“I took hold of that scourge -filled ship and crushed it between my limbs, hurtling it into the second sun, the red one that gave me strength. But I was too late." Terraformer
Colleen-This was my first ever Comic Con. I’ve always wanted to go to one but never knew any existed outside of San Diego. Why didn’t you all tell me I was missing out? It was everything I hoped it would be so thanks to my good friend, Bree Despain, for getting me invited.
Shara-My daughter I up arrived a bit early so we could walk around and see some of the local sites. We arrived too late for the famed Salt Lake Temple Christmas lights, but we did have a chance to walk around. The weather was chilly, but with gloves a jacket, and a hat we enjoyed our tiny tour of SLC.
Colleen-My sister/assistant Shara and her daughter arrived first and took advantage of the opportunity to sneak into the conference early and shoot some pictures. We ate dinner at the hotel but other than the cute basket the sweet potato fries were brought in, there wasn’t anything to write home about.
Shara-We did some shopping to start the day. Since Colleen got us in extra early we had 1st dibs. There is so much to look at for nerds like us. In my family we are fans of Dr.Who, Avatar -The Last Airbender, Pokemon, Star Wars, Star Trek, Studio C, Lord of the Rings, etc. There are action figures, posters, lunch boxes, pins, comic books, t-shirts, stuffed animals, jewelry, costumes, treats of all sorts, and everybody was in their costumes.
We found this great booth that made chocolates in many cool shapes. They had Mockingjay pins made out of chocolate, all sort of Dr. Who characters, the Death Star from Star Wars, and many more.
Colleen-I had a book signing and a panel. The panel was on villains and the structure of it and the mix of personalities meant I didn’t get to say as much as I would have normally. Most of my panels were made up of men predominately and there’s nothing wrong with that, but in my experience men have a hard time sharing the stage with one another. Even when the moderator says to keep it brief, they go on and on. Women, on average, share a little better and are more sensitive to their fellow panelists I think.
The book signing was awesome. Met three of the actors from The Walking Dead and took pictures. So cool to see them up close and, you know, not running for their lives. After we saw the picture, we decided we needed to study the way they pose and how they do their makeup. It looks so flawless!
Day 3 (Friday)
Shara-We started off the day together attending Christopher Lloyd’s panel, and then Brandon Routh’s. Good gravy he’s a handsome guy! Brandon was so good with the cute little kids dressed in Superman costumes. Then we ran over to Colleen’s 2nd panel. Doesn’t she look pretty. I love to do her make-up before events.
Colleen-Started off the day attending the Christopher Lloyd panel.
It was fun to hear him talk about his various experiences and projects. Next was the Brandon Routh panel.
He is just a good looking man. I miss the Superman blue eyes though.
Did a panel on how to write Middle-Grade/YA and then did photos with Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura from Star Trek TOS and Carrie Fisher who brought her dog. If I didn’t know who she was, I don’t think I would have recognized her at all.
Did another book signing where I met a girl who got all dressed up. She’s so cute! Love her homemade Fanindra.
Then finished off the day with another photo op with Brandon Routh. I was impressed that he said hello to each fan and shook their hand. Nice guy. He’s the total package. Good looking, a great husband, and a doting father. He mentioned in his panel that he’d recently done a Hallmark Christmas movie. I’m going to check it out. Okay…I found it. Now I have to watch it. It’s called The Nine Lives of Christmas. Gorgeous fireman who saves cats. What’s not to love ladies?
Shara and my niece headed home which meant they missed out on the busiest day at the con and missed out on the Brandon Routh photo op!
Colleen-The convention sold out which meant there were 50,000 people in the convention center and it felt like it. It was so packed that any free time I had, I spent mostly in the green room where I could sip a soda and look out over the chaos.
Had two panels on Saturday. One was for Writing YA Fiction and the second was on how to Get Published. Got to meet Richard Paul Evans. He’s a very sweet guy and I’ve been a fan of his for years.
Checked in on a few friends doing book signings and then lined up to get my picture taken with Paul Wesley from The Vampire Diaries. Now that boy is a charming young man. He asked us how we were doing and apologized for sitting in the picture. Apparently, he had an injury.
We flew home on Sunday. Nice to be home but the convention was a blast. Hope I get to go to one again. =)
Blog Post Question Of The Day-Who would be your number one pick to meet at a convention? Think of a person or two you’d really fan-girl over. Personally, I want to meet Damon from The Vampire Diaries. Wouldn’t mind posing with Robert Pattinson. Would really, really fan-girl over Leonard Nimoy.
This entry was posted in Conferences, Travel.
New York Times Bestselling author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, paranormal, science fiction, and romance. When she's not busy writing, she likes to spend time chatting on the phone with one of her six siblings, watching plays, and shopping online. Colleen has lived in Arizona, Idaho, Utah, California, and North Carolina and is now permanently settled in Salem, Oregon with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.