Dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the contribution of women in all aspects of geek culture, Geek Girl Con was August 11th and 12th at the Conference Center in downtown Seattle.
Many moms and their teenaged daughters or even little girls enjoyed the convention together. Lots of young kids and it definitely had a “safe place” vibe. One reason for this vibe was the lack of certain costumes (Princess Leia as a slave girl and Poison Ivy) Most of the costuming was pretty, rather than revealing. Or flat out fun. I saw someone dressed up as Red from Fraggle Rock and the Marauder’s Map. There was a five year old Darth Vader.
Of course what is interesting while there was more women in attendance, but there were plenty of men there.
Maria and I were at Table 417 in Artist Alley handing out sample chapters of Other Systems and selling our comics. A few people seemed excited that we have a release date for Faminelands #3 Mareton’s Curse. Our neighbors were Real Gone Girls, Amy Hevron, Bob the Angry Flower, and Erin Middendorf.
Maria found a huge role of raffle tickets at a garage sale. We’ve wanted to try to do a raffle for some time, so we raffled off one of my pen and ink drawings: The Champion. This drawing was an experiment in hand coloring, but I really like the lady bug on the elf’s knee.
I was so happy that the lady who won it, was nearly moved to tears she was so excited to win. Apparently, she loves red heads and fantasy.
This afternoon, I presented an hour-long workshop called So You Want to Write (and Finish) a Novel that discussed how to start, slogging through the murky middles, concluding the work and common pitfalls each step along the way. I had a Powerpoint presentation so Dennis came to be my technology assistant and take photos. When I got there, there was so many people, I thought the previous panel went long. So I slipped in at 3:22, and Dennis and my room attendant, set up my power point presentation. By 3:30, it was standing room only. Talk about terrifying! This was a terrific convention.
Wow all these people came to hear me speak about Writing (and Finishing) a novel.
ZB's Blog of Awesomeness 
Posted by Michelle Proulx on August 13, 2012 at 5:15 pm
That is such a cool idea! I didn’t know they had a convention devoted to female game designers/comic book artists/etc. I’ll have to look into that for next year!
Posted by zbpublications on August 13, 2012 at 8:01 pm
Isn’t amazing how niche conventions can be. I definitely found this one worthwhile as a panelist. It’s always great, not only to share my own knowledge, but what the attendees bring to discussion.
Posted by Michelle Proulx on August 14, 2012 at 3:40 am
What was the best costume you saw?
Posted by zbpublications on August 14, 2012 at 3:55 am
Best is an odd word.
My favorite was the lady dressed as Red from Fraggle Rock, but the cutest was a 4-6 year old girl dressed as a Dalek.
Posted by Holly A. Wolfe on August 13, 2012 at 10:15 pm
A Marauder’s Map cosplay? Now that’s one I have seen before!
I’m glad that there’s a convention that openly welcomes female fans. I wish the Midwest offered a little more regarding geekdom in general.
Posted by zbpublications on August 14, 2012 at 4:07 am
I have a few friends from the Midwest and have heard similar complaints.Nearly everyone–male and female–I spoke to felt it was great that there was this convention. Perhaps I will see you here some year.
I don’t know if this interests you, but Chicago has the World Con Bid for 2012 and San Antonio has the World Con Bid for 2013.