The time it was SDCC 2015

Posted July 12, 2015 by Stacee in Signings | 8 Comments

If you follow this blog at all, you know that SDCC is serious business. This year was something a little different from the previous 19 or so years I’ve gone. This year I had a press pass. I didn’t think I would qualify for it, but I submitted an application for the blog and I was approved!!

Wednesday

Michelle and I made plans to meet up with Katie in Wednesday since we only ever see her in lines. We had a tentative idea to get our badges, get some Mexican food, and head into Preview Night.

I ditched work early because I just couldn’t be bothered to be productive. I ended up downtown around 1pm and drove around trying to find some parking that wasn’t 2628038 miles away or 15263819273 dollars an hour. Thankfully, I found something fairly close and I decided to try to pick up my badge even though it said press pick up wasn’t until 3pm. Pick up was painless and they even fixed the badge typo on the blog name.

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From there, I settled in by Hall H {which already had a line} and proceeded to wait.

I met up with Katie around 3:30 and we walked to Lolita’s to meet Michelle and have some delicious carne asada. We hung out for a bit and then made our way back to the convention center to get badges. We got separated because Katie’s and Michelle’s badge pick up were in two different places. While Katie was able to get right in for preview night, Michelle and I got pushed upstairs and around.

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After getting in around 6pm, we headed to Lionsgate because they were giving out Mockingjay pins. We went 3 different times and each time, they had just run out. We circled around the publishing booths, picking up schedules. We found our way to Macmillan and were able to chat with Mary for a little bit. She told us about the giveaway wheel and arc drop, so we made plans to come back.

I won a finished copy of Kiss of Deception and an arc of Dreamstrider.

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We made one more small loop and then called it a night.

Thursday

Thursday morning, I met Michelle and we headed upstairs to kill time. We found a lovely area that had a/c vents and we just sat. One of the only things I wanted was the Doctor Who exclusive, but we couldn’t get to Funko. The people we were sitting with were super awesome and told me that they were selling it on Hot Topic’s website. The only difference was that it didn’t have the SDCC exclusive sticker on it. So of course I ordered that.

Somehow we were allowed inside early, so we headed straight to Lionsgate. We got sidetracked at Macmillan and got to spin the wheel to win books.

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There was a woman holding a hardcover arc of Illunimae, so we headed to Random House to see if there was a secret password to get one. The woman working the booth said “I think you meant to say that you’re illuminated, right?” I started laughing and said that of course that’s what I meant. She gave us arcs and then so awesomely posed for a photo.

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From there, we went to Lionsgate and we were STILL unsuccessful at getting a pin. We found Sabaa Tahir at Penguin and got there right when she did. While in line, we chatted with Patrick and Katie. When I got up to Sabaa, she commented that I had an arc. I told her that it was already signed. She laughed and asked if I wanted it signed somewhere else and said no, that where she was signing was fine.

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As we walked out of the line, we were handed Penguin Teen tote bags. From there, we headed to Tor to check out the booth and got some Truthwitch pins.

We were planning on going to a 10am panel, but it was already full, so we just headed up to the autograph area and waited for the signing.

When I got to Rachel Hawkins, she stood up and hugged me and said it was great to see me. I mentioned that I loved her hair. She said it was a bit much for her, but it was comic con, so she had to. She also said that it was staining all of the hotel towels.

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We chatted for a minute or two more then headed over to the portfolio review area to grab a seat. I had plans to see Renée Adhieh and Susan Dennard, so I hung out while Michelle decided to leave for a bit and meet up with her husband.

I headed over to the line just before 1pm and security was there with the line closed. They said they weren’t opening it until 15 minutes before the panel signing, so I sort of wandered around to see who was signing in the autograph area.

I ended up walking back to the line and hovering. Katie met up with me when she got done with the panel. People were staring to line up behind me and after a few minutes, they let us officially line up.

I got up to Renée and she stood up to hug me. She signed the arc I had and we chatted for just a minute. I had an arc of Talon to get signed for Michelle so I went over to Julie and chatted with her for a minute. We talked to the Penguin rep about the scarves to see if they had any to give away. Sadly, that was a no.

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Katie and I went to hang out and wait for Susan’s signing. And then this happened.

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I headed over to the signing area to double check the time of Susan’s signing panel since the previous one was posted wrong. Rob assured me that it was starting at 3 and said I could come back whenever I wanted to line up.

I was first in line and tweeted Susan telling her that I was first and she needed to come to me. As we waited, the staff of Mysterious Galaxy set up the books and we were given an arc of Court of Fives by Kate Elliot.

