To those who don’t live it, there’s something sexy about living the writing life. Thanks to famous (or infamous) classic writers like Hemingway, Shelley, Byron and Poe…and many others…it’s assumed we’re all haunted by tragic childhoods, have a string of dysfunctional relationships, go to wild parties, smoke, drink, and do everything to excess. Even today, I often sense that when someone talks to me about my life as a writer, they may be asking about how I get my ideas, how I juggle the craft around everything else in life, how I get my work published, et cetera—but let’s face it. What they really want to know are details about the secret, glamorous life I must lead (right, I hear all of you writers out there laughing now).

Still, I won’t lie and say that some of that isn’t true. In today’s world, it probably isn’t true for most of us on a daily basis. But that doesn’t mean anyone wouldn’t glimpse the ghost of it when once a year you throw two hundred of us together in hotel—even we like to role-play.

So here’s a trip to last weekend’s first annual AnthoCon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Enjoy!