Morning,
Can-Con was a lot of fun. I had been reconsidering going next year but after this weekend, I’m looking forward to it. I was greeted warmly by lots of people I really like and respect. Some of them I hadn’t expected, and it made me feel way more welcome than I’ve ever remembered.
It was a nice weekend filled will great people and a really chill vibe.
Thank you to everyone who came to talk and I look forward to seeing you all next year.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
This past weekend was Ottawa ComicCon, and it was a busy one. We saw lots of people, sold a lot of coffee, and somehow survived.
Every year while i prep, I wonder why I do it. It’s weeks of set-up, roasting, packaging, planning, and packing. I get all grumpy and introverted and worried.
But every year, the people make it worth it! In no particular order, I’d like to thank:
Special shout-out to my family for being amazing. We couldn’t do this without you!
Another special thanks to Dragon and Pegasus, who were amazingly well-behaved and made us proud all weekend.
We feel loved, appreciated, and maybe a little more hopeful.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Hello Readers,
Last weekend I asked the incomparable Talhí Briones to comment on the cover I had designed. She didn’t hold back and reminded me of things like balance and the rule of thirds.
It led me to redesign the cover. I think the changes, although minor, make it a much stronger cover.
What do you think?
Pre-orders for the book will be coming soon.
If you want a book that you can pre-order now, check out Talhí’s Mrs. Victoria Buys a Brothel.
1865, United States— It took thirty years and a dislocated arm for Victoria to leave her abusive husband. Heartbroken, she has to choose her own life over the hope of ever seeing her son again. She escapes the manor in the dead of night, only bringing with her a white wedding dress.
She ends up in Swainsburg, a minuscule town in Wyoming, where she’s adopted by the local prostitutes. To save them from expulsion, she buys the building and learns that in these parts, entertainment is worth more than gold. It’s almost easy, even fun, to organize piano recitals and cancan shows for the cowboys of the area, but being a Madam comes with responsibilities and dangers she isn’t ready to face. Her husband, after all, has contacts everywhere.
It’s hard to navigate the delicate tensions between respectable ladies and whores, between white society and the ‘others.’ Her new friends are women who carved their place in this merciless life; people who, like her, ended up in Swainsburg when they got tired of running.
Victoria doesn’t notice, can’t even imagine the possibility; but she falls in love. The townfolk say the widow Díaz is strange, but Natane is actually incredibly awkward, kind, and very lonely. Victoria has no name for this burning friendship, but the feeling grows and demands to be acknowledged.
This is a story about women who age, gossip, drink, love… and help you hide the body of your dead husband.
Here are some places you can order the book:
You can also ask for it at any local bookstore or library 🙂
Thank you,
Éric
Dear Pegasus and Dragon,
One of my favourite parts of being your father is watching your minds develop. You have such different and amazing ideas. It’s also fascinating to see the difference.
Dragon, you’re now old enough that you’re starting to put structure to your thoughts. When we wrote Assassins, you randomly said, “The bad guy should be called The Beast.” It was random and we made it work. Yesterday, I was talking about a story I wrote involving a snowman and you gave me story ideas, a coherent concept, and it was something I’ve never seen or thought of. I’m being vague because I’m going to use it in a future TTRPG session. It’s impressive to see your mind work.
Pegasus, you’re still in the phase of being completely random. I’m sure you’re tired of me asking for explanations but I want to understand. I want to know your process because it’s both fascinating and impressive. You have a mind that grasps a concept, takes it in, and then moves on so fast that I can’t always follow. I can’t wait until I can follow you or you know how to explain.
You both have such amazing and unfettered imaginations. I hope that’s something you’ll continue to nurture. I’ll do what I can to help you as long as I can.
Thank you for the privilege of watching you learn, grow, and imagine. The world is all kinds of sad right now and you give me hope.
I love you my little Pegasus and Dragon!
Your Papa
Hello Coffee Lovers,
Ten years ago, I got the idea of roasting my own coffee. It was born from a combination of wanting to contribute to JenEric Designs sales and find a flavoured coffee that wouldn’t hurt my stomach.
With this first batch, I decided to keep trying, and after figuring out the timing for adding the flavouring, I started roasting enough for Pop Expo 2014. I managed to roast a total of 10lbs.
Look how tiny it is:
We had 3 flavours available that year; Butter Rum, Cinnamon, and Chocolate Hazelnut.
The price we charged at the time was $10 for 125g (a little over 4oz). Shockingly, with better equipment and suppliers, we were able to bring the price down about 8 years ago to $8 for 4oz.
There have been times I’ve considered quitting, but it is something I love doing. I’ll never be able to retire on it, but it’s a fun job.
Overall, we’ve been extremely lucky with equipment, suppliers, and especially clients.
Thank you for ten great years!
Éric
Hello Readers,
Jen and I were at Can-Con 2022 this weekend in downtown Ottawa. It was wonderful to see all those that could make it, and simultaneously felt like nothing had changed in two and a half years and like everything was a little off. That was probably because of the amount of wonderful people that were missing, either due to COVID or other circumstances.
However, we had a lot of fun and chatted with a lot of people. Jen had her first reading and her first pitch, both of which she handled admirably. No seriously, I think her part of the reading was way better than mine. Definitely better than my first readings.
