So, I went to San Diego Comic Con this year. I did have a great time, though it’s not something I feel like I need to do again, unless I’m exhibiting. Of course, I always enjoy cons more when I’m hawking my own wares. After Comic Con was over, I decided to be clever and ship all my purchases back home, along with a bunch of DVDs and CDs I picked up while visiting my friend in LA, instead of trying to carry it all on the plane.

Great plan. Except not.

I’ll be exhibiting my wares at The Boston Zine Fair this year. There will definitely be other comics folks there also (mini-comics are really just a kind of zine, really), and show is being organized by The Boston Comics Roundtable. The show is September 20-21, at The Art Institute of Boston.

I’m pleased to announce that I’m officially going to be teaching Writing The Graphic Novel I at Emerson College, starting this fall. This course is part of their certificate program in Graphic Novel Writing and Illustrating.

The first issue of the Boston Comics Roundtable’s anthology, Inbound got a good write-up over at BeaucoupKevin. Not exactly a positive review, but he offers some solid criticism, which is always good to see. On my own story (with Steve Harrison), he comments:

“…fairly standard indie comics stories - nothing bad, per se, but nothing that excited me, even if I really liked Steve Harrison’s art…”

The Boston Comics Roundtable, of which I am a member, has just released the first issue of its new anthology, Inbound. We debuted at MoCCA, where it sold very well, and the first issue is now available for online purchase.

Lending Can Openers, my collaboration with Steve Harrison, appears in this issue, along with another short piece Steve and I did, which has not been published online. Plus, lots of other cool folks.

A reminder to folks in New York City — my play, Parens., will receive a public reading this Saturday at 7:00 at the Stella Adler Studio (31 W. 27th St., 2nd Floor). If you do come, don’t be surprised if the building doesn’t look like a theatre. The address is clearly marked on the outside, but the name of the studio isn’t. Just go on in and head up to the second floor, where there are a pair of tiny black box theatres. I’ll be in one of those.

Those of you who had trouble following Bring Your Daughter to Work Day in Grug’s LiveJournal will be happy to know that the entire story can now be read WCN-style, right here.

My play Parens. has been selected for a public reading as part of the City Attic Theatre’s C.A.T. Tales new play festival! This is the second time I’ve worked with this company — Cubicles was included in their first C.A.T. Tales festival a couple of years ago, and I had a great time working with them. If you’re in NY, I hope you’ll consider coming out. I’m not sure what the ticket price will be, but probably not much. I’ll update with more info as soon as I know more.

Top Shelf has just launched a new webcomics initiative that they’re calling Top Shelf 2.0.

I haven’t read much of the material up there yet, but I thought I should point out Love Puppets, by Jessica McLeod and Edward J. Grug III. Grug, of course, is also currently illustrating my story “Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.” Love Puppets is a very cute romance/dating comic, centered, oddly enough, around a bunch of hand puppets.

I haven’t done a projects update in a long time, mainly because there haven’t been any projects to keep folks updated on. As I may have mentioned, I started teaching this past September. And one teaching job quickly snowballed into four teaching jobs, plus occasional speaking engagements. Which is great—I love the work I’m doing now. I love teaching, I love speaking to audiences, and I’m always happy to be in a classroom, regardless of which side of the big desk I’m on.

But, I’m discovering that teaching does eat away at my creative energy, not to mention my time.