My first con art show and “guesthood”

I’ve been to a handful of conventions over the years, and through those I’ve always been just an attendee (save for KillerCon last fall where I was on my first panel). Today I’m leaving for VisionCon, and my first shot at being a guest.

I’ve been to VisionCon before, last year actually.  I was an attendee, and in the middle of last year I was asked to be a guest and be in the art show.  I think it’s a great chance to get my work in front of a lot of people, many of whom may never have seen it before.

Now, being who I am, I also tend to be overly nervous about things.  Along with being a guest, I’m bringing a number of small things to sell.  Prints, bookmarks, and so on, and the idea of coming back with all of it instead of selling any is always present.

I’m also the type of person that wonders if anyone will even like my work at all.  Of course, I wonder that every time I show someone any work of mine, but there’s a certain added pressure in my head since I’m a guest.

The attitude I’m leaving home with this morning is this: there’s no way I can control what people think, and I just need to take a deep breath, have fun and love what I do.

Despite the troubles I see in my daily life (especially this week), I am pretty lucky that I get to use my energy to be creative.  I get published here and there.  I have projects in the works with a few excellent authors, and those projects are all very different from one another.  I get asked by great conventions to be a guest.

Taking a step back, things actually look pretty good. No matter what happens this weekend, I have the honor and privilege of getting to do something I love, and seeing friends that I don’t get to that often.  I can’t really ask any more than that.