Before I head into today’s word sprints for Steel-Toed Blues, I thought I’d take a moment of reflection-er-procrastination and give a little bit of a rundown on the Fayetteville ComicCon 2016. For a short glimpse of how last weekend went, here are the Cliff’s Notes:
Friday: Out of town guests arrive. Prep house and items needed for Con. Get groceries. Stage equipment for performance and Con. Head out for the opening night performance of Romeo & JuliLIT at the Fainting Goat in Fuquay-Varina. Mostly remember all of the chords and notes. Finish up around 9:30, get home around 10:30, try to fall asleep.
Saturday: Get up at 6. Pack car for Con. Grab coffee and head over to set up. Spend entire day ensuring panelists get to their panels INCLUDING getting my writing track panelists in the door and comfortably situated. MODERATE a panel on military science fiction that includes John Ringo. Pause for minor fan-girling. (Okay, more than minor.) Sell a few books. Wonder where the Con Suite is, if it actually exists. Continue rest of day in like fashion. Take off at four for second Romeo & JuliLIT performance at Dirtbag Ales in Hope Mills. Play until fingers and arms cramp up in the middle of a Shakespearean cover of “Poison.” Finish and head home.
Sunday: Get up at 6, pack car. Head to Con at ~8. Find out that they’re not letting vendors in the door until 9 (WTF??). Get situated. Luck out and have a member of the writers’ group show up to take over panel wrangling duties. THANK YOU, ASHLEY!!! Sell a book or two. MODERATE and participate in a panel on self- and traditional publishing and both disseminate and learn some helpful hints and tips. Get fist bumped by Sam Jones of Flash Gordon fame. Spend rest of the day pretending to be an extroverted salesperson/author instead of an exhausted, highly-socialized introvert. Finally find out that there actually IS a Con Suite about halfway through the afternoon and take that buffet for all it’s worth. Finally pack up and head out, ready for more adventures!
Monday: Crash. Crash hard.
The NJ Native Crew: Me and Fred Doot, co-editor and publisher of Fantasy Scroll Mag, hanging out, selling books, and shooting the breeze at FCC ’16.
It’s been a wild and crazy ride here this past month, what with hurricanes and ComicCons and playing the bass for the first time with a great group of theatrical folks. It’s going to be crazy for a little while longer as I head to NY next month to change out of command of my Army Reserve unit. That’s why I’ve specifically turned down any other obligations, save for Arisia 2017, in order to concentrate on writing, writing, and writing some more. (And also coaching and editing, if you should need some of that.)
In the meantime, stop by the site from time to time. Pick up a book. Drop me a line. See you around!
