Wild & Windy in the City: Chicago

This post is a bit later than I had intended but it's summer time and ... well that's just its own brand of chaos over here!

I've been thinking about how I wanted to share my experience of attending my first ever Romance Readers Convention and there just aren't words to describe it. I mean, I'm a writer. I write. It's what I do. Words are sort of my thing.

And yet... everything about that day was incredible. That word feels so small when I think about what I got to see and do. And I was only there for a few hours!

So let's back up to the start.

In like October 2022, I set a goal to go to a romance readers convention in 2023. It was part of my "23 for 2023" List. But as someone who has never been to one, I didn't know where to even start. So I did what anyone my age does: I searched Facebook. lol

I knew that I didn't want to travel too far for this since I wasn't sure what to expect, but luckily I found one "local." (Relatively speaking. It wasn't a strenuous drive.) I went to their Facebook page and saw that they had just had one in May, the next was in May 2023... and it was already sold out! 🤯🤯🤯

This was mind boggling, honestly. I mean, I know I like to read romance and that a lot of other people do too, but to be sold out almost a year in advance?! Um, I was about to learn A LOT!

I posted in the group and just asked what to expect and like what I should do if I really wanted to get tickets. They said to get in on the "Buy/Sell Tickets" post. Basically, if someone has to back out of attending, they can sell their tickets at cost. But it's only done through that post. They did say the likelihood of me getting a ticket was slim, but there's always a chance. I went and added my name and need (a pink ticket... basically the baseline option).

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Needless to say, I did not get a ticket!

But it was okay. I spent a year in the group, meeting new people. Finding new authors. Sharing my favorites. Building a small comfort with virtual and literal strangers.

Then the post came that said tickets would go on sale July 7th at 7pm. (I appreciated the ... is alliteration the right word if it's numbers?) I was warned that they sell out fast, so I should have all my payment information ready ahead of time and know exactly which ticket level I wanted and how many.

I clearly remember the night of July 7th. I was sitting in the living room with my husband. He was playing Madden and I was staring at my phone. At 6:50pm, I switched to the Facebook group and opened the post that had the purchasing link. And I just stared at it for the next 9 minutes, constantly hitting the refresh button.

At exactly 7pm, the link went live! I went straight to the Pink Ticket option, selected one ticket, added a signing journal, and paid.

At 7:07pm, all the tickets were sold out. Y'all, I can't make this shit up. 7 minutes on 7/7.

And then it was a waiting game. For ten months, there were posts of people saying how excited they were to go. How far they were traveling from to be there. People looking to share hotel rooms to cut the costs for some attendees. I knew I wasn't going to be able to stay for the evening things (with my husband's job, it's not feasible to expect him to be free evenings pretty much after the first of May) but I also knew that I really wanted to experience as much as I could.

I looked at the attending authors and saw a few that I had never read before. I picked up some of theirs and discovered new-to-me authors that I now love so much.

I'll fast forward a bit to May 2024. It's finally The Month! Wild & Windy Month. Romance Readers Convention Month! I was talking about it at work the entire week leading up to it and crazily enough, all my co-workers were stoked for me. I mean, it wasn't their jam, but they saw how happy it was making me.

We were scheduled to have a soccer game on the 2nd day of the convention. I reached out and tried to have us scheduled earlier in the morning so I could make the second day of signings, but it wasn't possible. That meant I literally only had from 11am to 2pm on that Friday to see as many authors as I could.

And suddenly... it was Friday! I got off work at 4:30 in the morning and slept as much as possible (aka: about 90 minutes) before my kids were up and needing to get ready for school. Chugging preworkout and Monster energy drinks, I managed to make the drive to the hotel hosting WWITC.

Immediately it was the best experience. Ever. Even before I walked into the hotel.

I saw three women standing outside, all wearing pink lanyards. It was a good guess that they were here for the convention, so I put my RSD-introverted self and approached them. I did the oh-so-obvious thing and asked if they were there for Wild and Windy. They were, thankfully. Not kidding when I say I had considered turning and leaving if they said no!

First thing, we talked about which authors we had to see. For me it was Jennifer Sucevic. For another it was Amy Daws. The other two women mentioned authors I wasn't familiar with. But the thing was: no one bashed my preference and I was as excited for them to meet "their" author as I was to meet my own.

