There are certain places that stay with you.
San Diego Comic Con is one of those places for me.
I attended SDCC for the first time in 2009, back when I was deep in my era as a blogger and photographer. I made friendships that will last a lifetime. The kind of experience that embeds itself in your memory and doesn't let go.
And then life happened, the way it does, and eleven years passed since my last con.
This July, I'm going back.
But this time? I'm not just going as a fan or a photographer or a blogger. I'm going as a debut author — and I'm bringing my book with me!
If you've been following along here or on Instagram, you know that my debut novel Musical Awakening came out on June 2nd as an ebook, with the paperback dropping July 2nd — just weeks before SDCC. The timing felt almost too perfect to ignore!
For those who haven't heard of it yet: Musical Awakening is a coming-of-age novel about music, first love, and the song that changes everything. It follows June Snow, a concert photographer and music blogger (sound familiar?) who falls for a British musician named Richmond Adams while creating her dream life.
Here's the thing that makes SDCC feel especially full circle for this book specifically: San Diego is actually in the story! Richmond plays San Diego in 2015, and that concert is a pivotal moment in June and Richmond's relationship. So walking those same streets, going to my favorite restaurant Fig Tree Cafe (also mentioned in the book) with this novel in my hands feels like something I couldn't have scripted if I tried.
What I'm Bringing
If you're going to be at SDCC this year and you spot me on the floor, come say "HI" because I'll have a few things with me:
📚 Author Copies of Musical Awakening I'll have a limited number of paperback copies available to purchase on the spot. Cash or card welcome. Once they're gone, they're gone — but you can always grab a copy on Amazon too!
🔖 Custom Bookmarks These are free and I am so proud of how they turned out. The design is inspired by a vintage tour poster — Richmond Adams, Musical Awakening, San Diego 2015 — and the back has a QR code that links to a blog post about the music that inspired the book. They're genuinely little pieces of art and I can't wait to hand them out!
📌 Buttons Also free, also very cute. Same vintage aesthetic as the bookmark. Perfect for your bag, your lanyard, your jacket, wherever you show off your SDCC buttons!
A Little Full Circle Moment
I've been thinking a lot about what it means to go back to a place that meant so much to me, eleven years later, as a completely different version of myself.
When I attended SDCC the last time, I never could have imagined I'd one day be walking those same floors again as a published author. I was a blogger with a camera and a lot of feelings about music. I still am, honestly — but now I also have a book that grew directly out of all of those feelings, all of those concerts, all of those years of writing about the way music makes you feel.
Musical Awakening exists because I let myself be moved by music. Because I followed bands I loved to cities I'd never been to. Because I wrote about it for years on this very blog, thank you for reading!
SDCC feels like the right place to bring it into the world and show myself how far I've come.
If you're going to be there, I'd love to meet you! Come find me on the floor, grab a bookmark and a button, and let's talk about music and books and all the nerdy things that change us!
And if you can't make it to San Diego — the paperback launches July 2nd and is available now for pre-order on Amazon. 📖
Are you going to SDCC this year? Drop a comment below and let me know — I hope I'll see you there.
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