Month: February 2012

Cranky Day

By / February 15, 2012 / 1 Comment

Some days are made out of cranky. On such days all six personalities spit and spark as if we’re all charged with static electricity, accidentally zapping each other by simple proximity. These are the days when our house feels too small. I sit in the front room, which is not far enough away from the kitchen where Link is wrestling with homework. Crowding my feet are the boxes of books, t shirts, and assorted other merchandise which we hastily emptied out of Howard’s car on Monday morning so that he could drive Kiki to school. I need to sort through the boxes and put the contents away. It is on my list of things to do. It has been since Saturday night when we arrived home from LTUE both tired and sore. There are more boxes in the back of my van. I haven’t gotten to them yet because I’ve been too busy focused on things upcoming to clean up after things past.

Gleek comes to return my kindle. The thing has been sitting around for months and the kids paid it no attention at all. Today I’ve been reading Midnight in Austenland on it. So naturally the kids have rediscovered a fascination with reading on an electronic device. Even my reading space is invaded today. I could go upstairs and hide in my room, but one of the duties of mother is to be available during homework time. I must quell the noisy enthusiasm of those who have no work to do, so that those who have work can get it done. To do this I must sit where both the enthusiasm and work can be observed. Then I’ll know whether the playing children have actually been too noisy or if the working child is just cranky about the existence of play.

Most days this is just normal, not particularly difficult. I move through my family like a fish through water, thinking ahead, solving problems before it occurs to anyone else that there might be an issue. I pick up the shoes from under the kitchen table and put them where they’ll be sought tomorrow morning. I clear dishes from the table so that they won’t spill on the homework next to them. I make appointments, decide which events we’ll attend and what we’ll skip. I am the organizer of all things. Mostly I like it. I am good at it.

Then comes a cranky day. A day when my efforts are rewarded with tantrums and tears, because whatever I did, they wanted different. There is no winning on cranky days. Not for me, not for them. We all know it will pass. Cranky days do. The structure of our family is plenty strong enough to handle days when we’re all grouchy. Yet I still end up tired, staring at boxes I haven’t had time to put away, listening to children who are playing happily at the moment, but who might break into a squabble at any time.

I need to remember that the existence of a cranky, moody day does not represent any sort of a failure. It just is. I just have to do the best I can and trust that I will soon find myself in a better day. And indeed I do, before this day is even gone. Gleek hugs me tight and tells me she loves me. Patch lingers close and snuggly. Link settles in to do his work. Quiet music plays and I think that perhaps our house is large enough after all. Or it will be once I get these boxes put away.

LTUE Panel Notes: Little Stories Everywhere / Blogging

By / February 15, 2012 / 8 Comments

There were five of us on this panel:
Shelly Brown of Writing With Shelly and Chad was our lovely moderator
Peggy Eddleman of Will Write for Cookies
Jenni James of Author Jenni James
Jessica Harmon of Writing Legends
and me.

Shelly opened the panel for audience questions right away. This approach made most of the panel a question and answer session. It meant that we were able to focus our discussion on topics of immediate interest to the audience. I’ll admit that I did not do as good a job taking notes during this panel. I’m afraid I was a little afflicted by a “one of these things is not like the others” feeling. In the end that may have strengthened the panel because it is important to have a counterpoint opinion. I have to remind myself that though my approach to blogging is different, this does not make it inherently better or worse. I choose the path that is suited to me. I guess it comes down to a question of genre. Blogging is a form of writing, not a genre. My blog tends to be long and thinky. Jessica’s blog is story and geek focused. Shelly, Jenni, and Peggy all write blogs that are upbeat, short, and extremely social. They interacted with other blogs and with their audience far more than I tend to do. There benefits to each style of blogging. In fact Jenni runs multiple blogs to address different parts of what she does.