The authors got there early and Sooz saw me and came over. She hugged me and Katie and we chatted for a couple of minutes before she walked over for the signing to start. Mary saw us and came over for a minute before the signing started.

I got to Kate first and told her I was really excited to read her book, that I had heard a lot of really good things about it. She said that was a bit daunting to hear and hoped that I enjoyed it.

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Marie was next and she said hi {SHE KNEW MY NAME}. I laughed and said that I wasn’t sure if it was good or not to be known by everyone. And that’s when Sooz started laughing. I told Marie that it was so nice to see her again.

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And then there was Sooz. We met 3 years ago when Something Strange and Deadly came out and it was so amazing to finally see her again. I took all of the swag that was on the table while she signed. We talked about Truthwitch and how I was prepared to do whatever I could to get my greedy hands on it.

She started laughing about her inscription because she wrote “always there”. She told me that she didn’t mean to make it sound like I was a stalker, but that it meant that she was grateful for always supporting her and her books. I told her I didn’t mind being called a stalker.

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She signed the first official poster to me and then we had a photo shoot. Katie came over to us and we all just kept chatting and taking photos. We finally moved because I noticed that we were holding up the entire line.

After the signing, I decided to head home.

Friday

Friday was a bit of a clusterfuck. We met up with Michelle and Katie before 9am. We headed up to the a/c area that we were at yesterday. We were only there for a few minutes before we were told we had to move. Then it all went to shit. Thy wouldn’t let people go down the escalator and everything was super crowded. Eventually, we were forced to go downstairs. Security wasn’t really around, so instead of going outside to be forced somewhere else, we were able to get right in.

We ran to Macmillan and Leigh Bardugo. While we were in line, Disney did an arc drop and I was able to pick up a couple of pretties.

We got up to Leigh and those gorgeous posters were in a stack. We chatted about Six of Crows and how awesome it was. I was able to get two posters and my arc signed. I also had my Slasher Girls arc signed.

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We took a photo and I grabbed some pins. They didn’t have rubber bands for the posters, but this very delightful man with an accent rolled them up for me.

From there, we got in line for Rae Carson. We just happened to be at the right place at the right time and were able to get near the front.

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They passed out arcs and scanned badges. Rae got there early and we didn’t have to wait too long before we got up to her.

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She remembered me {squeeeeee} and we chatted for a minute about how we were enjoying the show.

From Rae, I lined up for the spin and win at Macmillan, but quickly realized that I was about to miss Suzanne Young’s signing. I ran upstairs and when I got there, she started laughing saying that she was looking for me in line, wondering where I was. We talked about Poet Anderson and if she was having fun before I got in line.

Mary Pearson was on the same signing panel, so I got Michelle’s arc signed for her because I was going to the local launch party that night. We talked about her love for the show Vikings and how she was going to try to get into the panel. We actually know someone on the show, so we were going to find out if he was here and if he could hook us up. Sadly, he was in Ireland.

And then I officially got to Suzanne. I was flailing all over Hotel Ruby and how much I loved it. We took a few photos and then I stopped holding up the line.

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I had planned on skipping Josie just because she’s local and I reaaaaally wanted to drop off my backpack. Michelle let us know that she was already in the booth, so we were able to get near the front of the line. When I got to Josie, I lost my mind, telling her that I loved the book and I couldn’t wait to see what happened in book 2. Josie asked what my favorite part was and I said the boys. She started laughing and said that she tried to make them good.

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From there, we dropped off the backpack and just started walking around. We ended up finding the BBC America booth and did the Weeping Angel photo booth. As we were standing there, Michelle Gomez, AKA Missy from Doctor Who, came by the booth and got behind the counter. She pretended to ring up some customers and we were able to get photos with her.

I posted it on IG and then this happened:

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When I was in line for Josie, Hubs had gotten a wristband to see Stan Lee. We headed over to the Hyperion booth, and they had already started lining people up. It was 45 minutes before the signing time and the line already went back 4 aisles.

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The line started moving early and it was moving quickly. We got up to Stan in less than 10 minutes. Security was lined up all around the booth to keep crowd traffic moving. Stuart Moore was first and he said hi and signed. Then the book was passed to Stan. He also said hi and then signed. The entire thing took about 30 seconds because there wasn’t personalization or photos. I didn’t get a picture of Stan signing, so I asked security if I could take one before completely leaving the line and he said it wasn’t a problem.

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Stan was the last thing we had planned for the day, so we circled the floor one more time before leaving. And then I headed to Mysterious Galaxy for the Mary Pearson signing.

