I just starting the recovery process after an, as usually, overwhelming weekend at Anime Central.

Stacie and I drove down from Madison and arrived at ACEN late that afternoon, got checked into the Hyatt, then went to setup in the artist alley. I swear every year that it gets bigger, must have been at least 200 tables there. Kim & Rhea arrived just a bit later, and we all settled in.

Friday was dead in the artist alley, a few people were interested and got a chance to talk with a few other con-goers for a bit, but then I settled down and started the drawing process for the next chapter, but sheer ehaustion from staying up late the few nights before the con had taken their toll. I stopped for dinner at the hotel bar and a wound up back in the room, and I crashed out for the rest of the night.

It wasn’t until Saturday the next day did someone buy the first book of Deverish Also. It really helped improve my mood, and in general the day went better. Later that afternoon, I got the sneak away from the table for awhile and do some cosplay of everyone’s favorite dragon Raezinus for a few hours. A nice stress reliever.

Following closing up the table for the day, a huge crew from the artist alley made our way to our annual dinner at Tasty Cuisine. Had all sorts of tasty Chinese food while discussing all sorts of subjects,ffective promotional techniques, storytelling, random con craziness, etc..

I met up with Lor, Allie, Kinne & Nick after dinner for an impromptu art jam. We found a relatively quiet corner of the con and worked on various art projects, and had a good time in general until we were too tiered to go on.

After the impromptu art jam, I hopped onto one of the overcrowded, overworked elevators. After a few stops on the way up, three more people decided the had to cram themselves in, and that when the fun started. The doors closed, and instead of moving up, the elevator jerked and dropped three feet, repeating this until it wound up on the ground floor. Just about everyone inside was freaking out, and when the doors opened, the tree people the decided the cram themselves in were unceremoniously kicked off. Made it back up to the seventh floor and made a note to myself that staying at the non-con hotel next year was probably a good idea.

Sunday went well, it started off slow, but I wounding up selling just as may books as Saturday. I picked up the third book in the Paradigm Shift series from the man Dirk himself, and picked up another set of prints to adorn my wall from Neon Dragon.

On the way home from ACEN, I made the now traditional stop the Mitsuwa for dinner, and had a teriyaki egg burger from Gabutto. Yes, there was a fried egg on the burger, and it was delicious, as was the unconquerable mound of wasabi french fries. Then it was time for the drive home.

Here’s a sneak peek at the beginning to Chapter 4 that I was working on during Anime Central.

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