The first question was how to find an audience. Shelly, Peggy, and Jenni all spoke of the benefits of doing blog hops. Peggy runs them fairly regularly and says they are a great way to get visitors. They also suggested seeking out blogs similar to the one you write and commenting on those blogs. This may prompt reciprocal visits and comments. I agree that this can be a good way to get started. Reading other blogs helps you figure out what you want to be. Commenting and receiving comments can help you build a writing community for yourself. This is also valuable. However what is really necessary to gain readers is to create links between your blog and other places. I’ve never spent much energy deliberately trying to grow the audience of my blog. This means that the readership grows very slowly. This is fine because I’ve never used readership to measure the value of my blogging.

Another urgency that new bloggers feel is getting comments. This only came up tangentially during the panel. There was some direct discussion about keeping things light, positive, and short. Jenni told how her funny stories about kids will always get piles of comments, but that any time she writes longer or more serious topics there is less response. My thinking on comments has shifted in the last six months. I’ve read lots of advice on how to engage readers and encourage them to comment. There are specific techniques that bloggers can apply which will cause readers to engage and leave a comment. Sometimes I use them. For the most part I find the words to express what I meant and am happy if those words inspire a comment. However I know it is possible for my words to be incredibly valuable without inspiring a blog comment. Just yesterday I read a blog post that moved me to tears. I excerpted a section to put in my journal, yet I did not leave a comment on the blog. Just as the value of a blog is not measured in readership, the value of a post can not be measured in comments.

Jessica supported this by pointing out that for every person who comments there are lots of lurkers who say nothing. But they are still there, reading and enjoying.

However, the picture is vastly different if the primary purpose of a blog is to provide a marketing platform for something else. Jenni’s blog is an excellent example of this. She enjoys blogging because of the interactions with readers. She uses it to draw readers to her books. Then her books draw readers to her blog. Other authors, such as Brandon Sanderson, use their blogs primarily as news feeds to update people about what they’re working on or where they are traveling. One of the ladies, I think it was Peggy, told how she was talking to a marketing director in a publishing house. When an author’s book is under consideration all the people at the meeting will flip open their laptops and google the author. They look for readership, followers, friends, and what they find will affect the purchasing decision for that book. This assertion was backed up for me in a completely different panel when Mary Robinette Kowal underlined the absolute necessity of some sort of web presence, though Mary pointed out that it doesn’t have to be a blog.

One thing that all the women on the panel agreed about is that we all feel boring sometimes. It is a miracle of the human brain that we can get bored with anything. The truth is that everyone is interesting because we are all different. Don’t be afraid to keep a blog because you think you have nothing to say. The practice of blogging can teach you what you have to say. Blogging gave writing back to me after I had lost track of it.

Another thing we were all agreed upon is how much we enjoy blogging. Each of us has her own reasons and rewards.

I wish I’d kept better notes of the questions that were asked and answered. If you were there, feel free to leave a comment to remind me. (Look at me deliberately engaging with an audience. Let’s all talk about blogging together.)

Panel Notes: Feeling Fake (Imposter Syndrome)

By / February 14, 2012 / 5 Comments

Sometimes a panel discussion is tightly focused on topic. All the panelists are energetic and engaged. Sometimes there are even vehement arguments as different points of view are represented. This was a more relaxed panel. It was a panel packed with intelligent and articulate people: Ami Chopine of Geek at Play, Chris Weston who has several books (Alas I do not have a link), Stacy Whitman of Tu Books, and me. We all had really useful things to say, but somehow the stories and conversation kept drifting away from a tight focus on Feeling Fake / Imposter Syndrome. I know I was guilty of this. I’d get halfway through the story and realize I was no longer sure how I meant to bring the story around and relate it to the topic at hand. Yet over the next two days I had many people saying that they found the whole discussion very useful, so we must have managed something right. I suppose in a way this actually relates to the panel topic. All during the panel I felt like I wasn’t doing a very good job as a panelist, but the audience perceived things very differently.

