I'm tired and not the normal kind of tired. I call this depression tired..this unnatural need/desire to sleep all of the time. I feel as if I only have the energy to be up for tiny pockets of time and then I want to sleep again. It's hard to function when all you want to do is sleep and even though you battle, there's no real winning the war.

I know what triggered this, but like the battle for energy, there's nothing I can do to change the cause. I went to a convention last weekend and it was good. It was wonderful being back out among people and not just any people, but people who love indie comics as much as I do. I even helped do a panel which was amazing. It felt so good to talk about things that I knew and to have zero doubt that I knew what I was talking about.

I have to admit just remembering that experience has put a smile on my face. You see..I had planned on writing a personal post about my time in Columbus, but this wasn't it. It is now. You never know where things are going to go when you sit down to write, or at least I don't.

So, here's the thing...Columbus was a test for me. For the past year, I've shut myself off more and more. Some have noticed, most haven't. It's easy to hide when you don't live near anyone and everyone is so busy with their lives that they don't notice when you quietly slip away. Very few reach out and say hey, where did you go? I'm lucky that very few doesn't equal zero. Still, I needed some answers.

As I shut myself away, I slowly convinced myself that my other site would be better off without me. I wasn't sure if I still had the passion to do what needed to be doing. After all, the best person to run a site is someone who feels passionate about what the site does. With the struggles I've had over the past year, I wasn't sure if that person was me anymore. So, I decided that I needed to either find out or hand the site over to my second in command.

The test? Take myself off to a convention that is strictly 100% tiny indie comics..no vendors, no larger indie publishers that we already work with, just tiny indie guys. I figured that by the end of the weekend, I would know just how I felt about the industry and my future with Geek-o-Rama. Turns out that I was right. By the time I got back to the hotel room Sunday night and had a chance to reflect, I had my answers. I still love what I do. I love meeting new people and hearing about their passion for an industry that isn't the easiest to break into. I love being able to give bits of advice (though seriously, I may need to start charging consulting fees) and being able to share what I (and my amazing staff) do with them. Don't get me wrong, I still love working with the bigger indie publishers, but my heart will always lie with the underdog.

Honestly, it came as an incredible relief. I was afraid that this was one more thing that had been taken from me. It wasn't though and over the summer, I plan on diving back into the pool and working harder than ever.

To close out this post, how about a Top 5 list of random things from SPACE 2016?

1. Spending $5 to purchase an 11 year old's first comic and an art print from her is something that will never stop bringing a smile to my face. It's important to support our children's passions.
2. Having towels in your hotel room is really a good thing and hotels should be on top of that.
3. There's something great about making random connections on the road with people you'll never see again, but in that moment, you connected.
4. Waffle House post con with two really fun people is an experience that I hope to have again. One of the toughest parts of conventions is the sitting alone in a hotel room with takeout afterwards.
5. I really do love what I do and I need to stop letting anxiety get in the way of getting out there. 

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When last we met to talk about this con, it was Friday night and I was zonked out in the hotel room. At least I think that's where we left off. If it's not just go with it. That way we can talk all about Saturday!

Since I had covered most of the con floor on Friday, I decided to be lazy and sleep in on Saturday. In reality, I tried to. The hotel cleaning crew had other ideas. While they respected the Do Not Disturb sign on my door by not coming into the room, they didn't grasp the concept that sweeping the hall outside my door and the rooms on either side of me might be disturbing. In the end, I gave up and headed back down to the con.

This time, however, my little lot was full. So, I tried following the signs for the convention center parking. That didn't go so well. There was more construction and signs ended up vanishing before I found parking. It turned out ok, though. I turned up the one street whose name I recognized and discovered a parking garage under the convention center itself! Granted, it was at the other end but close parking is close parking and I took it.

Then, it was back to the convention. Friday night was pretty dead so I wasn't sure what Saturday would be like. It turns out that I didn't need to worry. The crowds came out in full force on Saturday and almost every single table had people standing around checking things out. While this makes my job more difficult, it always makes me happy for the people sitting behind the tables.

Blair Smith with Spiderman -- and the crowds.

As for me, I made my way back to artist alley, stopping to see a few friends along the way. In my head, I was already making my shopping list but I try to make myself finish working before shopping. Plus, if I'm buying prints, the last thing I want to do is carry those around all day and potentially damage them!

I do have to say, though, that artist alley is almost always one of my favorite places at any convention. It gives me a chance to meet some really cool people and they're almost always open to talking for a few minutes, not only about what they do but also about what I do. For example, I had the pleasure of meeting Jamie Tyndall, who not only gave me some great advice about putting together a media kit, but also donated two of his art books to our giveaway!

Speaking of cool people that were hanging out back in artist alley, I also got to meet these guys:

From Back to Front, Clockwise : Giveaway, Stuff for the kids, My goodies!

Review Stack!

Don't know about the new site yet? You'd best go check us out over at Geekorama.net!

Keith and Pat

We received a press badge for the purpose of attending this event. All commentary, thoughts and ramblings are 100% the authors. All pictures, except the one of me, are thanks to Keith Thomas and Blair Smith.

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Like any con that I attend, this one started out with travel. I am thrilled to report that my 5 hour drive to the Columbus area was uneventful. Pretty exciting start, huh? Don't worry. I promise it gets better.

My first stop was to check into my hotel room. Now, since we're still pretty small, we went with a pretty small priced hotel. Someday though, we'll be among the awesome who stay at convention hotels. Luckily, I don't mind a bit of adventure when it comes to staying in a hotel. Besides, quite often I walk away with a story to tell. This con choice? The Microtel on Stringtown Road in Grove City. Yep, Stringtown Road. I think I giggled every single time the gps told me to get off there. It's just such a fun name. I figured a fun name was a good start for what would hopefully shape up to be a fun weekend.

Getting to the hotel was a bit of a hassle. The directions said to go past the hotel and make a u-turn. The only problem? U-turns weren't allowed at the next intersection so I ended up pulling onto the street, into a shopping center, driving all the way around the shopping center, coming back out onto the street, turning onto the correct road and then into the hotel. Whew! Check in was a breeze, even if the girl at the desk didn't seem to really love her job. She wasn't rude, just sort of bored. I managed to get everything inside and down to the room...opened the door to find...1970's porno room! Woo!


These pictures honestly don't do it justice. It was just beyond weird to me that the mirrors were placed like that. Ok, it's kind of weird to have a giant mirrored wall to begin with.

After getting over the shock of the mirrors, I headed down to the convention center. My directions were pretty clear which as y'all know means absolutely nothing when the very exit you're supposed to take no longer exists! I tried following signs that said to convention parking..that didn't help. Luckily, my phone has a built in gps app and it saved my buns! I even got super lucky and found parking in the tiny lot that was right next to the entrance!

After parking, I headed in and stood around  hung out with other fine folks waiting to get their press badges. Right on time, they were handed out and even came with an offer of an introduction to any celebrities and artists that I might want to talk to. It felt really good to be appreciated for what I was there to do.

Once I received my press badge, I got to hang out with two of the volunteers and an on site security guard while I waited for the doors to open. It turns out that the security guard was from Flint. We talked a bit about what it was like and had a great time joking around until it was time for me to get to work.

First stop? Zenescope. I didn't mean to. I'm not addicted to them. Really. Actually, I stopped by because Keith Thomas was standing at their table. If you're not familiar with Keith, you should be. Not only is he a great guy but he wrote one of my current favorites, Cricket for Big Dog Ink. Cricket is a one-shot that should be turned into a mini-series with Keith at the helm. Seriously, it's good stuff.

Tyler Kirkham with the awesome Keith Thomas. Watch out for these two!

Since he was standing there, I stopped by and said hi to him and the Zenescope guys. After some chitchat, it was time for me to really get to work so business cards in hand, I worked my way around the convention floor.

This convention is much smaller than others that I've attended but that didn't prevent it from having some seriously quality people there. I confess to sighing longingly at the Doctor Who store and finding it very cool that there was a booth/table where you could go and they would make you fangs that were quality and would last a lifetime if you took care of them.

Since the con was pretty small, I actually managed to cover all of the floor and about half of artist alley on Friday night. I even had the chance to stop by and say hi to friends like, Dirk Manning (author of Nightmare World).

At the end of Day 1, my feet were tired and I was tired from a long day, but content. I wrapped it all up by being brave and grabbing some White Castle for dinner before relaxing on the bed at the hotel. Why brave? I haven't had White Castle since our whole house got food poisoning in 1996 from some frozen burgers gone bad. All in all, I'll give them an "it's ok." They're not my favorite, but they were ok.

Make sure y'all come back tomorrow where I'll fill you in on the rest of the convention and share lots of pictures that I stole totally took with permission from Keith and Blair.




Life With Katie received press passes for the purpose of this con writeup. All thoughts, comments, fan girling and porn room photos belong to the author. All other pictures belong to their respective cameras. 

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