All is Fair
This week was a big one for the s
Folks, it has been a wild one.
I’m writing this at the tail end of one of the most intense weeks we’ve had at the shop. The week itself was pretty normal, but a bunch of projects are all coming home to roost at the same time. All of the Free Comic Book Day product has arrived, and so we started to put together packages for various libraries who reached out looking to participate. While this happened, we prepped for a school book fair that took place over Thursday and Friday.
The book fair itself was remarkable. We ran over 260 transactions to kids and their parents, and the kids were excited. The best part was seeing kids gather on the benches at the side of the gym they had us set up in, the majority of them reading what they bought immediately while the waited for their other classmates to make their choices. Other cool parts were seeing kids pool their money with friends to help them get the things they wanted, and listening to a lot of them talk excitedly about their various interests. It was awesome. Aaaaaaand it was tiring.
The fair pushed our regular Thursday deliveries off onto Friday night, where I had to take a ten minute nap before my last drop off. The push of the week has me absolutely exhausted, to the point where I could feel my brain drifting as I neared the last delivery. I didn’t want to feel that way driving back to the store, so I set a quick timer, shut my eyes, and woke up just a little fresher than I had been.
Fridays tend to be a day off for me - one that I use to recharge my batteries and get some writing done. Danica offered to let me take Saturday off instead, but after a bank deposit, a donut run1, a few chats with customers, and a grocery run, I made it home with about an hour to relax before heading back in to work.
Later today, I’m heading off to see my doctor. I hadn’t been to a doctor in years, and have largely avoided them for almost two decades. This, despite living in Canada, and being able to visit the doctor without having to pay for much. I had an appointment a few weeks back, and got some lab work done last week. I got a call telling me my doctor wanted to follow up with me. We set up an over-the-phone appointment. Then, a few days later, I was asked if that appointment could be in person. So I’m thinking I’m about to get some news.
I don’t think that the news will be too terrible. If it was, I think time would have been made for a quicker consultation. But I’m relatively certain I’m in for a change in circumstance. I won’t lie, I’ve been a little nervous about the whole thing. I can’t wait to know my results and get moving on… whatever it is I’ll need to do.
Outside of this, I have two talks scheduled this week for schools, where I talk to kids about the importance of community, and the pursuit of the things you love. I absolutely love these talks, but I get so nervous before they happen. One of them is going to be a few hours after my doctor’s appointment.
This all leads into preparing for this year’s Free Comic Book Day. And then a library convention talk later that month. And then an in-store signing with Chip Friggen’ Zdarsky on May 20th. And then whatever else is coming up.
All of this to say, a lot is happening right now, and it doesn’t seem like things will be slowing down anytime soon. Such is the life of a small business owner. The result, however, is this placeholder of a post where I ramble about where I’m at, instead of something you might all be interested in. For that, I apologize. But, there are some exciting things coming up, like:
Hey, W0rldTr33 is finally out this Wednesday, and wow, do we have some words about it.
My thoughts on the shop I started doing comics retail at going out of business.
5 Secrets to running a successful comic shop
And a few others. But for now? I’m going to take a rest while I have a moment.
Talk with you soon.
-B.
A new place in our business district was having their grand opening, and we absolutely had to support it. We did not regret this decision.