Comic-Con 2014 is behind us, it's time to start planning for 2015…and I'm home. I'll post a report on my Sunday either later tonight or tomorrow morning but right now, I've decided to go public with a minor matter. Several folks who saw me at the con wrote to say they were concerned I looked exhausted and maybe not well. This is about nothing that won't go away on its own in a couple of days but, yes, I was exhausted. I was exhausted before the con, too. Every so often, it happens…a combination of Too Much To Do and Not Enough Sleep.
I get like that once a year or so, if that often, and ordinarily I'm back to M.E. before you know it. Oddly enough, the best way for me to relax is not to take a break from writing but to just write what I feel like writing at the moment, which is usually stuff which I may or may not ever offer to a publisher or producer. Writing on this blog is also nourishing, especially things like those essays about my family. Unfortunately, the timing didn't work this time. Instead of taking a few days off to do that, I had to get packed, go to San Diego, host 11 panels, be on two more, present three awards, accept one for someone else, do one signing, do four interviews, take three business meetings, etc. And I don't sleep well at cons because my brain is already introducing tomorrow's panels.
So, yeah, I looked beat. I felt beat, too. But I assure you I'm fine…or will be by the time this week is over, and I thank all those who wrote in to express concern.
And I had two other problems. One was my right knee. One of the smarter things I've done in my life was to get that Cortisone shot in it last Tuesday. They take 24-48 hours to "kick in" and mine miraculously began working about the time I had to walk to the convention hall Wednesday evening for Preview Night. Still, neither knee was always functioning properly.
Other problem: Because of said knees, I decided to secure space in the hall so I'd have a place to sit between panels. Big mistake. There are many people in my profession who can do things I cannot do like drawing and coloring and inking. Another is to sit behind a table at a con. Hate it, hate it, hate it. I may have to learn to tolerate this when I get older but I discovered this year how much I don't want to do that. By early Friday, I'd abandoned my spot and if people wanted their copies of Groo Vs. Conan #1 signed, they had to catch me while I was in Roaming mode.
Anyway, that's why I looked like one of those zombie cosplayers but without makeup. And I want to apologize to several folks I promised to talk to and didn't get around to visiting with like David Spurlock, Thom Zahler and Arlen Schumer. This won't happen next year…I hope.