corner, between the artists and media guests. MontiLee and I had a lot of fun teasing Steve Bejma, classic movie monster artist extraordinaire who is NEVER AT HIS DAMN TABLE when we want to go visit. Poor Don England, the wonderful artist who's done the cover art for GLAHW's last three anthologies, got stuck between Steve's absences and our constant annoyances! And of course Ron Maxwell, who has done the interior art for the last two anthos and cover art for our mini antho, wandered over from time to time to share his mellow happy vibes so we could all calm the fuck down and not get too out of control (and by 'we' I mean all the GLAHW people because when we get together, we get a little crazy).

I want to send a personal shout out of thanks to those members that worked all or most of the weekend to help spread the word of GLAHW to the public: MontiLee, Michael, Sean (he's charming), Nicole, Shad, and David. Without all of you working together, we wouldn't have had the great weekend we did! I'm pretty sure we at least made back the cost of both tables. And I love how we're already working on next year's themes...

And let's not forget the only autograph I sought out for the weekend: Chris Sarandon. I didn't have any lengthy conversation with him. I simply asked if his wrist was okay (it was in a brace so we could only fist bump instead of shake hands) and that when signing my copy of Fright Night I requested he spell Peggy with a 'y', not an 'ie' like people have started to do. He gave me the most incredulous look I've ever seen and I just held up my hands and said, "I know. I don't get it either," to which he replied, "Sacrilege!" Awesome. I thanked him, we fist bumped again, and I walked back to the GLAHW table. I'm not good at making small talk with strangers or asking for pictures, let alone from Chris Freakin' Sarandon, who looks just as sexy as he did in Fright Night. So I have no cutesy anecdote or swoon inducing tale of cheek kissing or anything like that. Probably my one and only interaction with THE sexiest & scariest vampire to grace the silver screen came and went like that.

But aside from all of that, aside from all of the fun and love and quality time shared with friends old and new, there is one moment for me that overshadows all else. On the last day of con, a family walked up to the table. One of the kids, a young girl probably in her pre-teen phase, pointed at my collection and asked, "Did you write this?" When I told her I did, she became very excited and said how much she loved the book. When I asked her if she had already read it, she said yes and expressed that if she'd known I was going to be at MCCC, she would have brought her copy for me to sign.

As I stood there completely flabbergasted, Nicole suggested I sign a bookmark for her and Michael suggested a photo op. I'm glad they both were thinking as my brain just could not seem to get past the idea that someone was already aware of and had read my book before I gave them any kind of spiel about its merits. This is the first moment for me as a writer to be recognized (by name if not by face) by a complete stranger for my work. I will never forget it!

I won't post the pic we took here because she is a minor as well as the fact that I don't know her or her family and don't have permission. But I will say that Shara, you beautiful young woman you, thank you for your kind words and enthusiasm. I will probably name a character in my next novel after you!

The coming months will be preoccupied with planning our vendor exploits for other conventions, the Halloween fundraiser, the seventh anthology, and lots more trouble for us to get into. And so the door closes on another successful convention.

The Monkey Is In.

Motor City ComicCon 2014