Todd’s Blog

It happens every year. Editors are frantic, sending me increasingly small batches of pages to letter…then batches of pencilled pages…then rough layouts. Artists and writers are incommunicado, as they try to get all their deadlines met, their obligations fulfilled, everything off their plates (and some of it onto mine). Emails are flitting everywhere with topics like “Saturday night dinner?” and “Going to SD?” Yup, Comicon International in San Diego is just over a week away.

As mentioned before, I’ll be there again this year, looking forward to it, as always. I measure conventions against the high-water mark of several World Science Fiction Conventions I attended in the 1970s and 80s. These were tiny by current San Diego standards, but they were packed with activities. Several tracks of programs running simultaneously, lots of authors and artists to meet, big dealer’s room, art show, auctions, movies, costume contests, filk singing (not a misspelling, Google it), tons of parties not too hard to crash. To me, a good convention is filled with hard choices: many things I’d like to do, not enough time to do them all. Smaller comics cons usually miss the mark, but San Diego has it in spades.

I’m planning to Blog the Con this year. We’ll see how much I actually do, as the distractions are massive. I’m counting on the fact that I’m an early riser, and usually have a few hours in the morning before the con starts to get things of my own done. Whatever I get time to do you’ll read here.

I used to spend a lot of time pre-con making plans, studying the program schedule, lining up meetings. Alas, many of the plans go by the wayside when the day arrives. Lately, I make a list of firm appointments, and do the rest as I go along. “Saturday dinner, 7PM at restaurant X with the Y group” is a firm plan, as is “Meeting with editor Z, Friday 1PM at booth A”. Infirm appointments are “we should get together for lunch or something.” Usually these don’t happen, but once in a while they do. Each morning before I go to the con I’ll go through the program book and make a list of booths to stop at and programs I’d like to attend if I can. That’s as much planning as I’ll do. Leaves room for improvising, which is the best way, really. There’s always something fun to do!

San Diego. Leaving a week from this Thursday. Got the fever.