Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending Comic Con 2026 in San Diego. Comic Con and I have a long history. I first attended Comic Con when I was four years old. I don’t remember much, except that I saw a firetruck outside our hotel window and I got to paint a real car at the children’s museum. I had priorities, okay?
My mom has told me that on one of the days, she signed me up for the con’s on-site babysitting. When she picked me up, the employees apparently expressed concern about my behavior during snack time. It turns out that I ate ten mini solo cups of goldfish crackers. To this day, goldfish crackers are still my weakness. Sadly, I did not eat any goldfish crackers this year, but I did eat a $10 pretzel, so there’s that.
The last time I attended Comic Con was in 2010. I was still in high school, but I was already determined to be a novelist. That year, I attended every writing panel that I could. I remember running up to the front after one panel and asking Eoin Colfer for writing tips. I also listened to Ray Bradbury speak that year, one of his last public appearances. Later, when I’d been writing for years and tried to decide what “success” would mean to me, I decided that being on a panel at Comic Con would mean that I’d officially made it as an author.
I don’t define success that way anymore (funny how the goal posts keep moving, isn’t it?), but it was still an amazing experience to make my younger self’s dream come true. I moderated a panel titled Toddlers to Teens, and we talked about writing kidlit across age levels and formats. Joining me on the panel was Greg van Eekhout, Leanne Schwartz, Marcie Colleen, Dan Santat, Joey Spiotto, and Sheri Smith. We had a pretty great turnout!
That was my only program item, so I spent the rest of the con attending panels that interested me. There were two that stood out: a panel about how Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books are written, and the panel about cozy fantasy. My daughter and I briefly braved the exhibit hall, but it was so overwhelmingly crowded that we didn’t stay long enough to strain my wallet too badly. On Saturday night, I got to hang out with a bunch of kidlit writers by the hotel pool. I didn’t swim, and I didn’t buy an expensive drink from the pool bar, but it was still a blast.
I was only at Comic Con for two days, but it was so exhausting that on Saturday night I slept for twelve hours. My convention stamina has definitely gone down hill over the years. Still, I had a great time, and I look forward to attending again next year.
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