Dear friend,
My first comic convention, I was invited to go with a group of friends from work. I was super nervous but also excited because I had learned that a ton of people dress up as their favorite characters.
A chance to play dress up without feeling judged? Sign me up!
It’s kind of cheesy to say it felt magical, but that’s exactly what I felt. Surrounded by people who have epic costumes they’ve spent hours making, the enthusiasm about stories we all enjoy is infectious. I spent hours the month previous making a costume based on the main character of “The Quest for Camelot,” which I grew up watching over and over with my brother.
A week ago I got the opportunity to attend the Realm Makers conference and expo (for Christian speculative fiction writers, readers, game makers, and film makers) with my fellow students from The Company. It was basically a comic convention but for Christians. I got to meet so many cool people, including Carla Hoch, S. D. Grimm, Allyson Faith, and Kathy Tyers. I alternated attending sessions in the conference and manning The Company booth at the expo, selling books and telling people about the apprenticeship.
For those of us with reserved tendencies, conventions and the like are hard to thrive in, so here are some things I learned from attending Realm Makers.
Be Bold
I am not an outgoing person, but I wanted to meet with some small presses to find copyediting jobs for after I’ve completed my time at The Company. I also wanted to meet some authors I really admire and ask them to autograph books. It took some guts and a friendly push (thanks, Vella Karman), but I made some great connections because I practiced boldness and talked to strangers I’d only seen through my phone screen.
That’s the thing. Boldness takes practice (confidence does, too), so don’t sweat it if you only have a little at first. The more you push yourself, the bolder and more confident you’ll grow.
Take Breaks
Conventions, conferences, and expos have so much going on, it’s nigh impossible to do everything. Realm Makers was three full days with hundreds of people. The noise alone was enough to drain my energy. Even with five of us students rotating shifts to manage the booth at the expo (building relationships and convincing people to buy books), we all were running on empty at the end of each day. Throw in sessions at the conference to that, and talk about overload.
Regularly taking breaks to go to the bathroom, drink water, eat, and find a quiet spot for a few minutes saved my butt. I wouldn’t have made it to the end of each day without a meltdown if I hadn’t taken some time to take care of my body.
Listen and Learn
A great way to get creative inspiration is by being around creative people (i.e. going to conferences and conventions). To do that, listen to what the other creative people have to say.
I found a ton of inspiration for a story I’m writing through one of the sessions at Realm Makers. It was a session about writing scifi (which is a genre I don’t normally write in), but some of the stuff the speaker said clicked some things into place. It’s funny, because I wasn’t even originally planning on going to that session. (Moral of the story: be spontaneous, I guess.) Keep an open mind. You never know where you’ll hear that one thing that gives you just the right inspiration.
Conferences and conventions are great places to find inspiration, whether it’s by learning from someone, by seeing some inspiring art, or just by being around other creative people.
I’m off to take a nap.
Sincerely,
R. J. Catlin
