Realm Makers Rundown

In the words of Samwise Gamgee, “Well, I’m back.”

I spent last weekend at Realm Makers for the 3rd time, but this time I attended as a vendor rather than an attendee.

I’ve done a couple of events in the past, and I’ve even consigned books at Realm Makers before through their bookstore, but this was my first time selling at a large event like this.

Overall, it was a blast.

I have so many stories and memories, and I probably can’t tell them all, but I’m going to try, so get ready for a rather lengthy post! I also actually took a lot of pictures this year, but I don’t want to clutter up the post with them, so if you want to see them, head on over to my Instagram or Facebook!

Thursday, July 17

Well, my dad and daughters and I piled everything into our pickup truck (it was quite the game of Tetris to get it all to fit, let me tell you!) then we all jumped into the truck and drove 11 hours around the north end of Lake Michigan and across the Mackinac Bridge to get over to Grand Rapids, MI.

Yes, we could have gone the shorter way through Chicago and sat in traffic for 2 hours like many others did… but it would have taken exactly the same amount of time in the end, and would have been far more stressful and less pretty.

We rolled into the Grand Amway hotel around 9pm and WOW. That place is gorgeous. We got a fantastic parking spot, walked across the skyway into the hotel and my daughters both declared that they wanted to live there. (I think it was the 11 hours on the road talking, and not an actual desire to move to Grand Rapids, because after they walked around in the city with us for lunch the next day they decided that maybe city life wasn’t as dazzling as they had believed the night before).

Because of being on the road for 11 hours, and sleeping in a hotel, and being excited for the next day, I got about 3 hours of sleep…

Friday, July 18

We got up early and grabbed Panera Bread for breakfast. My dad had no desire to move the truck and potentially lose the best parking spot in the world, so we located a hotel trolly thing and managed to get all the components of my booth loaded up on that and over to the Devos Place in a single trip! (yes, you may applaud)

The convention center was GIMUNGOUS and the whole building was more than a little overwhelming.

I was absolutely repping Wordshirts on this day, because I figured if anyone would understand the need for a SHIRT shirt, it would be Realmies.

My brother and his family came to visit us around noon and help us finish setting up. Then we went out to lunch with them and got ice cream and took a few minutes to relax a bit. Since they were there before everything officially opened, they got a fun sneak peek at what the place was going to look like, managed to buy a few things from vendors before we officially opened for business, and helped make sure my point of sale was working, which was really kind (and generous) of them!

3:00pm - the Expo began!

3:05pm - a couple came into the expo pulling a wagon and made a beeline for my table. They came up to my booth and informed me that they had met DJ Edwardson at Rise-Up con in Tennessee and that he had talked up my books so much that they had come to the Expo partially just to meet me and they wanted to buy ALL of my books!

That was a pretty phenomenal way to open up the event, and kind of set the tone for the rest of the weekend.

I made a few more sales before the expo closed for the evening, and then raced back to my room, a 0.4 mile trek, to get into my pirate costume (I decided to dress up as Raisa, because: FUN) and then back (another 0.4 miles) to get to the banquet hall, where I managed to completely miss the costume parade (sadness… next year, can we make sure that the expo closes BEFORE the costume parade begins, please?) but Leiana and Nathalie saved me and my dad seats at a table up front, so that was nice.

The banquet was lovely, as usual. I would say the food was not quite up to par from previous years, though the pot roast was very tasty. But it’s a little hard to think, “Wow! This is incredible food!” when you know Ruth’s Chris is right over there on the other side of the building.

Play Date did NOT win a Realm Award, and that was a little sad. But it’s still an honor to be a finalist, and it was lovely to add to my growing collection of finalist medal-pins. Maybe next year.

Nathalie was a huge hit with her Sophie Foster costume from Keeper of the Lost Cities. And Leiana had a blast cosplaying Ruby Powell from H.L. Burke’s SVR series (and getting a picture with the author!)

