I attended my first writing convention as a published author last weekend. I have heard other writers say how everything changes once you are published so I wasn’t sure what to expect.
While there were subtle differences in the way people I know treated me (greeted several times as a “world-famous author”), people who did not know me treated me much the same. That is, until they learned I was a published author. Then they had lots of questions.
Even so, not much different.
What was different was the way I saw things. I now had a book to promote and sell. I had to be “on” all the time. It was both exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. I think it also gave me new confidence as a writer. I have battled to achieve the brass ring and now it is in my hands. That made talking about writing easier with both fans and pros.
I think (and this could only be because I was putting my own internal spin on things) that publishers were more open to talk to me about my projects. Imagination, maybe. Either way, I found myself talking about my projects much more.
The final oddity to the situation comes from the fact that I am co-editing “Method to the Madness, A Guide to the Super Evil”. I had the great pleasure of speaking with some of the successful authors. It was wonderful to be able to tell them that they were in the anthology. Unfortunately, I will also have to deliver the news that some people did not make it in. (for clarification, if you are reading this, have submitted and have not yet heard back, do not worry. We are revising the contract and will be sending more responses out in the coming days).
It is an interesting thing to attend a writer’s con as a published author for the first time. I know I’m going to reflect on it often in the coming days and months.
