Liberty Con has come and gone
AAR on Liberty Con 37
Lead Up
My husband and are I still relatively new to the con circuit. We had met in 2018 at Realm Makers and we attended as a newly married couple in 2022, and my husband attended once in between those two years. I had also once attended a con called St. David’s Christian Writers’ Conference in north western PA, but that was the extent of our con experiences.
Those were enjoyable conferences, but both my husband and I felt…out of place. We are Christians, yes, but we just were not interested in writing the kind of stories that are typically found in the Christian market. Even Realm Makers, which prides itself as being a con for the odd ducks in the Christian writing community who like spec fic did not fit myself nor my husband. My husband wanted to write stories aimed towards men, the kind of stories he enjoys reading, but most of the authors we met there were writing in very different directions. My husband’s books did not fit in.
After attending in 2022, we evaluated what we got for the price (because Realm Makers is VERY expensive and that’s even before you factor in cost of travel and hotel) and realized it wasn’t worth it to us. What was being offered at that conference wasn’t helping us. My husband’s writing career had failed to launch and Realm Makers, as we found, was a community of very nice people but that wasn’t the right community for us. We were spinning our wheels in Mississippi mud.
I realized that for the price of attending one Realm Makers conference we could attend 2 conferences much closer to home, so I set out to find such conferences. I stumbled across one called Fanta-sci that was held in Raleigh, North Carolina and which was much closer to home (4 hours instead of 12!) and was much cheaper - registration, food, gas, and hotel was only a fraction of what we were paying before.
Fantasci 2023 was such a huge change of pace for us. They had panels instead of workshops. They were giving practical advice that applied to all levels of writing, not just focusing getting the first manuscript out or “feels”. And the NETWORKING! We met so many other authors and publishers and people who were much more in line with our writing styles and genres and who were welcoming and inviting and helpful! Writers who were writing not just for passion but also recognized the desire to have readership and who understand that writing to market was not a faux paux but just as valid a reason to write as any other - and most importantly? We met folks who had made it to the level we dreamed of, who were making a living on the writing front and most importantly, believed in the rising tide and in helping others up to their level.
We gained so much from that first Fantasci just in the contacts and connections we made.
And Fantasci was where we first heard of Liberty Con. Everyone there asked “are you going to Liberty Con? Oh you HAVE to go to Liberty Con!” So I found Liberty Con’s website, learned how the process worked, and made absolutely sure that I was at the computer and ready to run the gauntlet when the tickets for 2024 went on sale (its an experience for sure, folks because there are a limited number of tickets and a lot of people interested, so much so that they usually sell out in a single day, and sometimes in just a few hours!) I snagged 2 of those coveted tickets and away we went in 2024.
Liberty Con 36 was a HUGE eye opener. It was what we experienced at Fantasci but on steroids. As my husband put it last year, he felt like he was drinking from a fire hose. So many connections, so many ideas. And we came to realize that networking in the right places with the right people has been the key we had been missing.
Liberty Con 37
All the connections we had been building in online communities and from Fantasci and Liberty Con 36 over the last two years have begun to bear fruit for us, and Liberty Con 37 proved that! While the drive in on Thursday was a nightmare in traffic, we arrived that evening to be greeted by friends and had a lovely time talking and laughing and joking in the comfort of our room to decompress.
We chose to stay at the Staybridge on the other end of the conference center rather than the Marriot and while the walk (that conference center is LONG!) from the hotel to the conference on the other end was a pain, we still think we will do it again next year. For a price not much more than the con price, we got a king-size bed - that was actually a king-size bed! - in a suite with a full size fridge, a dishwasher, a range top and a small living space for entertaining which came quite in handy. The breakfast that was included in the price was decent, though beware of the elevator doors that shut way too fast and are on the aggressive side. We were able to get the bedroom to the right temperature and with the addition of the 3” thick foam mattresses that we take with us to all hotels, the bed was perfect (which is a rarity for a hotel bed!)
Friday started out with a bang as my husband had chance run in with a publisher who told him to get a manuscript together and send it by - no promises that it would be picked up, but they were interested in seeing something from him. That by itself made the entire trip, but there was more to come. So many people that we had met either at other cons or online that were glad to see us! We were no longer the newbies and we were no longer standing on the outside looking in.