Imposter Syndrome is the feeling that one is unqualified or a fraud. The most important point made in this panel is this: everyone feels this way at some point in their lives. Stacy told us the story of how she started up a small press, ran a kickstarter that funded completely, had her press picked up as an imprint, and has now released the first three books. Yet she still has days when she wonders how she got where she is. She often feels small or unqualified. Chris told us about the moment when he truly took up the label of writer and applied it to himself. That moment was long after he’d already begun writing.

I know that imposter syndrome is rampant in my own life. I constantly feel like I’m throwing up a professional facade while behind stage it is all scrambling and tears. Then I remember what Tracy Hickman once told me. It was on the day when he arrived at our house to hammer out a contract for the XDM project. Tracy wanted us to be the publishers and Howard to illustrate the book. I was going to have to do significant layout and design for a 180 page book with actual text. The only training I had for this task was a copy of InDesign for Dummies. I was terrified. We were also going to have to write a contract for a man who had signed hundreds of publishing contracts in his life. I was sure that he would be able to see right through us. He did. But what he saw was not what I thought was there. Tracy launched into a rambling story filled with laughable anecdotes, the point of it was to tell us that in fact everyone in publishing is making it up as they go. Everyone is scrambling behind the scenes. Everyone feels like they’re unqualified and is afraid they’ll be discovered. Feeling unqualified is normal. You just have to put on the clothes of the job you want and wear them until they’re comfortable.

As the panel discussion progressed, we gleaned some useful information about how to manage imposter syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome is primarily driven by fear of exposure. If you can figure out what you’re afraid to expose and to whom you’re afraid it will be exposed, this gives you power. You can take steps to defuse the fear. On the day of that contract with Tracy, Howard and I told him that we’d never written a contract before and asked for his help in getting it right. Instead of despising us for our ignorance, Tracy graciously provided the help we needed.

Perfectionism is also a driving force behind imposter syndrome. Stacy spoke about trying to get every single detail right in the books she edits. Getting everything right is impossible. When she acknowledges this, she can focus on what she does well. As a supporting point to Stacy’s story, I told the story of my son, Patch, and getting things wrong.

To battle imposter syndrome, you need to check the evidence around you. Stacy may feel like she’s an imposter sometimes, but the books which Tu produces are evidence of actual ability. People can sense fakes. If they’re treating you like you have expertise, it is likely that you actually do. It is easy to devalue knowledge we have while valuing what we don’t. Amy pointed out that a light case of imposter syndrome can actually spur a person onward to the acquisition of more knowledge and expertise.

Chris spoke a warm and eloquent reminder that often the answer is to just get back to writing. Write words because that is what writers do. Worry less about whether they’re good and trust yourself to learn as you go. He cautioned against comparing yourself to others. Comparisons lead to insecurity, jealousy, and raging imposter syndrome. Stacy backed up this thought by saying “remember your goals.” Tu Books is not likely to spawn a best seller, but that is not its focus. Instead it is promoting diversity in literature through creating excellent books. When Stacy is focused on her goals she feels happy and accomplished rather than insecure.

My advice was to spectate the imposter feelings. Where do they come from? What situations trigger them? What drives the fear? Keep digging for motivations and answering questions. Those answers are information that you can use to restructure your thinking and possibly your life. I’m in the middle of this process. I am trying to re-shape my life so that I am naturally facing my goals instead of my failures. I’ll never get it figured out completely because life keeps shifting, but even the effort quiets the voices of imposter syndrome.

The thing is, we are all more competent than we believe ourselves to be. I didn’t use this quotation from Mark Twain in the panel, but I wish I had.

We are always more anxious to be distinguished for a talent which we do not posses than to be praised for the fifteen which we do possess.
–Mark Twain.

Whatever it is that you feel a fraud while doing, you are certainly better at it than you feel yourself to be.