I asked if they liked sports romance and they said yes, so I handed out some of the bookmarks I'd brought with me. One of the women asked who the author was and when I said "Me" ... she asked me to sign the back! My first out in the wild autograph!

y'all, I hadn't even made it through the doors and there was so much love and joy. One of the women showed me where to go to sign in and get my stuff. I was NOT expecting a gorgeous bag filled with goodies, but man did they hook us up! I got two new books, some stickers and bookmarks, a water bottle and a travel coffee mug; and, of course, my signing journal.

While I waited in line, I decided to make some more new friends. One lady has attended every WWITC since they started like 8 years ago! She brought a friend who was a newbie like me. We both just said "I'm having what she's having" whenever runners would come by asking if we wanted wristbands to different authors.

And then I met another author! Carly Robyn writes F1 romance, something I was just getting introduced to. She gave us stickers, I gave some stickers and bookmarks. We spent an hour just talking. Like, it felt as if I'd known these three forever, and we'd been strangers just an hour earlier!

Then the doors opened for Pink Ticket Holders. I walked through the doors and it was ... breath-taking. Honestly. Cliché or whatever... God's honest truth, it took my breath away. To see a room filled with other people, readers who love the genre the way I do. Readers who love these authors the way I do. Who love to share their favorites... here was a place we were welcomed to do just that. Encouraged to, even.

Societal norms that say we're to feel shame for liking smut or spicy or even sweet romance... none of that lay within that space.

And you knew it as soon as you walked in.

I immediately found Jennifer Sucevic's table. I had pre-ordered her Campus Series; how could I not? Campus God is one of my all-time favorites and the book I share with anyone who will listen.

When my turn came, her partner asked if I had pre-ordered and I said I had. When I gave my name, Jennifer looked up and smiled. She turned to her partner and said, "That's Rosie! She reads and shares all my books!"

Tears. Literal tears. I choked up when she said that. She knew me. My name was one that another author, my idol and mentor-from-afar knew who I was. Not sure what could top that.

From there, I just wandered the aisles. Another reader asked if I liked Why Choose and I said it wasn't my preference. She asked if I liked dark and again I felt my RSD ratcheting up as I said not so much. I mean, some dark is okay, but I don't like MCs that bully each other and I don't love ... ok. I just don't love dark-dark. But this person was so kind when they took in my responses and said "Ok. Well, I don't have any recs, but maybe..." and then she pulled her friend into our chat. Her friend recommended Chelle Bliss who writes Motorcycle romance.

I went to Chelle's table and met her. She was so lovely. So nice and kind when I admitted I hadn't read anything of hers since I just (literally just) found out about her. She recommended her book Throttle Me and said it's a fan favorite. I bought it from Amazon later that day!

Then my friends from the line appeared and let me tag along with them to the next few authors. I got to meet Amy Daws!

Yes. THAT Amy Daws. The Amy Daws who has a book being made into a movie! I wasn't able to get a physical copy of GoalKeeper which is my favorite of hers, but she did sign another of her books for me. We even got to chat for a bit. She wasn't in any rush to move us along.

Right behind her was Piper Rayne. I didn't realize they wrote Sweet AND Spicy! I said as much to them when I had them sign my journal. They laughed and joked with me some. Gave me a postcard filled with their sweet romance options.

The rest of my time was spent milling about. I wasn't able to meet a few authors I would have liked because their lines were long and even with my bracelet, I wasn't getting to see them.

And, you know what? I get it. Those authors are incredible. They're popular for a reason. And when I would walk by their tables, they were signing almost anything the reader asked them to. They were praising cool designs for signs. Complimenting outfits.

It was a love fest in the least creepy way possible!

I did have to leave a bit early. My kids were getting out of school 2 hours early that day. Of course, right? The one day I have something for me! lol But even as I was walking back to my car, I knew that all the money I'd spent leading up to that event was worth it.

God, y'all. Even writing this now, nearly a month later, I am overwhelmed with how impactful that one day was.

The group is already posting next year's line up of authors and there are so many I'm excited to see... again!

Fingers crossed I'm able to snag a ticket again for next year!