We have not posted for the past few days because we have been busily preparing for AWP, the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference. We went to AWP for the first time last year on a lark. It was in DC, so not much of a drive and not much of a risk. We were curious to see how our stuff would rate with the writer set. The results were extremely favorable. In addition to selling more books than we had ever sold at a single show, we lined up a bunch of interesting speaking gigs and teaching engagements. So we were inspired to give it another try again this year, even though this year’s conference is in Chicago.

We have nothing against Chicago, of course, other than its being a 14-hour drive from here. We have to drive to Chicago because of the large amount of stuff we need to fill our 10 x 10 foot booth.

Here is just some of the stuff we will be bringing.

Yes, the baby is coming along. The other two are not invited and will be spending the week with our dear friends Ann and Donald. But that didn’t keep Kato from contributing to the preparations (more on this to come).

One trick we learned from helping Bob and Seiko with the Philadelphia Flower Show for so many years is that of all the boxes one brings to a show, one is the most important, the box that contains all of the most essential items, the box without which all would be lost: the booth box.

In our case, the booth box contains the essentials for setting up: the banner, the clamps, the hardware, the tape, the x-acto knife, the scissors, the rubber bands, the business cards, the subscription signup cards, etc, etc. It is absolutely imperative that the booth box emerge easily from the sea of other boxes so that it can be the first one carried into the conference hall. As such, Robbi invited Kato to decorate it distinctively.

I’m confident that we’ll be able to pick it out of the crowd.

In full-on AWP preparation mode, Robbi spent yesterday at Home Depot, purchasing hardware for our new booth display. Usually we operate with six-foot tables. This year, we’re opting for a different configuration, using a four-foot table instead. The change necessitated a complete overhaul of the banner setup, new fittings, and a bit of handiwork with the hack saw.

As surprising as it might sound, Robbi is remarkably adept at conquering conundrums. I’ve never known her to encounter an engineering dilemma she couldn’t tinker her way out of. The result:

Resounding success.

We will, of course, smooth out the unsightly wrinkle in our banner for the actual show.

Here’s our preliminary plan for our four-foot table at the front of the booth: Build Your Own President, surrounded by a cluster of our other newest stuff.

We’re also taking the classics from the Idiots vault: 50 copies each of Ten Thousand Stories and After Everafter.

30 Six Degrees of Francis Bacon posters.

And (out of deference to the writers) some of our slightly more literary stuff.

But all would be for naught without the booth box.

We’re almost packed. Almost ready to go. All we have to do is put the baby in the booth box and the booth box in the car.

We pull out of dodge at 8:00 Tuesday morning. Chicago or bust, we say.