Let me begin by saying that Gay Rom Lit was genuinely a retreat for me. It was a much-anticipated vacation. When my friend, fellow author, and co-blogger Michele Montgomery and I decided to attend this year, we pointedly chose to attend first and foremost as observers and readers. Both of us are kind of new, and there are so many established authors that we admire. We were basically just thrilled to be able to see them in the flesh, mingle with them, and share the experience. We also agreed not to bring any SWAG items because we both felt to do so may appear a bit presumptuous on our parts.After being a part of the retreat, though, I kind of wish that I had arrived a little more prepared. I was absolutely thrilled to see how many readers (by this I mean fans of m/m fiction who are not themselves authors) who were in attendance. I also was very impressed by the generosity of many of the authors and publishers, many of whom gave away free books and other useful (for the most part) items and keepsakes. And literally all of the sponsored events were wonderful. The degree of planning was obvious, and I felt that overall everything was executed smoothly and professionally.

The opening Gala was a little scary for me. I didn’t yet know anyone, and I just kept finding myself staring at everyone, trying to read their nametags. When I saw so many of the authors I had read and reviewed over the past couple of years, I was starting to feel very small myself. I’m not the social butterfly that Michele is, and I have a tendency to recede more into myself, especially when I’m nervous. But the event itself was quite successful and was a great way to kick off the festivities.

Two of the people we spent quite a bit of time with were author Kiernan Kelly and her publicist. They truly were a pleasure to meet, perhaps one of the most personable couples I’ve ever encountered. Both were witty and charming, and I was overwhelmed by their generosity. Kiernan had hand-made decks of Tarot cards for each group member of our ghost/vampire tour. The cards featured erotic images of some of the hottest guys on the planet. I even asked Kiernan afterward if there was a way I could purchase additional sets of these, and she explained that there would be no profitable way for her to ever produce and sell them. They were very time consuming and labor intensive. I just was blown away by how much effort she put into it.

During downtime and in the evenings, we hung out quite a bit with Allison Cassatta, an author I hadn’t previously read. I enjoyed her so much that I went ahead and bought all of her books. She is new, but she’s an amazing writer. She’s also absolutely hilarious. She has a uniquely southern way of phrasing things that is very endearing, and I love how direct she is.

We took a paddleboat cruise on which most of the authors displayed their books and SWAG items. Michele and I walked around socializing with everyone and talking to the various authors. That was where I met Elisa Rolle. She is, of course, the renowned book reviewer from Italy who happened to be one of the very first “celebrities” I encountered in the mm online community. She chatted with me for the longest time, and then on Saturday evening Michele and I had dinner with Elisa and Anel Viz at the Oyster Bar.

Honestly, I was humbled by the whole experience, because I recognize both Elisa and Anel as not only being incredibly knowledgeable and talented, but also as enormously successful. I genuinely felt honored that they would mingle with little-ole-me.

There were so many gifted authors and wonderful people that I met, I almost feel guilty about the fact that I have to be selective with whom I choose to mention in this blog. I’d be remiss, though if I didn’t include Eden Winters (beautiful, fun, friendly, genuine soul—I just adore her), Johnny Miles (Michele’s favorite person to hug), Rick Reed (one of my personal heroes), DC Juris, Jonathan Treadway, Treva Harte, J.P. Barnaby, Carol Lynne, Ethan Day, JP Bowie, and dozens of others… and of course many of the representatives of the publishing companies (MLR, Dreamspinner, Torquere, etc.)

The one person that I was most thrilled to spend time with, though, was of course Michele. She was my roommate and companion for the weekend, and it was wonderful to see her again and actually get to hug and kiss her cute little face. I’m sure that everyone who finally got to meet her in person now knows that everything they suspected about her (that she is bubbly, fun, friendly, and just plain adorable) is absolutely true.

I’d like to drop the names of some of the wonderful readers that I met and talked with, but being that I have no way of knowing how comfortable they may be having their names listed on a public blog, I will simply say: you know who you are.

Overall it was a fantastic experience, and I especially loved going out and having fun in the evenings. Let’s just say I got to take in some local sights which I will not soon forget! (wink, wink) Seriously, though, it was a blast.

We’re already looking forward to next year and already planning to heighten our degree of participation. It was a wonderful vacation and a huge success.