theashleyclements:

I had such a wonderful time at LeakyCon. The LBD was received so warmly, and I want to say a big thank you to all the people who went out of their way to say hi. I will admit that Leaky was a little crazier than I expected it to be, so I’m sorry that I couldn’t chat with more of you. I do feel very assured that The LBD is blessed with really wonderful fans. To anyone who brought P&P for us to sign - I love you. To those of you who asked me sign Harry Potter books - asdlkdshgOMG. That was crazy.

Mostly I walked away from LeakyCon thinking about being a teenager, something I was not too long ago, and something I encountered a lot over the 4 days in Chicago. I was lucky that I went to a very small all girl’s school, so it wasn’t that hard to let my freak flag fly. I was a drama/lit nerd with a bunch of drama/lit nerd friends, so I thought we were all cool. But there were some things I was embarrassed about (I did not, for instance, talk about my love of Star Trek with any friends at school), and I know there are a lot of people out there who find it hard to be themselves, who are ostracized or teased for what they love and who they are. LeakyCon is such a magical place because there are so many young people, and people of all ages, enthusiastically and unapologetically being themselves and accepting other people of every type imaginable. It’s such a beautiful and special community.

Tumblr and twitter didn’t exist when I was a teenager, and now there are always stories in the press about cyber bullies, and how the anonymity of the internet brings out the worst in people, and I know that in some cases this is true. It is really lovely to see, however, that there are communities being built online (and IRL) that bring like-minded people together to share the same passions, where they can make friends and most importantly know that they know they are not alone. Anyone reading this is part of an online community, and I think we’re all pretty lucky. Thanks for including me in yours.

No but sincerely: congratulations.