GCLS Author Guest Blog: DILLON WATSON

Dillon Watson and I slept together the very first night we met.

Okay, now that I have your attention…

Actually, Dillon and I decided to be roommates for the Bella Y-Tour in February 2010.  We met up at our chosen hotel late that first night – me just from the airport and Dillon just from a gathering and book signing.  Over the course of the weekend, we met up with other Bella Authors and a variety of readers to do volunteer work at the Stonewall National Museum & Archives.  Let me tell you, it was a reader’s paradise!  A weekend of shelving rows and rows of LGBT books and meeting such venerable authors as Dillon, Amy Dawson Robertson, Karin Kallmaker, KG MacGregor, Katherine V Forrest…Oh! It was heaven.  And each night, I got to hang out with Dillon.  Awesomeness! 

Dillon, my faithful readers, is a LOT of fun…and a fantastic dancer!  Get thee to the Con in Dallas…you can check out her moves.

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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

No I’m not talking about Christmas—though it is a wonderful time. I’m speaking of four wonderful days in Lesfic Land. I’m speaking of the opportunity to mingle with others who breathe lesbian fiction. Some of you may know it as the Golden Crown Literary Society’s annual convention. This is for those who don’t.

This year will be the eighth convention and I have attended seven times. Can you tell I like it?

For those who think there won’t be enough to do, I say wrong. There are workshops on all aspects of the writing craft; coffee chats with your favorite authors; author readings so you can discover a new favorite author; reader games; karaoke; a chance to get dressed up for the awards ceremony if you’re inclined; and you can shake your booty at the dance.

You also get to play a role in a lesbian books love fest. Get the opportunity to talk about the books you love ad nauseam to someone who gets it. Have the chance to talk to the wonderful author whose brilliant books you’ve been devouring. You’ll find them friendly and willing to sign that stack of books you schlepped across the country.

Don’t know anyone, you say. That’s what the Con Virgins Group is for. Talk about nurturing. Attend the workshop and you’ll learn all you need to know to survive your first con, meet other virgins and make new friends.

What keeps me coming back year after year is being a part of a camaraderie I don’t often find anywhere else. A camaraderie that stays with me for the rest of the year until I can come back the following June and fill up again.

If I haven’t convinced you to give it a shot, email me and I’ll try harder.

Dillon Watson

p.s. If it’s absolutely too late for you to make it this year, start saving for Portland in 2014!

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Dillon Watson is a part-time writer, residing in the Southeastern United States. She fell in love with romances in the seventh grade and has been writing romantic fiction every since then. Her first novel Keile’s Chance won a Goldie for Best Debut Author and Best Contemporary Romance from the Golden Crown Literary Society. Her published short stories can be found in Erotic Interludes 4: Extreme Passions, and Longing, Lust and Love: Black Lesbian Stories. Look for her next novel Back to Blue in 2013. Other information and stories can be found at www.dillonwatson.com.