Here is Large and Gray Cat, wearing his anti-pulling-his-fur-out and anti-licking-himself-raw shirt while attempting to pack himself into an overstuffed golf bag that I took to Readers Take Denver 2024 a few weeks ago. He really wanted to go with me.
If you want to hear about my experience at RTD because you've heard brouhaha, I can confirm brouhaha. Indeed, I can confirm shitstorm and clusterfuck.
And I probably wouldn't have said a word and certainly not posted anything if the organizer hadn't gone after Rebecca Yarros and blamed Rebecca frickin' Yarros and the readers/volunteers for the chaos that the organizer allowed to happen with her insane mismanagement.
Yes, the hotel fucked up impressively, astonishingly, by not getting the previous convention out of the ballroom in anything like on time. But the authors worked all night long to make sure that the author signing was ready for the readers on the dot. When the doors were supposed to open, they opened, and the authors were ready.
And then the convention STILL went to hell bc the organizer had instituted an insane crowd control method that no one understood and didn't work. Like, Fire Marshals were standing around because the overcrowding was a fire risk. I really think she sold 1000 extra tickets that she shouldn't have sold, and then there's the question of where the money actually went.
Yeah, RTD was supposed to be a charitable event, but no one is sure that the charity is actually registered as a charity and has all the safeguards against theft and abuse that a charity is legally bound to have. It's sketchy, to say the least.
Personally, I had a fantastic time ONLY BECAUSE I allowed huge amounts of extra time to set up the signing, had 4 (FOUR!) incredible and wonderful readers helping me set up and tear down, and then did not participate in the conference.
I had appointments with vendors to discuss biz stuff and meals with friends scheduled, and that's it. I didn't go to any panels, and I only briefly went to events, especially after I saw the chaos. I really wanted to avail myself to one of the oxygen bars (I live at literal sea level and was *gasping* for air in Denver), but they were always too crowded. So I hung out with my friends and had an amazing time because I didn't try to do the stuff they advertised. I didn't try to meet authors at the signings. I didn't try to get a drink at the bars with 2 hour lines (not even kidding. 1 cash bar with 2 bartenders for 1500 people, which was “the cupcake party” where 10 or 12 authors had 2 dozen mini-cupcakes for 1500 readers, not even kidding.) because I knew better than to add alcohol to my already-deoxygenated blood. In the mornings, I gave one of my helpers my credit card and paid for coffee for everyone at my booth rather than try to stand in the 1-hour line for java when I needed to do the signing.
Cluster. Fuck.
And yes, that was me in USA Today. Wow. (I'm also massively allergic to something in the Rocky Mountains, and my eyes were swollen almost shut. I took an Allegra and used steroid drops and was much better the next day.) I don't think I was in the NYT article because NYT never prints my name, LOL. Here's my Facebook post about it if you want to read more about what I said. Link in there to other people's posts about RTD, including Rebecca Yarros's.
