This time next week, I'll have spent most of the day trading at MCM London. Hopefully it'll have been a busy day and I won't have spent too much time wondering what I've forgotten to bring.
Right now, I'm surrounded by boxes, stock and a list of things that still need doing. Between the school holidays and a sudden rush of online orders, I've ended up doing a lot more of the preparation at night than I'd planned.
I've got less than a week to get everything finished, packed and loaded into the van, then make the journey down to London ready to set up on Thursday.
It's getting a bit close now!
Trying to fit a shop into a van
I've spent a fair bit of time this week figuring out how much I can actually fit in the van.
At the last count, I had about 50 boxes of stock to account for. I think I've got a plan for fitting everything in, but we'll see how well that survives actually loading the van.
The board games are causing me a bit of a headache too.
I've added quite a few new games since Tabletop Scotland, and I'd like to bring a decent selection to London. The trouble is, board game boxes are all different sizes, which makes packing them a pain.
I've been trying to work out which games to bring and how to pack them without wasting half the space in each box.
I'm probably going to have to leave some behind, which is a shame.
The painting is never finished
The duckies are done!
I've painted and packed hundreds of them. That's one job I'm very happy to have crossed off the list.
The miniatures are packed too, along with hundreds of acrylic, metal and resin dice.
There's still quite a lot I'd like to paint though.
I've got a Twin Fates dice tower on the list, and various other bits that I'd hoped to have finished for London. I'm starting to accept that some of them might not get done.
I keep thinking of more things I could print or paint to take with me, even though I've already got plenty to pack. There's always another model I'd like to finish or something I think might sell well at the event.
Eventually I have to stop making things and start packing them!
School holidays and late nights
As if there wasn't enough to do, the October school holidays have meant that a lot of the last-minute preparation is happening at night, once everything else is out of the way.
And the online orders have gone a bit mad over the last few weeks!
I'm certainly not complaining, but it's taking a lot more of my time than I'd expected. I'm still managing to get orders packed and sent out the same day or the next day, but that's time I thought I'd be spending getting ready for London.
So between keeping up with orders and trying to get everything ready for MCM, there's been quite a bit of late-night painting and packing going on.
What am I bringing?
Dice, obviously. Quite a lot of dice.
I've added loads of new sets recently, including acrylic dice, metal sets and some new resin designs. I've got them packed, so at least I know they're coming!
I'll also have a selection of my miniatures, dice towers and tabletop accessories.
And I'm planning to bring a decent selection of board and card games.
I've had some more games arrive this week, including Dead & Breakfast, Star Clicker, Hellboy: The Dice Game and a few others. I'm still deciding what will actually make it into the van, so I can't promise every game will be there.
And, of course, the duckies will be coming too!
MCM London runs from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th October at ExCeL London.
If you're heading along, come and say hello! I'll be there with as much of BlueCyborg as I can squeeze into the van.
Right, back to the packing!