We signed lots of books, and bought probably more.
It was a good time thanks to everyone who interacted with us.
Another big milestone; it was Dragon’s first event since lockdown. We felt comfortable bringing her since it was vaccine madnatory and masked at all times. She, somehow, remembered her Con manners and everybody loved her. She dialed up the cute to a near-painful level. It was great to see her being social and excited and just having fun with other people. She would walk around the vendor’s room by herself and come bouncing back to tell us about the random words she’d read on various book covers.
A lot of other things happened that I’m sure I’m forgetting right now. The big takeaway was that it was a wonderful convention with great people and one of the few times out of the house that I felt safe.
Thank you to everyone who was there, who bought, who volunteered and organized, and entertained Dragon. To those who couldn’t make it, I hope to see you next year.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
This past weekend the entire JenEric family went to one of our favourite conventions; Can*Con. The people were lovely and the event was wonderful, but boy am I glad it’s over.
It’s definitely the most stressful convention for me. Most conventions, my job is to stand there, look pretty, and sell coffee. At Can*Con, I’m also an author and need to talk about my books and my experience. Often times, with people I respect and am in awe of.
This year I had a panel about multiple point of view narratives with Tanya Huff and Kevin Hearn. Both amazing writers and extremely intelligent panelists. I think, to my surprise, I didn’t come off as a complete fool, so yay. (A personal fanboy moment was when Tanya chided me for not mentioning my Aurora nomination.)
Took a deep dive into multiple POVs at the Who’s your Hero Panel today. Thanks for the insights @KevinHearne @TanyaHuff @EricDesmarais @KVJohansen @CanConSF pic.twitter.com/VCuOcol326
— Colleen Winter (@ColleenWinter3) October 20, 2019
I also had a signing with Charles De Lint. I spent half the time chatting with people in line to talk with him and half the time chatting with him. He’s a really nice person and we chatted about book formatting and support structures.
Now all that was stressful but awesome. Unfortunately, all 4 of us came down with a cold just before the convention. So doing a convention with a 3 year old and a baby while being sick was… exhausting.
Despite all of us being exhausted, we decided we needed to go to the Aurora awards banquet (we were both nominated but didn’t expect to win). Dragon wanted to dress up and we were just too darn tired so we didn’t. We were the schlumps in t-shirts and jeans but we had a great time.
On the Sunday I had a reading and took Dragon to ensure I had an audience. To my surprise, there were three other people. At least one of which was there to hear me read. Yay, I have a fan! Thanks S!
Doing conventions with kids is hard but totally worth it. Pegasus mostly slept, but Dragon was as good as possible. She listened, didn’t touch things, and only melted down a few times. I’m really proud of them.
Doing conventions with kids isn’t easy, but what makes it infinitely better is doing it with people who love them and like to entertain them. S. M. Carrière being the godmother spends a lot of time helping us at almost every con. Nathan of Renaissance was amazing despite being busy 99% of the con. Heather Chambers was absolutely fantastic with Dragon. She drew with her, played, and spent lots of time laughing.
There are more people that helped then I can name.
To everyone who helped, chatted, bought something, listened to me read or rant, or just made this convention amazing. Thank you so much!
I’m exhausted but happy.
Thank you again,
Éric
Hello Imaginary Friends, Coffee Lovers, Blushers, Fandom Travellers, TARDIS lovers, and Crochet aficionados,
THANK YOU! To everyone who came to see us this past weekend at Ottawa Comic Con. It’s not the venue or the guests that make a great con, but the attendees, and this year you were extra awesome.
Without you ,there would be no JenEric Coffee, Designs, Travelling TARDIS, or Blush. (Aspiring Something would still exist because I don’t think I could stop writing, but it would be much less fun alone.)
Thank you again and see you next year at Ottawa ComicCon 2020!
Éric
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I’m still recovering from the awesomness that was Can-Con. I really need to plan taking time off after.
Most of my weekend was spent at the table selling stuff and giving away coffee samples. It’s great to hear and see the joy coffee brings some people. For those that didn’t like coffee I sent them 3 tables down to the fantastic Heart Tea Heart.
I was on one panel about heroism in Star Wars and it was a great discussion. The panelists were inteligent, well spoken, and made great points. (I rambled and agreed a lot.)
Other than that I loved the opportunity to talk coffee and books with all the fantastic attendees. The organizers and venue are always fantastic. Thank you and I look forward to next year!
I’m drained… enjoy these pictures of the Child Dragon.
Later Days,
Éric
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
With my week off and 2d6 Con drain, I forgot to talk about Ottawa Comiccon 2017. First things first:
You made this years’ comiccon the best we’ve ever had, both in sales and in great company. We had a lot of people coming by to see Baby Dragon (who was quite the trooper) and a lot of return customers.
A great big thank you goes to Lindsay (GiLove2Dance) for sharing a table again this year and helping with Dragon. It was nice to get a break when she stole the baby and walked around.
We’re almost recovered from Comiccon now, so it’s time to start thinking about our next events. Our next selling event is C.O.N. Creative Ottawa Nerds Craft Show. It’s one of my favourite shows.
Thank you again, and hope to see you June 10th,
Éric
