Lavender Con Recap
tl;dr I had a great time (even with my pain flare)
Whew! Now that I’ve (mostly) recovered, I can tell you about my weekend at Lavender Con as a speaker and signing author. This was my first time attending in any capacity and hopefully it won’t be my last.
Lavender Con is a festival for LGBTQIA+ writers and readers and is organized by Little District Books. It was a lovely, super chill experience—if a little warm. Thank goodness for my portable peri-fan! (It’s just a regular fan.) My only other experience at a standalone book con (as opposed to one attached to a writing conference) was RomanceCon, which was huge by comparison.
One big draw for me is that Lavender Con is in Washington, DC. That means low travel costs (we drove) and no hotel since I came home each night. I don’t love the cost of living in the DC metro area, but I do love how vibrant and diverse our writing scene is. If I didn’t have responsibilities and a chronically ill body, I’d go to a book talk/signing every week! Alas, adulting is hard.
My partner offered to come and help. I almost didn’t take him up on it, but I’m glad I did. I had a pain flare that started Thursday night and went all through Saturday. He did all the driving and kept an eye on the time and my schedule. He carried all of my stuff and helped me set up my table for my signings. On Sunday, when I had 3 back-to-back events, he made sure I went to the right room for my panels and brought me lunch to eat during the slower part of my signing block.
Don’t worry, I didn’t make him work all weekend, he attended some panels and bought some books.
I’m sure I would’ve survived the weekend without his help, but having him there to support me made the experience so, so much better. Plus lots of pain management including meds, heat packs, and naps when I got home.
As a baby queer who only realized my demisexuality a few years ago, I always worry about feeling “enough” in the LGBTQIA+ community. Which is silly because everyone—readers and writers—was kind and welcoming. I’m also learning new lingo: the bisexual sit. Though when it was demonstrated to me, one of the sitting positions was a very Vietnamese way of sitting. Does that mean I’ve been bisexual all along?
I made new friends with my book signing neighbors: LM Bennett and Sharang Biswas. Check out their books, friends! They were lovely and super cool.
I also caught up with writer friends whom I don’t see often enough. DC is so big and busy that we can go months without seeing people who live twenty-minutes away.
The highlight of the weekend for me was our Laugh It Out: The Fun of Queer Rom Coms panel. It was in the last slot on the last day of the con. Shoutout to everyone who came to it because the room was so hot.
My favorite question was: what golden-era rom com movie would make a great queer retelling? My response was Miss Congeniality because Benjamin Bratt’s character did not deserve Sandra Bullock.
My fellow panelists Tagan Shepherd, Susie Dumond, and Kristen Vale were freaking hilarious. It’s been a while since I laughed so hard.
What a fabulous way to end my first Lavender!
Ways to Work With Me
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Book Coaching: Are you a BIPOC or queer writer who has a story to tell but not sure where to start? Or need some accountability and guidance? Check out my book coaching services.
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Kickstart Your Romance: My 4-week class for romance writing newbies at Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. You’ll leave with a strong foundation to help you write your romance novel Starts October 2026
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Great recap! So glad the festival went so well.