It’s 8:41 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22. All the good planners and go-getters exhibiting at San Diego Comic-Con International (aka SDCC aka Geek Prom) are already in San Diego, their booths/tables already set up, enjoying cocktails at the Hilton bar, trying to/not to run into X or Y comic book professional.

Me? I’m sitting at my dining room table, hunched over my laptop, finishing up last-minute work for freelance clients, waiting for my laundry to finish so I can pack up my bags in order to leave Las Vegas at about 5 a.m. tomorrow so that I can hopefully make it to the San Diego Convention Center by 11 a.m. so I can have the Pop! Goes the Icon booth set-up by 2 p.m. Originally, I had a hotel booked for tonight, which would have enabled me to drop down there today, get checked in, set-up, and then relax until tomorrow at 6 p.m., when Preview Night begins (I think). But we already were paying for five nights, and I couldn’t justify the extra night, especially not on the negative-cash-flow budget of an indie publisher, so … here I am.

It’s just as well. I needed that extra day to get everything done and prepped without totally losing my mind (or too much sleep). Aside from all the actual prep for the convention—designing/printing signage, fliers and stickers, boxing/packing comics and display materials, running over my checklist a dozen times—I had to get both my freelance work and Creation Forge Studios business relatively caught up and squared away, as all of that will be shut down for the next week. That meant powering through press releases, articles and meetings the last two days, because last week was spent printing everyone ELSE’s stuff for SDCC at the studio.

But it’s all wrapped up (I hope), the out-of-office auto-responders are activated, the office voicemail greeting is updated, my car’s oil has been changed, fluids topped off, tires filled and packed full of comics, my hair is freshly cut, and all that’s left—aside from driving 332 miles and hopefully setting up before the cut-off—is for YOU to stop by the Pop! Goes the Icon booth in Small Press at table M-3. Oh, look, here’s a map:

I’ll be there Wednesday-Sunday (ye gods!) with San Hannibal creators Dan Schkade and Jesse Snavlin. Come by, buy some comics, get them signed, take some pictures, and please excuse the harried look on my face.