Day 1 of the Buyer's Market of American Craft

Maker's Mark in a hotel glass, Law & Order SVU on tv. It's the end of Day One of the Buyer's Market of American Craft. I am cranky. We are staying at the Holiday Inn downtown and so far the hotel has been a complete disaster. Let me explain... no, that would take too long. Let me sum up. Smoking king changed to smelly smoking double. Next morning schlepped luggage down to desk so could move to non-smoking double (it should have been moved for us). That night: 9:00 pm, schlepped luggage up to new room after setting up all day at the convention center, no room service, restaurant closed, no internet in new room, 45 minutes on the phone with tech support. Next morning: moved to a new room. Intermittent internet. FedEx package for Teresa delivered to hotel Wednesday morning at 9:30 am, it still hasn't been found or delivered to her.
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Now it's the next morning (Saturday). I slept long and have woken less crabby... I hope. The show started yesterday with a bang and I was behind until almost noon (it started at 10:00) when I finally had pricetags up on everything. I thought I would have a little lull at the beginning as buyers tend to start on the sides--of the hall or of the type of work they are interested in--and work in. Duh, I am on the second aisle in, which pretty much counts as on the side, so I got hit right away. Oh, and fun news! As I was setting up, another glass artist I had not previously met came into my booth to tell me how much she and her sister like reading Glass Incarnate every day. Her name is Patty Hulet and she and her sister make the most edible glass you have ever seen. I am going to see if I can get some of them for Dave for Valentine's Day (we are celebrating next week).

I had a good show yesterday: Four orders including two from new galleries (and a new state! Connecticut!). That makes six orders so far with the two that I got the week before the show. And people like the boxes, but no one is even close to interested in carrying them where I have them priced. I really may need to offer them retail instead of wholesale.

In addition to doing the show I have a deadline of a week from today to finish reviewing and editing my seriously copyedited manuscript. Gulp. But I'm set up now and can cruise on autopilot through Monday when it's time to break down and head home. I should be able to squeeze in editing projects at least.

I read back through what I have written and it's a long, disjointed, caffeine-free post. That's a problem I need to fix. Gonna hop in the shower and head out to Starbuck's