Saturday

Saturday had me on my own for a while. Since Hubs didn’t have a badge for Saturday and we only had one parking pass, he dropped me off. We had plans to meet up with some friends later that night to walk around the Gaslamp Quarter.

I waited until after 9:30 to go onto the floor and just wandered around. I walked up and down artist’s alley and went back to Lionsgate, but of course there weren’t any pins. After about 90 minutes of wandering, I finally found salvation.

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I ended up sitting in Sails Pavilion and people watching. At one point, the best Ten came by and I may or may not have taken some creeper photos of him. I did chat with him a little bit, but he mostly acted like he didn’t want to be bothered. He did say that the glasses and hair were his normal look and that he gets stopped all the time.

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I met up with Michelle and Keiko and we headed onto the floor towards Tor for the Sarah J Maas and Susan Dennard signing. People weren’t supposed to be lining up until 10 minutes before, but there was already a crowd of people hovering around. Keiko has a hurt ankle and is in a walking boot, so they allowed her to stand by the booth. As we were sort of hovering, sort of looking at the booth across the way, Susan came over to say hi. We chatted for a moment and then she went over to the booth to get ready for the signing.

Security came by and told everyone to move from the booth and as people were walking away, they started the line. I went over to stand by Keiko and Michelle got into line. The girl at Tor told us we could stay, so we ended up being third and fourth in line for Sarusan.

I got up to Susan and her and Sarah both squeed at me and I squeed right back. I asked if i could take a photo of the two of them and they started fluffing their hair and posing all adorable like.

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After the mock photo shoot, Susan signed Truthwitch for me and asked if I wanted another poster. I didn’t take one and she said that she had rubber bands if that changed my answer.

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Sarah signed my arc of ACOTAR. She asked if I wanted a paperback of Throne of Glass and I said yes, but not personalized. We got to chat for a minute, basically just saying how it was awesome to see each other and how it sucked that we didn’t get more time.

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I thanked them both and then also thanked the woman at Tor before going to flail off in a corner. Michelle was able to get in line and get an arc also. When she got up to Sarusan, I went over and took photos for her and I was able to tell them how much I ship them.

From there, the three of us said a tentative goodbye to Katie, just in case we didn’t see her Sunday and then headed up to Sails Pavilion to hang out. On the way up to the area, we passed Maggie Stiefvater. I stopped right where I was and hesitated to go after her. Michelle tried calling her, but Maggie didn’t hear us.

She stopped right outside the door to look at the map and that’s when we sprung. Michelle introduced herself and asked if we could get some photos. Maggie started laughing and said that it was funny that there’s all sorts of famous people walking around and she’s the one we stopped. She took photos with all of us and then was happy to sign books for us, since she knew the panel and signing was going to be crazy.

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After Maggie, we made it up to the seating area and relaxed for a while. People watching is one of the best parts of SDCC and I was more than happy to take photos.

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Keiko, Michelle, and Jon ended up leaving and I stayed in the pavilion with my feet up on a chair. I got a text from Hubs {who didn’t have a Saturday badge} saying that he had gotten into the restricted area for FX at the Hilton. I’m still not sure how it happened, but he was there and kept texting me the people he was meeting.

I happened to see Penguin post that they had signed arcs of Blood and Salt at the booth, so I headed down to see if I could get one. After snagging a copy of that, I headed over to Macmillan to say goodbye to Mary, just in case I didn’t get a chance to see her again.

I then headed up to the autograph area and people were already in line for the panel signing, so I got in line.

The panel ended at 5:30 and the authors started showing up right after. I got up to Zac Brewer and was just so excited to see him since its been a while. We chatted about the new book, made plans to go to Disneyland, and his Party Poison cosplay before I stopped holding up the line {again}. I told him it was so good to see him and moved on.

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And then there was Maggie.

A little back story: when BLLB was about to come out, i pre-ordered a copy from Maggie’s local indie and requested an odd inscription. I had asked Maggie on Twitter beforehand if she was willing to add an inscription and she said yes. Flash forward the the UPS truck crashing and the delay on the pre-orders. When I got my copy of BLLB, understandably the inscription was missing.

So even though I had already seen Maggie and lost my shit over her, I bought a paperback copy of The Dream Thieves with the intention to ask for my inscription while I had her in person. I tweeted her that I was sorry not sorry for what I was going to ask for.

When I got up to her, she asked if I was book junkee on Twitter and I said yes. She said she was sort of scared about what I was going to ask for. I said it wasn’t bad, just maybe a little weird. The author next to her said, “and it’s only 500 words.” I started laughing and then handed her the book.