Preparing for Valentine’s Day

By / February 13, 2012

My Valentines preparations went like this:

Answer the door and receive delivery of a valentine note for one of my children.
Realize that Valentine’s day is, in fact, tomorrow.
Remember that, unlike the rest of us who try to ignore it, for kids in grade school this holiday is Very Important.
Run to grocery store to buy candy in bulk.
Print pictures of Nintendo characters off of the internet.
Have kids cut out pictures and tape candy to the back.
Hope that this will not go down in memory as the worst Valentines day ever. I can never predict which unprepared moment will be the one that lives in infamy. I get away with lots, but I am reminded every year of the one time I cooked chicken for Thanksgiving instead of turkey.

Calvin & Hobbes Continues to Charm

By / February 13, 2012 / 4 Comments

Patch came down for homework time toting his big stuffed dog. I didn’t think much of it. He hasn’t been prone to carrying around big stuffed toys, but it was well within normal parameters. Then he said,
“I wish I had a stuffed tiger this size.”
Then I realized that I’d just called him away from reading our volume of the Complete Calvin & Hobbes Collection. Patch clearly was picturing himself as Calvin. Some things endure from generation to generation.

Panel Notes: Collaborating With A Family Member

By / February 13, 2012 / 4 Comments

I was already familiar with my co-panelists for this discussion. Michaelbrent Collings is an author with many projects both completed and in the works. Karen and Kevin Evans write together crafting stories for the Grantville Gazette. The panel had no declared moderator, so by mutual assent I was place in charge. This was fine. I enjoy moderating. The panel was tuned to discussing the particular difficulties that attend collaborating with a family member, but most of the information is applicable to any collaborative partnership. I wish you all could have been there. These notes are a mere skeleton of the useful information that was imparted. I don’t remember all the stories or how one thought connected to the next. It was a really good discussion.

We began the panel by compiling a quick list of the benefits and difficulties that attend a collaboration with a family member.

Benefits:
Additional eyes – most creative works involve some level of collaboration. When an editor reviews a work and makes suggestions, that is collaboration. Collaboration is necessary because no one set of eyes can detect everything. Alternate points of view strengthen a creative work.

Spending time with someone you like: Michaelbrent spoke eloquently about how much he enjoys collaborating with his father. Karen and Kevin spoke in the same strain. Creating something together can really strengthen a relationship.

Continuous creative conversation: This is a benefit that I definitely see every day. Howard and I have a dozen conversations a day where we talk about the various projects we have in process. We will never run out of things to talk about because we’ll never run out of projects.

Filling in the weaknesses: Karen is a writer who loves characterization. Kevin is a writer who loves plotting. So when Kevin is working on a story he’ll put in a note “Karen writes character stuff here.” Then Karen fills in those gaps. It works the other way as well with Karen writing “Kevin fixes plot.” Together they are able to finish projects, submit them, and succeed. Separately they were far less successful.

Difficulties:
Differences in timing and writing speeds: Sometimes Michaelbrent is really excited about a project, but his father’s schedule is too full. Other times a project is top priority for one collaborator, but not for the other. It can get really frustrating when one partner has to wait on the other.

Spillage: Project stress and conflict can spill over into the family relationship. Creative projects inevitably create both conflict and stress. The more passionately the creators feel about the project, the more true this becomes. It can take a careful touch to keep the collaborative relationship separated from the familial relationship.

Melding Multiple processes: Howard and I have different approaches to similar tasks. This was evidenced while getting ready for LTUE. My way of packing and planning left Howard feeling like everything was disorganized. The opposite also happens. It takes time, patience, and constant communication for the partners to figure out how to work together. We each have to take turns letting go of control and trusting our collaborative partner.

Criticism and Ego: A necessary part of collaboration is telling each other when part of the project is not working right. It can be quite difficult to do this so that only the project is under discussion and not the person who created. A solid knowledge of each other is necessary to be able to criticize constructively rather than destructively.

Jealousy: This one was not mentioned during the panel, but I think it belongs here. Equal contributors are not always given equal recognition. Even without recognition it is possible for one creator to feel jealous or resentful about the path that the project is taking. Careful attention is necessary to the emotional needs of your collaboration partner.