My dad felt the dinner was a little lacking, so he bought us each our own individual cheesecake from Ruth’s Chris afterwards, and that was delightful (and lasted for TWO whole nights, because those things are enormous).

Saturday, July 20

I slept in.

I accidentally set my alarm for 6:45 PM and woke up at 8:30am with a feeling of “OH NO!” The expo opened at 9am and the girls both had their first session to get to. We managed to make it on time to both, but it made the morning feel very cramped and rushed and breakfast was a little on the late side due to this.

However, I was determined NOT to be an introvert or shy this weekend. And within moments, a family with three boys came by (the boys looked like they were all circling around the age of 12). I made eye contact with one of the boys and asked, “Do you like dragons and sword fights and airship pirates and NO KISSING?!”

All three boys’ eyes lit up and they swerved over to my table. The dad gave me a huge grin and said, “That’s it! You’re the best salesman in this place. We’ve walked past a whole row of tables and not one person has tried to speak to us!”

Well, they bought the first two books in the Minstrel’s Song series and the first two books in the Turrim Archive, and I hope they enjoy them.

That also set the tone for the week. I was outgoing, people! It was a minor miracle, I think, but I found my audience and I found my shpiel (schpiel)? I have no idea how to spell that word and I’m on a roll so I’m not looking it up. Okay, I lied. I looked it up. It’s “spiel.”

SO many people came by my booth this day, it was lovely. I got to meet a ton of people I’ve only ever been friends with online, and that is always one of the best things about Realm Makers! The people. These are MY people. I met online friends, and people who helped back the Turrim Archive Kickstarter (you guys ROCK), and friends I only get to see once a year, and it was glorious.

People came to my booth and said they were there because they’d seen I was going to be there.

Wow.

Talk about feeling extremely humbled. I mean, I know I’ve been doing this writing/publishing thing for 13 years, but it still kind of blows me away that anyone I don’t know personally actually cares to read my books, let alone show up somewhere because I’m going to be there, or because they read about it on my page. That’s just… crazy.

I met a lot of new people, as well. People who had never heard of me OR Realm Makers before, so that was pretty cool.

I also signed up to be a mentor this year for the conference, so I had appointments in the middle of the afternoon, and I was SO glad that my dad had agreed to come help me run the booth, because I would not have been able to do both… who am I kidding? trying to even just run a booth by myself all weekend would have been way more than I could handle!

Being a mentor was something I kind of unofficially did last year (sort of fell into it accidentally), but it was definitely one of the highlights this year. Getting to pour encouragement into other authors and share some of the things I’ve learned along the way… it’s indescribable. I’m still kind of in shock whenever anyone asks me a question about writing or publishing, because I still feel like a newbie myself… but I guess I’ve been doing at this for a while… so I’ve learned a few things. If I can pass along some help to others… that’s fantastic.

Leiana wanted to go to the Main Street Music Show, but she ended up having a hard time finding it and missed quite a bit of it, so I know that was disappointing to her, as Katie Leigh is one of her heroes and the fact that she was there was definitely a highlight for Leiana.

Towards the end of the day a friend told me that Kathy Tyers was signing books, so I (because I’m a moron and slept in and had very little brain power earlier that morning and had left my copy of Truce at Bakura up in the room) RAN the entire way up to my hotel room and back (that’s 0.8 miles, thank you very much) and managed to get in line (and only had to wait for about 4 people). I got my copy signed and got to thank her in person for endorsing The Orb and the Airship and gave her a signed hardcover of my own book as a “thank you.” And she remembered me!!! absolutely dies of happiness

As the day ended, we met back up at my dad’s room and had Jimmy John’s for supper. Nathalie, my normally very introverted child, was bouncing off the walls and so excited about the day she had just finished and the one that was coming on the morrow. I rarely see her that animated—especially after a looooooong day full of people, and I commented that I was surprised she didn’t need to go “introvert” for a while. She replied, “I feel at home here.”

