As always, I had a FABULOSO time in Austin at Staple last weekend, even though I think I made the mistake of staying at my hotel too much (what can I say, I'm one of them introverted types) and therefore, the hotel workers were getting a little TOO familiar with me. "Ms. Gallagher, would you like another bottle of wine this evening?" Um ... I could be all "You don't know me!" but clearly, he did.

I had a blast chatting about comics, meeting new people, and even being included on a Webcomics Marketing Panel! Even though sometimes I get a little stage frighty, I LOVE being on panels and getting to chat about comics to a larger audience. This one was moderated by Mr. Boundless Energy Richard Whittaker, I got to chat with Jeremy The Artist, Jason Poland, and Kennon James.

It seemed like most of the questions from the audience were in regards to HOW to start a webcomic - i.e. what platform to use, what tools, how much web design do you need to know, etc. One thing we all seemed to agree on was to just start DOING. Start creating, and whether you post stuff via your phone camera and uploading to a newly created Tumblr page, or scanning and posting stuff on your own website/blog, the important thing was to just get started. No matter what, it won't be perfect and it will continue to evolve, no matter how much you plan and think you've thought of everything from the start. That's why I figure it's best to just do, go, draw, write! Nothing will be perfection, and everything will change, so you might as well kick it into gear and start!

As always, Chris "Mr. Staple" Nicholas put on a really fun show that I feel like highlights some of my favorite things about Austin - friendly people, oodles of creativity, and endless things to see. I sat next to super talented ladies Diana Steig and Anissa Bryant, who were kind enough to share their food supply with me and take me out on the town. And I even got to catch some of the Oscars and snark about them with Chip Zdarsky!

Here are the fun sketches that lovely people asked me to do: