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I don’t really have a highly informative “this is what happened” kind of con report to deliver. Apart from the fact that a lot of my con was taken up either trying to avoid or manage morning sickness and being tired cause pregnant, when you trade in the dealers room, you don’t really experience a con the same way as everyone else. Programming becomes this outside force that determines when you think you can expect waves of people to wander through or to explain why you haven’t seen a non dealer for what feels like days. You usually head to the room before 9 to straighten up and set up for the day and then you hang out there til the room closes. If you’re lucky, like at Conflux, the room has a lock on it and you don’t have to pack your stuff up at the end of each day.

So for me, attending a con tends to be about spending time with my friends – both at my dealers table when they come and hang out with me and keep me company or bring me food (and water) and at breakfast and dinner. This time round, cause I knew this might be my last con for a while (alas, I can’t go to Brighton now), I was determined to really spend quality time with friends all in one place. Because I had to hit the sack early, I didn’t get as much bar time as I would have liked. But this, I am learning, is life.

It’s also about all the people who come past – not just to buy or look at our new books but also to say hi, to show me stuff, to check in on projects we’re working on and to pitch me. I do a lot of other business, other than selling books, in the dealers room at a con. I also get a huge creative boost just by interacting with people. I come home from a con buzzing with ideas and energy and usually throw myself into frenetic work pace for weeks afterwards. I love it.

This is what I get out of being a publisher – my favourite thing, the thing that I get the buzz from, is working with others on a project. I love the creative process from beginning to end. I love coming up with ideas, whether on my own or bouncing ideas with others. I love the development of a work – I love working with creators, I love that synergy, the being on the same wavelength, inspiring each other, taking a good idea to a better one, pushing and inspiring and supporting someone else to be the best that they can be. That’s why I do this, that’s what it’s all about for me. And if my press is never more than what it is now, I think it will have been well worth it. I’m having an awesome time with it.



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