Writers are diverse creatures by nature (am I right?). So naturally we all have some hobbies that extend past the crafty worlds we pen. I'm curious to see if anyone else has attended any kind of convention or event over the years. Sadly, being a resident of Southern California (the Mecca of convention locations), I have only attended 2 conventions in my lifetime. Anime Expo 2004 and Blizzcon 2009. The former was kind of a dark experience while the latter earned me a bit of fame on YouTube (go figure). So, what conventions have you guys attended? Do you go consistently? Any fun stories to share?
Over the last 4 years I have attended two different conventions multiple times. I have been to Kumori-con twice, and Sakura-Con three times, sadly this year my lack of funds prevented me for making it four times. (insert sad face here T_T) As you may have guess both of these are anime cons.
Actually, there are conventions that cater towards writers. DragonCon frequently features many fantasy and sci-fi writers and has a set of panels geared towards writing creatively. I really want to go to DragonCon one of these days... I have been to a couple anime cons: AnimeUSA, Katsucon, Otakon, and a few smaller ones that I can't remember the names of. But I haven't gone to one in years.
FAIR WARNING: Do not post notices of upcoming conventions in this thread. They will be infracted as advertising and deleted.
I went to Swancon here in Western Australia, and it was brilliant. My partner and I were con-virgins before we went, so it broke our con-sherry. haha! We got to meet a massive group of brilliant Australian authors, endure the most interesting talk on zombies, go through a brilliant fight scene workshop, and abduct a guy from the zombie panel. Poor man... and we had a 12 hour drinking session (and I only ever have 1 or 2 drinks normally, so at the time was thinking how foolish this was), but woke up the next day feeling better than the day before. Oh yeah! Funny moments: 1) Defeating a group of Jedi's. Yup, I'm just that damn good. 2) Being attacked by some fuzzy Star Wars mat thingy. I was in hysterics and my stomach hurt so bad from laughter. 3) My partner finding some 'Wipe On Sex Appeal" at the bar we had lunch in. So damn funny! 4) My partner grossing out the group of writers, editors and publishers we met there. Conventions are great. We are going to the convention again next year as well.
