{"id":8471,"date":"2016-11-22T13:04:18","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8471"},"modified":"2016-11-22T13:05:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:05:06","slug":"the-other-side-of-the-convention-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/scifisaturdaynight.com\/?p=8471","title":{"rendered":"The Writer’s Block: The Other Side of the Convention Table"},"content":{"rendered":"

I do a lot of conventions. It\u2019s a great way to meet new readers, get my face and books out there, and yes, stalk celebrities. But conventions aren\u2019t all fun and games. It can be exhausting greeting and talking with people for three days straight, and I\u2019ll admit, by Day 3, I\u2019m not at my perky best. There are snafus and cancelled guests and times when a potty break is desperately needed yet just can\u2019t happen. I invite you now to Rhode Island ComicCon 2015 to witness the other<\/em> side of the convention table.<\/p>\n

Day 1 (Friday):<\/strong> We arrive a couple hours before the doors open to check in and set up. There\u2019s a line to check in, so Jason drops off our inventory at the table while I stand behind a large, hirsute man who is complaining loudly that he doesn\u2019t want to stand in line. None of us do, pal. It\u2019s all part of the routine.<\/em> I use the emergency tube of Nair I keep in my purse to depilate a smiley face in his back hair. Jason comes back to relieve me, and I go to the table to set up.<\/p>\n

Setting up isn\u2019t just propping up books on a table. I lay out the tablecloth, lint-roll the cat hair off it, set up book stands, arrange the books in an eye-catching way so that all of the black covers (so prevalent in horror) aren\u2019t displayed together but the kids\u2019 books are; pull out pens (for signing books), the receipt book (to track sales), and the antibacterial hand sanitizer (for those times people sneeze when perusing books, which happens more often than you might think). I greet our neighbors, like artist Karen Gosselin<\/a> and jewelry dealer Charlie Flowers<\/a> and fellow author Jackie Leduc <\/a>and her mom. (You do enough conventions, you start making friends with the other vendors.) I put up my banner and arrange the extra inventory under the table and in the meantime, Jason comes back with our passes. We\u2019re ready to go!<\/p>\n

Six hours later, I\u2019m tired, I haven\u2019t met any of the thirty-odd celebrities billed to be here this weekend, and I\u2019m already on my second bottle of hand sanitizer (it\u2019s flu season, folks). Sales have been slow, but not terrible\u2014not unusual for a Friday night. I\u2019ve met a charming young man whose mother has MS, an older gentleman who wants to be a writer, and a woman who wants to go to clown school (strangers will tell you the most amazing things at these events). We\u2019ve been invited to dinner by our friends Cat and Barry, so we head to their place, where I gorge myself on good conversation and mozzarella-stuffed meatballs.<\/p>\n

Day 2 (Saturday): <\/strong>Saturday is traditionally the busiest day of the convention. Before the doors open, Jason takes me over to Lou Ferrigno\u2019s table to introduce us. That\u2019s right: the Incredible Hulk is in the building. Our exchange went something like this:<\/p>\n

Me: I love you.<\/p>\n

Lou: Thank you (shakes my hand).<\/p>\n

Me: No, seriously, as soon as you stop touching my hand, I\u2019m going to text my sister and tell her I touched you.<\/p>\n

Lou: Security!<\/p>\n

This elation over meeting the big green guy of my youth lasts for most of the morning . . . until I get my first sneeze-reader (God bless you).<\/p>\n

The space behind our table is cramped, and if I\u2019m sitting, I have to twist my body sideways, causing what will eventually be pretty severe pain in my back and knee (still with me seven days later as I type this). The people-watching is fun, though I\u2019m resentful that the man dressed as Harley Quinn looks sexier than I ever<\/em> have. I talk to one guy about a book project he\u2019s been thinking of and another about how he hasn\u2019t been to a dentist in ten years. I tell aspiring authors about different writing organizations and reiterate the importance of editing (I\u2019m sitting across from a sign with an improperly formatted ellipsis, by the way, and it drives me nuts all weekend). Jason disappears for two hours to attend celebrity panel discussions, and I text him because I need the little writers\u2019 room. He ignores me until I text him again, reporting that I have now peed my pants. He shows up five minutes later, panicked and with a handful of paper towels. (To clarify, I had not. It was merely a clever tactic to get him back to the table.)<\/p>\n

By the end of the day, we\u2019ve sold several books, I\u2019ve met a ton of new people, and my socialization skills are completely depleted. I bark at Jason because I\u2019m tired, I don\u2019t like socializing, and I certainly can\u2019t write or edit or clean the house when I\u2019m at these things for three days straight. It\u2019s his <\/em>fault that he\u2019s always trying to promote me and get free tables and invitations to be a guest at these things, the selfish bastard. He makes an emergency stop at Panera Bread to ply me with macaroni and cheese just to shut me up (can\u2019t yell at him if I\u2019m eating).<\/p>\n

Day 3 (Sunday)<\/strong>: Stick a fork in me\u2014I\u2019m done. For the first two hours, I can\u2019t even muster up the energy to look people in the eye. I cradle my industrial-size coffee cup (urn, whatever) and try not to cry. I can\u2019t do this<\/em>. I\u2019m an introvert<\/em>. This is too much.<\/p>\n

Then, a young woman named Anastasia picks up a copy of Ordinary Boy<\/em>. She reads the back and looks up at me and tells me that the main character sounds just like her. She wants to buy the book and asks me timidly for my autograph. I instantly love this young woman. Okay, yes. This is why I do these things.<\/p>\n

I get to meet wrestler Ted DiBiase and eyeball actors Ralph Macchio and Michael Dorn. I slink down lower in my seat when the organizers are questioning bystanders to find out who the vandal was that used a red Sharpie to indicate a space was needed before the ellipsis in the sign that\u2019s been tormenting me across the way all weekend. I sell lots of books and meet even more people and at the end of the day, Anastasia comes back to buy a second book, because she\u2019s the coolest kid ever and she loves to read.<\/p>\n

The convention ends at 5 PM. We have packing up down to a science, and the car is loaded up by 5:15. We head home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did well,\u201d Jason says, and yes, okay, he\u2019s right. But I\u2019m burned out and I\u2019m going to be useless for the next three days. These events exhaust me so thoroughly\u2014mentally, physically, emotionally\u2014that I don\u2019t bounce back quickly from them. I want to tell him that we have to stop doing so many of these things (something I have, in fact, said several times) because I don\u2019t have it in me. It\u2019s too much. It\u2019s all too much.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat one girl came back twice. That was cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, he\u2019s right. That was<\/em> pretty cool. And because of that one girl who shyly asked for my autograph, the whole convention was worth it. I decide not to gripe during the car ride home, and nap instead. Clean houses are overrated anyway, right?<\/p>\n

\"longo-convention-table\"<\/p>\n

This piece originally appeared on staceylongo.com: http:\/\/staceylongo.com\/my-blog\/the-other-side-of-the-convention-table<\/p>\n

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