35 Days away.

More paperwork turned up in my mailbox yesterday, so I guess it's semi-official...I'll be manning the DIGITAL WEBBING PRESENTS booth at San Diego. (I say "semi-official" since I don't have the booth number yet.) I've got to say, I've got an odd mix of "excited" and "scared sh!tless" going on.

Excited because this is kind of the holy grail for me as far as conventions go. I grew up hearing about "the San Diego convention" in the letter columns of books or seeing ads and articles in COMIC SCENE or the short lived COMICS COLLECTOR and wished I could've been there. Chicago is cool, but San Diego is mecca.

Scared because it's not the same show I used to read about anymore. Those 80's articles talked about turnouts in the 30-40,000 range. That's roughly what Chicago does now. Last year's Comic-Con International saw 87,000+ paid. One of the mailings I've recieved gave an estimate this year of expecting almost 95,000. That's a little intimidating when it's your first time setting up at the show you start to think about it. "Will I have enough books?" "Will they like the books I have?" "Am I sure the hotel is locked in for the week?" "Should I send stuff ahead UPS or USPS?" "Will I have everything I need for the booth?" "How will we set up our signings?" "Will anyone turn up for our signings?" "Will I make the plane?" "Will the plane make it?"

Maybe I need this. I've gotten comfortable with the Wiz:Chicago show. (Tear down is still a pain, but what can you do?) San Diego has me energized about setting up a booth again. Now if I could just sit down and focus on that new Kendar script.