[Writer Post] Collaborations and Helio-Con 1

Oh, hi… It’s Wednesday. I kinda forgot there for minute. I was busy working on a chapter for a collaborative project that I need to get back to my writing partner. Fortunately, the wrinkle I came up with shouldn’t mess with him too much – and I ran it past him, first. Because that’s just polite, and I try to occasionally be polite. 😎 And on time, because… dude, busy.

I have one show down, two more to go in the next 4 weeks. I don’t think I quite mentioned the panic I went through when I realized I had THREE SHOWS IN FIVE WEEKS. Every other weekend until March. Now to new folks, you’re thinking, “Is that a lot?” YES. Because it’s not JUST three shows in five weeks, it’s that PLUS Day Job, Writing, Family Events, cooking, cleaning, and laundry. The only thing making this self-inflicted insanity bearable is that they’re all HERE in the DFW area. Home.

But the fun part? The thing I didn’t realize until the middle of Helio-Con? My shows are steps. Helio-Con was one day (and I’ll talk more about that in a minute). Sci Fi Expo is next (February 8-9) and is two days. ConDFW rounds out the list (February 21-23) at three days. Then we have a wee break before Scarborough starts up – though we’ve not talked with our artist friend about that yet… need to have that confirmed. Hello, time management…

Back to Helio-Con. This was a first year event, and there were some details where that was evident, but they tried hard to work everything out. For an event that was ONLY on a Sunday, there were more people there than I anticipated. Sales were better than I thought they’d be (nothing like an emergency book order to make sure you have enough stock for the next show). And I saw several vendors I recognized FROM Sci Fi Expo/Dallas Comic Con. I think for what this event was, it ran pretty smoothly. We only have a few tweaks to make it awesome, and that will depend on whether or not they’re in the same venue or go elsewhere – and all logistical.

Like… combining vendors, guests, and the gaming store in one room/location. That keeps the traffic flowing and relatively contained where attendees can see all their money-spending options in one place. They don’t come to say the vendors’ room, drop all their cash, then go to play a game and realize they wanted to buy it, but oops. Keeping guests near possible book/photo vendors enables easier sales/signing opportunities. But like I said, tweaks. Overall it seemed very well run. I loved that they send out PDFs of the building and layout about a week before the show, so vendors could see where there tables were and check out their neighbors. THAT was way cool.

And on my part? I promise to make sure my alarm clock is not only SET but TURNED ON so we don’t over sleep the next time. We got there in time, but boy I didn’t really need that adrenalin rush, know what I mean? So… onward to the next thing…Sci Fi Expo. Come see me on the third floor by the photo op location. I’d like to have to buy more stock from my publisher at ConDFW. 😎

Tags: ConDFW, Helio-Con, SCI FI EXPO, Writing