In the next part of the panel we focused on practical and structural ways to make a collaboration work healthily.

Michaelbrent started out this section by saying that if you’re approached by a family member who wants to collaborate and you have a sinking feeling about the project, don’t do it. You should never collaborate with someone if you feel like they can not help you produce a quality project. You must be excited to work with the person. I countered this idea by suggesting that it is critical to know your goal. If the goal is a high-quality sale-able project, then Michaelbrent is absolutely correct. If the goal is to spend time with grandpa, then a very different standard applies. Then the success of the project is measured by time spent. Someone else, I’m not sure who, gave the additional suggestion that it is critical for both collaborative partners to share the same goal in relationship to the project. If one is trying to write a story for the kids and the other wants to create a slick best-selling middle grade novel, then conflict is inevitable.

Additional practical advice:
Agree upon a method of working: Michaelbrent and his father wrote a book by alternating chapters. Karen and Kevin take turns doing the drafting and revision. Howard and I make up new work processes as the project demands. We actually had some stress over our current board game project because the process had to run differently from our usual book projects. We sorted it out and onward we went. The particular method of collaboration does not matter much, so long as it satisfies both partners and it smooths out the difficulties between them. Don’t be afraid to stop a project and adjust the process if necessary.

Avoid cross communication: I can say the exact same words to three different people and have them taken in very different ways. Even the same person can take my words differently depending on time of day, what other conversations we’ve had recently, or if they’re hungry. In a collaboration, especially with a deadline looming, miscommunication happens. Extra effort is necessary to prevent as much as possible.

Listen to your collaborator as a professional: No matter what other relationship you may have, you need to be able to respect them and their creative input. If you can’t, then this is not a person with whom you should collaborate. To accomplish this it is very helpful to picture the various roles you take on as hats that you wear. Sometimes I function as Howard’s business manager, art director, wife, accountant, or graphic designer. There are times where I will speak to all of those roles in the space of a very short conversation. But because we have the roles defined it is easier to see that when the artist is frustrated with his art director it does not mean that Howard and Sandra are angry with each other as husband and wife.

We could have kept talking for a very long time, but the room was scheduled for another panel. I asked everyone to finish up by giving one quick note of caution and then telling a story about something wonderful which happened as a result of collaboration.

Cautions:
Michaelbrent made the point that it is critical to have creative projects that you are not doing together. There are natural emotional ups and downs attendant to any creative project. Those can be tempered if each partner has other projects in different stages.

Karen reminded us all that relationships always matter more than projects. Never get so involved with creative projects that your life disappears.

Kevin pointed out that most things are not actually life or death situations. Slowing down or missing an opportunity is not the end of the world. Other opportunities will come, and they may even be better for you because they arrive at a time when you can accept them gracefully instead of in a mad scramble.

My caution was to trust wisely. When a collaboration with a family member goes bad, it goes horribly bad. This is particularly true when there is money involved. It is a good idea to sit down at the beginning of a project to outline general responsibilities and benefits. Michaelbrent, who has been a contract lawyer, pointed out that anything written on paper and signed is a contract. He also said that complicated contracts are actually less useful than simple ones because all they do is carefully define loopholes.

The happy stories:
When Karen was a little girl she stood in a bookstore and put her finger between two books on the shelf and knew that when she wrote a book, that is where her book would be. Now she has a book and she credits her collaboration with Kevin for giving that to her.

The best way to get to know someone is to work with them on a project. Michaelbrent is endlessly grateful for the opportunities that he has had to work with both his father and his wife.

I was so busy moderating that I didn’t really have time to think through what my happy thought was until it was my chance to speak. So I started semi-at-random talking about the amazing people I’ve had the chance to meet as a result of Schlock Mercenary. Just as I wrapped up the thought, I glanced down at the table in front of me where several of our books sat and I realized that I’d just said the wrong thing.

So I stopped myself and said “But that isn’t the best part.” I held up the books and said “These are dreams made real. They could not exist without the collaboration that Howard and I share.” The moment I finished the words, I realized I was wrong again. Because the books are nice, wonderful even, but they pale in comparison to something else.

