Hey! I tabled at ANE! That was cool! I haven't ever done one of these post-con recap posts before, and considering ANE was probably my busiest and most successful con ever by a lot of metrics, I thought maybe it was worth doing! So. Here we go.

- Oh dang was I busy!! I nearly sold out of most of my merch, which I'm very grateful for. The trip to the con was pretty difficult because I had to haul so much on the train, the trip back was a lot easier with lighter bags. My main takeaway from tabling was that I need to up my prices on my simple, next-day badge commissions. They were very popular, moreso than I thought they would be, and working on them at my table really kept me busy! I made so many of them that my laminating machine broke at my table, which was pretty frustrating, but also a good sign that I might want to chill out with them. I did limit myself to only taking three of these commissions at a time, which I'm grateful I did, but I think they're worth more than I realized at first.

- This was probably the happiest I've ever been with my table setup at a con. I've been tabling at conventions for a decade as of this year, and I finally feel like I have a great handle on how best to present all of my merch and have a professional and distinct look to my table. I've come a really long way at doing this, and it made me feel really proud of myself.

- I am also thinking about someone (that I know, this isn't like a hiring call, lol) to help me watch my table and sell stuff at the con. Not because I can't handle a table myself, I definitely can! But I didn't get to walk around the Dealer's Den and talk with other artists, or see as much of my friends or of panels this con as I would have liked to. It would be nice to be able to leave my table and not be paranoid that I'm losing business by doing that. So I'm definitely going to consider that at the next con I table at. I wanna be more social at cons and not just working the whole time!

- I'm continually impressed by how well ANE staff treats its dealers. In my opinion all cons should give us a catered lunch break, I can't believe it isn't the standard. That said, I'm probably not going to do the Night Market again next year. Not just because there were some hiccups in organizing it - that's already been talked about to death online. But even if it was totally smooth and perfect, I just don't think I want to also dedicate a full night of the con to working when I could be seeing people and relaxing after a long day at my table. It was pretty stressful to do both in one day! So, as nice as it was to sell some extra prints, I'd definitely rather have fun with my friends in the evening.

- My partner did a bunch of DJ-ing at a room party and the Dead Dog dance, and it was some of the most fun I had the whole time. Especially after working all day, it feels so incredible to throw all the stress off by dancing like an idiot, surrounded by friends and fursuiters. Definitely another reminder that I want to dedicate more time to socializing at these cons instead of just working. I love this community, it's really important to me, and I don't want it to just become a paycheck for me, you know? The theme of the weekend really was "okay, I've proven that people like my art, and that I can make some extra cash doing it, great, but like, I want to actually socialize and make friends at these events, too, dang!!" So, that's something I'm going to keep in mind for the future.

- Despite everything I said about worrying about working too much, it was still an incredible experience tabling this year. I spend so much of my time hunched over my desk working on furry stuff that it's easy to forget that anybody actually cares about what you do. So it's really validating to have people come up to you and tell you they've been following your art for a long time, or to have people that don't know your art see it and be interested, or to tell you they love your colors or characters or kinks you draw. It's like, "oh wow, I'm not just throwing jpgs into the void here." I really appreciate everyone that stopped by and said nice things about my work to me!!

- Other funny or cool things that happened this con: Seeing internet friends I'd never met for the first time, getting delicious ramen with a giant group of people, swapping sketchbooks in our underwear at the end of the weekend, watching a friend get a train run on him, the hilariously bad service at the restaurant attached to the hotel, getting squished by Nargle in the elevator, bringing two dozen bagels for breakfast every day and being really pretentious about everyone eating at Dunkin, meeting a bunch of artists I admire in the Zoo... idk probably a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting but this entry is long enough.

So, yeah, definitely going to apply to table again at ANE next year. As far as my future con attendance this year, I'm going to aim to be at AC (not going to table this time, but I did apply to run a panel, so more on that when I hear back), and I am also going to apply to table at FurPoc. So, look out for me at those if you want to say hey. Ok bye.