Everything worked out.

My brilliant wife suggested I write up a schedule at the beginning of the month, so I made a list of things I wanted to achieve (modified this), then systematically achieved each one.

As for Ginny and We Come from Somewhere This Was Real are printed, bound, and traveling to the Holiday Inn in New Jersey. They’ll arrive shortly before I do, which is perfect. And let me tell you, while As for Ginny cooked off without a hitch, I made a dog’s breakfast of We Come from Somewhere This Was Real. Figuring out the page numbers and section breaks was hand-to-hand combat, and even as I corrected three errors, I managed to introduce a new one. This time around, I cannot sing highly enough the praises of 48 Hour Books who gave me every chance and every break in the world to perfect the manuscript. When I approved the final copy, they redoubled their efforts to get it out the door on time. Last time (SizeCon ’20), I cut it too close without warning them, and that was my fault. This year, they went out of their way to do a great job.

And the zine is completed! It’s all laid out to fit, and I underestimated Word’s capacity to arrange and print the pages of a folded booklet. After confusing four workers at FedEx, I was referred to the one who should by rights be regional manager, because within minutes she produced a professional-looking draft. I recommended a couple tweaks, she executed them perfectly, and now I have a box of 30 Size Fantasy zines to peddle at my table as well. Four are going out to fans and creators in the mail, in fact, before I even make it to SizeCon. How cool would it be, to loop Size writers and artists into an old-skool zine?

So everything is done, a full week before I ride out to the airport. I have no stress or anxiety. Everything has fallen into place with the support of my wife and the encouragement of my readers. I feel much better about things, now.