I put the books down and said “But that isn’t the best part either. The best part is standing in my kitchen with Howard and talking, swapping out hats as we talk about things and make plans for the day. It is how we collaborate on business, family, parenting, and everything else.”

That is definitely the best part, even though I’m still not sure that I’ve said it right.

After LTUE is Done

By / February 12, 2012

Today is a jellyfishing day. I drift about, occasionally dealing with a task that I bump up against, but mostly just drifting.

I came home from LTUE last night to discover that my kids were mostly in bed, the house was relatively clean, and while there were dirty dishes aplenty, they bore testimony of the fact that my kids ate food healthier than candy corn. All of that and I never got a crisis phone call. The kids took care of each other and generally managed just fine while I was gone. I am extremely grateful for this. Not only because it made coming home far less stressful, but also because it is evidence that my months and years of effort to teach them are actually bearing fruit. They are quite glad to have me back at home. Today has been huggier than usual.

This afternoon we all went to church. The moment everyone was settled on the bench, calmness settled over me like a comfortable blanket. I looked around the chapel at all my friends and neighbors. I live in a good place, surrounded by good people. All the professional should-haves and what-ifs dropped away. I love attending conferences and events. I love coming home to where I can just settle in and be inconspicuous.

I have panel notes to write up. I also came away with a list of follow-up items. The biggest thing on this list is that I really must pull together a short book of essays pulled from this blog. It doesn’t need to be cohesive or brilliant. All it needs to be is a sampler, something physical that I can point at when people ask what I write. Hopefully tomorrow I can begin focused work on all the convention follow-up items. Then of course there are the preparatory tasks for upcoming conventions. And the graphic design work for the next Schlock book.

For tonight, drifting and sleep

LTUE fills all my brain

By / February 10, 2012

When I’m at a convention away from home there are spaces where I can sit in my hotel room and begin to process all the thoughts from the previous hours. When I leave LTUE, I only have a space for as long as I drive home. The minute I enter my house I pick up all of my at-home responsibilities. In some ways this is restful. Being surrounded by my usual things is very grounding. I remember why my life is structured as it is. In other ways it is exhausting because some of my at home tasks draw from the same energy wells that are tapped out by the convention. Thus far LTUE has been marked by a lack of angry/upset phone calls from children. However the longest day is yet to go. Hopefully tomorrow will be good for the children as well.

Thursday drained me almost completely, being home restored me. Today was much more balanced. I realized that I began this particular convention already frazzled since illness compressed my usual three-day prep period into a single day when I was only working at about half capacity. Yet the things I feared would go wrong did not. All is well.

I enjoyed my panels. I took notes. I will write them up when I can string thoughts together in an eloquent fashion. Right now I need to reserve my coherent thoughts so I can prepare for the panel and workshop tomorrow. I hope that I can do a good job in providing useful information for the attendees.

Now I need to restock Howard’s car with merchandise for the table and then go to bed.

LTUE The Morning Before

By / February 9, 2012

I woke up this morning convinced that all the work I did yesterday was done wrong and that our vendor tables at LTUE would be an absolute disaster as a result. Fortunately I’ve put together enough convention appearances to know that this is normal. I always feel this way at some point pre-convention and then everything works out fine. Howard rides his own pre-convention emotional roller coaster and sometimes our coasters collide a little bit. This is one of the challenges of being married to your business partner. I’ll be talking about that kind of thing with a team of other experienced people at noon today.

Noon: Collaborating with a Family Member

2 PM: Feeling Fake: What to do about that pervasive feeling that everyone belongs in the publishing world except you

So, both of my panel topics today address things that I’ve dealt with just this morning. Hopefully it will all go well. The full LTUE schedule can be found here. Howard and I are most likely to be found in the dealer’s room underneath the big Schlock Mercenary banner.

