Genericon 2019 Changed my Life





On Friday afternoon I dropped my kids off at my parents’ house, loaded up the car, and traveled I-90 with Octostar Creations for Genericon 2019.  We came back late last night in a blustery and rainy wind storm and I am still in awe of this weekend.

 I’ve been to Genericon in 2015, and 2017, it’s one of my favorite college cons.  This time was a very different experience.

 Very.
Very.
Different.

 It was my first returning con with Mark of the Castle.  The response was insane, to put it mildly.  I was approached by dozens of fans with stories I never expected to hear, from a mom who secretly purchased the book for her daughter and photographed her reaction to someone who had used the morality of Centernia as a topic for a college assignment.  I was approached by artists, aspiring audiobook narrators, and clusters of friend groups who had been passing around a copy of Centernia for years.  There were people who had bought it at other cons, including NYCC 2014, the year I launched this fledgling endeavor.   Four years is a long time to wait and maintain hope and excitement.

 I also gained a huge insight into the internet from this experience.  Again and again, I heard how people were checking my website and sundry of social media feeds, waiting for updates.  They knew about my kids, my brain tumor, and everything I had gone through since 2014.  As a content creator, I thrive off of feedback, and I realized that these were people who were silently watching, not always liking or commenting or emailing, but still there.  This shouldn’t surprised me, there are dozens of content creators I have religiously followed for years, and I love them though I’ve never sent a single email or posted a comment.  I am content being the fan who admires from afar.  Centernia has these in greater numbers than I had imagined.

 I have more content to share with these people.  Years of artwork stockpiled, because I didn’t think it was good enough, world guides, unpublished blog posts, so much Centernia that I didn’t think people would care about.  Clearly my imposter syndrome got the better of me.

 I will be more diligent about blog posts and sharing art!


And YES, book three is happening. There it is, on my playroom wall, between the clouds and the massive collection of legos.  The actual chapters are being written.


It’s coming, no promises when, but it will happen.

And now, I happily update the Centernia Con List, commemorating over a thousand copies sold...
Roc Con 2014
New York Comic Con 2014
Youmacon 2014
Tora Con 2015
Anime Boston 2015
Genericon 2015
Sci Fi Valley Con 2015
UB Mini Con 2015
Cosplay Snowfest 2015
Another Anime Con 2016
Genericon 2017
Flower City Comic Con 2017
Tora Con 2017
Flower City Comic Con 2018
Salt City Comic Con 2018
Wizarding Weekend Ithaca 2018
Genericon 2019

 Out in Texas, thanks to MIRANDA BLAKELY for sharing Centernia to new fans at:
Comicpalooza 2015
Dallas FanExpo 2015
Sci-Fi Fest San Antonio 2015
San Antonio Indie Book Fest 2015

 In downstate NY, thanks to CATHY RAZIM and her husband JOE PIETRUCH for being ultimate 
Centernia evangelists at:
Eternal Con 2015
WinterCon 2016
First Con-tact 2016 
Flower City Comic Con 2016
Sci Fi Valley Con 2016 
East Meadow Comic Con 2016
EveryCon 2016
East Hampton Pop Expo 2016
Fan World 2016
Fandemicon 2016
Immortal Con 2016
Syracuse Hot Summer Expo 2016
Roc Con 2018
FC3 Mini Con 2018
And finally, look for me at Anime Boston 2019 and Salt City Comic Con 

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