The Storm

Blog No. 169

I tend to start writing these on Tuesdays. It gives me time to explore what I want to write about, and I can scrap the whole things and start over when I’m not happy with it. This morning, I was sitting in anchor, sipping a coffee before heading to work. I was thinking about the weekend and what I’d like to post this week. Obviously I want to mention Syndicon. I could also talk about my current struggles with keeping up the daily work count. There are editing and Adventure World things I should mention, along with the next event on the docket. But really, I’m just tired and I want to go to bed. I can’t do that though, so I’ll mention little bits of a bunch of those things, or not. Let’s see.

Sunday was Syndicon. If you follow this blog at all you’ll have read about it last week. It was the first con where I was a vendor, and we did well. It was busier than last year (when Christian went on his own) and there was some interest in our books. Some people even cam up to the table because they remembered Christian and wanted to see if he had anything new. So that’s great. I met a few interesting people (both good and bad) and ran into some people I haven’t seen in years. Overall it was a fun day (sort of like a working vacation type of thing where I got to do something fun, but had to be on the job). Strangely, I didn’t end up doing a walk around. I intended to all day, but the flow of people was rather steady (for the most par) and honestly, I wasn’t up to it. I got to see a lot from my seat and had a few friends come by. It was a full day without doing the tour (or spending a bunch of money I don’t have).

One thing that stood out to me was the effect of the growing number of Cons in the city. It’s rather obvious, but I think people are starting to feel overloaded, or just less interested. There were four or five last year and there just aren’t enough vendors, artists, and fans to go around. Having more than one is great, but too much of anything can go sour quickly. Even having only gone to a few, I felt it. The excitement was dampened and it didn’t feel special. It was still fun, but I don’t have the time, money, or inclination to go to all of them. Not until I’m considered a guest at least.

I was on a good roll for a while with my writing. I gave myself a goal based on my event schedule this year, but the chances of me hitting it are slim. I have plenty of things to blame, but most of it is my laziness. I’ve been pretty busy with all fancy events, and life has been hectic in general. Part of it is how busy Christian is too. It’s not his fault, but I always do better when I am out writing with someone. All lame excuses, I know, but that’s where I stand. There is no way I’m hitting my goal, but with some extra effort I should be able to keep it a month late. That’s not so bad overall.

February is the first month of 2016 to have a fifth Monday. If you spend any time at Adventure Worlds (www.AdventureWorldsPress.com) you should know that we have a running story that is posted on every Fifth Monday. It’s a yearly story, meaning the story ends within the year and we take turns writing it. This one will be started by our supreme submitter, Edele Winnie. I have no idea where I’m going to take the story. She usually has a way of twisting simple things subtly. I’m excited to see where this one will go. I don’t know who’s next, but it’ll be wither Christian or me.

The next event is a signing on March 12^th at Chapters in the Devonshire mall. The info is under the events tab, as always.

This is where I’m going to end it this week. If I do well, I may have an update about my current project next week, so wish me luck if you want to read that. Keep on keeping on.