That…. was worth the price of admission.

Sunday, July 21

I am happy to report that I did not accidentally sleep in this morning. In fact, I got up early and we were able to have some breakfast sitting at a table for once! We got to the expo a good half hour before it opened, straightened up and rearranged some of our items, and Leiana and I went over to Katie Leigh’s booth and chatted with her for a good 10 minutes. I believe this made up for some of the disappointment of not getting to see the entire Main Street Music Show the day before.

Sunday was more of the same, but… more. Leiana’s crocheted dragons started flying off the shelves as people had decided what they had room in their suitcases for. I sold a lot more books. I had more mentoring appointments. More people stopped by the booth to say hi and get pictures with me. (I actually got quite a few pictures this year, compared to the previous two times I went to Realm Makers and apparently forgot what a camera is).

Leiana got to interact with a real film producer, which was super cool. Nathalie continued to be the life of the party, which made me feel like I was in an alternate reality.

Then it was over.

It’s kind of amazing how quickly all of the sparkling color and beautiful books and fantastical objects were packed into cardboard boxes and the hall turned back into a rectangular room of dingy gray concrete.

I did manage to purchase a Realm Makers t-shirt before the bookstore closed down completely. So that made me happy.

We packed up the truck (didn’t have to play quite as intense of a game of Tetris this time around since we had actually SOLD quite a few of the books I brought).

And then the girls found their new friends they had made in the Teen Track, my dad went out and got us Jimmy John’s for dinner again, and I went up to my room to eat and pack while the girls stayed down in the lobby chatting until 10:30pm!

Monday, July 22

We had decided to take the ferry home, since it seemed like it might be shorter and a new adventure, since none of us had ever done it before. So we got up super early and met up with Jaye L. Knight, who was also going to take the ferry and needed a ride, and got on the road by 6:30am!

The ferry was delightful. Yes, it takes 4 hours. And no, it doesn’t really cut that much time off the drive. But… it was such a lovely and relaxing way to end the weekend.

And right in the middle of the ride, there’s a good hour where no matter where you look, you absolutely cannot see any land at all.

“Surround me with horizon
Over rippling waters blue
For though my dear I love thee
My heart is only true
To adventure of the seas and the mournful mermaid’s song
Upon the ocean’s (lake’s) wild waves
Is where my heart belongs.”

Tuesday and beyond….

Tuesday, my parents and sister left to drive back home to Washington. I unpacked, did a little laundry, and took a nap. My kids sacked out in various places and read pretty much all day.

Now, as Realm Maker’s fades into the past a little bit more with each passing day and the year ahead stretches out before us… we must take that fortification, that encouragement, that spiritual high and let it push us forward as we create.

And we look forward to next year eagerly, when we can once again be reunited with our dear friends and our Realmie Family.

And we say “Thank you” to all those who make it happen every year. To Becky — who, if she had never written a fantasy book, there would be no Realm Makers to come to. To Scott, for having this dream in the first place. To JJ and Ralene and Lauren and everyone on the team that does all the work behind the scenes finding us spaces to congregate and share our stories. To the judges and the tech people and the speakers and the faculty and everyone who gives even one minute of their time to make sure this conference (and now expo!) happen.

Thank you.

It’s not enough. But thank you. For making this dream a reality. For making Realm Makers happen. For embracing me and all the rest of us kind of cooky little creatives who love Jesus more than anything else and have a passion for writing about stories in the genre of imagination.

And thank you to ALL the Realmies. For existing. For being this beautiful, God-honoring, welcoming community of creatives. For welcoming me in and not letting me be shy, and for this year, welcoming in my dad and my daughters. For being a space where my daughters have now found fellow Christian writing friends. For being a place where they felt “at home” and confident and loved.

Whenever anyone asks me why… why Realm Makers? Of all the conferences and events I could be doing, why do I make time in my schedule for this one? My answer is always the same.

It’s because of the people there.