My husband had a reading at 1 pm and we had 4 others attend beside myself, which was double what he had last year.
I had volunteered to help out and was assigned security at the art show, which consisted of spending 2 hours at the door, tagging bags and drinks and checking receipts for purchases. I had some good conversations with folks on all 3 days which helped the time go by!
The restaurant in the Marriott did buffets all weekend for Liberty Con, which I greatly appreciated. While the choices were minimal (2 vegetables, 2 meats, salad, and one dessert) the food was very good, you could eat your fill which made the $26 price actually worthwhile, and it sped up the time that it would have taken otherwise. I hope they do this again!
Friday evening, my husband and I put into play a plan I had concocted to help out a fellow author. Michael LaVoice (check out his youtube channel “LaVoice in your Head”!) He had recently put up a merch store and had been mentioning that sales of merch and books had been slow this year. I knew he was going to Liberty Con and I knew he loved doing karaoke and had the reputation of being good at it, so I thought a great way to cheer him up would be to buy a couple of t-shirts and show up to karaoke as his “fan club”. I double checked with his wife (who is a very lovely lady!) and she thought it was a great idea, so I opened it up to others. Charlie Cox (author of The Fae Wars: Northwest Front amongst other things!) and her husband got in on it and also purchased t-shirts.
Michael had a panel first, so we all arrived before he did. I had made a sign to use and LaVoice never noticed our shirts or the sign. He stood up to sing and as soon as his name was announced, we all surged to our feet, shouting and hooting and hollering “Michael we love you!” and I held up the sign. He was flabbergasted (in a good way) and the first thing he said was “That’s where those sales went!”
He made it through the song, and then insisted on pictures of his new fan club “voices for LaVoice”. He also said he was hanging that sign up at his work desk.
Oh and yes - the rumors were true: LaVoice has a great singing voice and he puts on an awesome performance!
Saturday was another whirlwind day, ending in our 3 hour slot in author’s alley. We sold the best we’d done all month, with that single 3 hour event beating out every single day of the WV Renaissance Festival the previous 2 weekends. That was a huge morale booster!
We wanted to attend some of the room parties for more networking opportunities, but by the time we packed up from author’s alley, yours truly was beat, so we returned to our room and hit the hay early.
Sunday, my husband was chased down by a young lady who had seen someone reading his “Dreams within Dreams” novel in the gaming room and wanted a copy of her own. She had just enough to get the first 2 novels and a friendly Mr. Chris DeBoe bought her the 3rd (he is just a great guy!) My husband was more than thrilled at this as its the first time someone actually sought him out just to purchase one of his books!
Sunday evening, we wind down with the LaVoices, JT Arralle, and Roger and Janet Carden from “The Halfling and the Spaceman” podcast series in our room, laughing and talking over each other and just having a wonderful time. I don’t get to entertain very often at all, and I enjoyed every minute. Roger and Janet do interviews with authors and gamers and have a new channel started for TTRPGs and how to improve your game - check out Applied Game Mastery if you are curious!
That has been the best takeaway for us from Liberty Con and finding the group of writers who frequent it - the family camaraderie. I have been the odd duck in my family and my community with my interest in the fantastical and speculative and while I do love my family, I had never known just how much joy there is in finding “your tribe”. The friendships and connections we have made through the in person cons and the out of con chat servers have given us such a boost that we will be always thankful.
As my husband says, networking is adultspeak for making friends. We have learned that what makes a con great is the connections made in the hallways, the bar, the lounge, the gaming room - its the meeting of folks, talking with them, supporting them and just being willing to have the courage to introduce yourself and put yourself out there. The panels are great, but what makes Liberty Con shine is the family feeling and the support that you get from getting to know others and letting them know you.
We cannot thank the folks who have welcomed us and given us their support and encouragement enough!
Now its time to unpack, unwind, and get ready for one final weekend of the Ren Faire before I finally get some time to slow down and refocus on other things - and hopefully get some story writing done! I have at least one story I’d like to write to post here for free, I have a couple of shorts I want to write for anthology open calls, and I have another I need to finish, either to post free here or see if I can fit it into an open call later this year.
It’s a busy time for sure!