Whew. Finally, back from the Con.
To get the important bit out of the way–no, I didn’t win the Eisner. I gotta say, I was surprised at how much that didn’t upset me, though. I had been saying that I didn’t expect to win, and it was a relief to find out I’d been telling the truth! I was mostly just immensely relieved that it was all over. (I knew we were the dark horse candidate, by far, since Digger just doesn’t have the distribution to retailers, who are a major voting block. Getting nominated at all was a coup.)
We may not have won, but we got a heckuva cheer, though.
That aside, it was…damn. The size of Comic-Con is un-freaking-believable. 125K showed up on Saturday, and they had to stop selling tickets because the convention center was packed to bursting. I am very, very, very tired of people now. Working at home as I do, I can often spend several days in a row without seeing another human being other than James. I dunno if I’ve gotten used to being a recluse, as a result, or if it’d hit anybody that way, but being in a crowd that size, day after day, was emotionally exhausting in a way I didn’t expect. Everyone I talked to was very nice, none of them were objectionable individuals, and I was glad to talk to them–it was just…so many people. Uf, da.
The very kind people, Reece and Jen, that I was staying with took good care of me, and took me birding at unholy hours of the morning, for which I am very grateful. They were awesome. And Sofawolf, who are the best publishers one could ever ask for, also took immensely good care of me. When one is in a strange city, sans husband, on a shoestring budget, one couldn’t ask for better friends. If I hadn’t had their table to use as a base of operations/fortress, I’d’a been completely overwhelmed.
‘Sides, other publishing houses may be a lot bigger, but I bet they don’t buy their artists roses when they lose the Eisner. *grin*
Met my agent! A lovely woman, and there’s a funny story there, along with a report about birding, and this wonderful curmudgeonly gent who showed me a snowy plover, and the terrifying discovery that the minions of Mother Terrapin really are following me, but such things will have to wait.
I think I had a good time. I am so tired, and my blood sugar is in my toes, and I appear to have weepy PMS, and I feel scraped raw from day after day of crowds, so when people ask me if I had a good Con, I find myself stammering and making awkward hand gestures. Not because it was bad, it was just so mind-boggling, and huge that it doesn’t seem like something one would get to have an opinion about.
However, I’m glad I went. I saw many cool things. In a day or two, I’ll be able to knock it into entertaining anecdote-sized chunks, but for now, I gotta sleep, and decompress.
It’s good to be home.