And she started laughing. She was happy to write the inscription, saying that it definitely wasn’t what she was expecting and never would have guessed it.

Personally, I love it.  {I decided to use the photo of her signing someone else’s book because I love how Maggie changed her signing table name place card.}

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That signing panel was the end of my Saturday. I met up with Hubs {who was STILL over in the press area} and we walked around.

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We ended back up in the restricted area and in one of the rooms, the entire cast of Teen Wolf was just sitting there. Technically, I could have gone in there and interviewed them, but we just kept walking. After that, we went and walked around in the Gaslamp before heading home.

Sunday

The only plan for Sunday was to have no real plan. There was an anti-bullying panel in the morning that we both wanted to see, but other than that, I just wanted to get some Starbucks in my greedy hands.

We got into the convention center early and I headed towards the full Starbucks and was told by security that they weren’t open yet. Turns out the closest store was the one in the hotel. AKA, where we just came from. So we walked back over there only to find the line down the block and my ambition level too low to wait. I decided to try after the panel was out.

We found the room the panel was in and there was already a small line, so we settled in to wait for a bit.

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The panelists came in just after 10am and they were introduced. We were so excited to see Adam and Jeff from NOH8 on the panel and Joe Gatto from Impractical Jokers.  John Barrowman was introduced last and talked about being bullied and called all of the hateful words. He eventually stood up to the bully who would shove him in lockers, poke him, and punch him in the face.

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Adam talked about starting the campaign because taking photos was something he could do. They took the first photos in their living room. They offered their friends photos and the support just grew.

What would you say to someone who’s struggling?

A: It’s about setting up a sense of community. It’s not about being gay or straight. There’s a million people out there who want to support you. The world is changing.

How many people of Congress have you photographed?

J: Not enough. We want everyone to be involved. We sent an email to everyone and said that we were there. We ended up getting over 100 members of Congress and 7 Senators.

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Joe Gatto talked about being bullied in high school for being 100 pounds in a catholic high school. The football center would push him around and at one point, he made a joke and made the guys laugh. There was a switch from there.

JG: I always felt alone. I talked to my dad about it and he told me that I just hadn’t found my winners yet. If you don’t know my show, it’s based on my best friends of 26 years. I was able to surround myself with winners and I’ve stuck with them and now we’re on top of the world.

There’s been a mention of standing up to a bully and if you can’t, that’s okay. You see how the bully needs a crowd. They’re never alone. If people were to walk away from someone being bullied, you be surprised how quickly it would stop. The bully needs the crowd.

There were a lot of great panelists, but I wasn’t able to type fast enough. After the panel, we were able to get a photo with Joe {who was absolutely lovely}. We were also able to chat with Jeff and Adam for a minute. Jeff said they’ve been on the panel since the beginning and it’s been amazing to see how it’s grown. The first year there were only 20 people, the second year it was maybe 50, and this year it was a packed room.

We quickly hit the floor and just wandered around for a while without an agenda. We only made it 2 hours before we left.

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As always, SDCC is amazing. Even though it’s crowded and smelly and exhausting, it is so much fun.

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8 responses to “The time it was SDCC 2015

  1. I’m glad that you had such a great time at Comic Con! I’ve never actually been able to go, but one year I visited San Diego during the time that Comic Con was going on, so I got to go to all the outside free events which was often. I also got to see the cast of Teen Wolf and Revolution. Hopefully I’ll make it there for real one year!
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

    • Stacee

      There are so many outside events! I’ve never even seen most of them. Usually it’s way too hot for me to want to wander around.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  2. Nancy L.R.

    I AM SO JEALOUS! SO many great authors that I’d like to meet plus STAN LEE & STUART MOORE, OMG, I DIE. DIE!
    Whenever I finally plan on attending SDCC, you will be the person I bug for info cause I will be completely clueless. Awesome post!

    • Stacee

      SORRY NOT SORRY.

      When you finally make it to SDCC, I will be happy to answer any and all questions.

      Thanks for always supporting!
      *hugs*

  3. ReadiculousGirl

    Everything about this post is seriously fabulous, and congrats on getting so much done. So cool!!

  4. Hey Stacee! I was the one in line behind you and Keiko at the Susan Dennard/Sarah J Maas signing. I didn’t realize you were a fellow book blogger. I’m awkward and forget to introduce myself more often then not, but I enjoyed talking to both of you before the signing. I’m glad to hear you had a great time overall! There were a lot of great bookish content there this year.

    I’ve never done any of the signings at Sails because I never knew how they worked. You bring your own books, right? I can’t imagine carting books to sign to SDCC considering how many I bring home with me. :)

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