Preparing for a Local Convention

By / February 8, 2012 / 7 Comments

The other day Howard was talking to me and interrupted himself mid-sentence three times in a row to change the subject. It was amusing and fascinating to listen to him close off these nesting topics one by one. My day today is going to be a lot like that. I have lots of tasks ahead. Many of them are going to interrupt each other and I’ll just have to hope that I’ve placed enough memory triggers either in my house or in my brain so that I can come back and complete the interrupted tasks. A day like today requires lists.

Most of today’s work can be summed up in a single sentence: I am preparing for LTUE. That statement can be broken down into three basic categories: arranging for the kids, booth preparation, and preparation for a professional appearance. From there the tasks fracture into dozens of small details, which I am now going to list so that at 2 o’clock this afternoon when I’m standing in my front room with the feeling that there is something important I should be doing, I will be able to look at the list and think “Oh yeah, right, THAT.”

Arranging for the Kids:

  • Most important here is arranging for adequate supervision. This used to mean negotiation with friends, relatives, or neighbors for babysitting. Now it means sitting my children down and reviewing exactly how we treat each other when mom is unavailable to mediate conflicts. House rules will also be reviewed.
  • Planning their travel to and from school when I can’t help carpool — Done
  • Food. I need to buy microwavable food so that they don’t go hungry in the mid afternoon. I’ll actually be here for most of the dinner times. However I will also be brain dead, so I will be grateful to be able to shove frozen things in the microwave and push a button.
  • Bedtime. This only matters on Thursday. The other nights they can stay up late. I just need to plan incentives and review normal procedures with the kids so that they are prepared for things to be a little different than usual. It saves us from upsets when everyone knows the plan.

Booth Preparation:

  • In theory LTUE is the convention when we test out new booth set ups and displays. Every fall we say “we should do A, B, C next year. We’ll test that at LTUE.” Then every February I realize that it is time to prep for LTUE and I don’t have A, B, C ready to go. sigh.
  • Making bundles — We sell our books in discounted bundles. These must be assembled and shrink wrapped. Fortunately Kiki was in need of funds and happily took the job for me. — Done
  • Packing merchandise — The first and hardest step of this is deciding how much to bring. Fortunately we’re coming home every night so I can re-stock as necessary, but we still don’t want to run out of anything when a customer is standing right there. Everything we decide to bring must be packed into boxes for easy hauling by dolly. Loose merchandise gets lost or damaged.
  • Display stands and booth dressing — These are the A, B, C which I never get around to until almost show time. Today it means buying a foam core board so that I can make a vertical display for our t-shirt, grocery bags, and magnets. We also need to get our book stands and table cloths out of the storage unit. Also our table leg extenders so that we can raise the tables.
  • Planning where to park for easiest hauling of stuff into and out of the dealer’s room. It never works exactly as we expect.
  • Cash for change — means a trip to the bank.
  • Post-convention accounting, inventory counting, and unpacking — none of this happens today, but for everything I prepare today, part of my brain is sadly looking ahead to when I’ll have to clean up after it.

Preparing for a professional appearance:

  • I write notes out for all the panels in which I participate. Often I don’t even use the notes, but the process jiggles loose thoughts and stories which could be relevant to the topic. It means that my brain is primed to say useful things when I’m up in front of a room full of people. I list things I feel strongly need to be said about the topic. I list things which might be relevant or reminders of amusing anecdotes which fit the topic. I bring the notes to the panel and then I take notes as the panel progresses. My panel notes form the basis of a blog post later. Taking notes mid-panel means that when someone says a thing that triggers a thought, I am less likely to lose track of that thought before it is my turn to speak again. I’m pretty sure that I over-think this. Most professionals I know just show up with the knowledge in their heads and do fine. I just enjoy the advance planning. It is part of the fun for me.
  • I plan clothes and hairstyles. I don’t do this in detail, but I think generally about what I want to wear. Then I make sure that I do laundry so that those things are actually clean and ready for me.

There’s my list. Ready. Set. Go.