In theory, a tournament clearinghouse permits one to schedule to avoid such conflicts, but my e mails to the fellow listed as the tournament clearinghouse got a "not me, I'll forward it to the right person" (from whom I never heard back) and my e mail regarding a potential March tournament went unanswered by the new person listed in Texas Chess Association as the guy.
I've already got some concerns about this tournament, because my format is "fairly low entry fee, but only a kazoo as a gag prize, proceeds to charity" instead of the usual "real entry fees, sixty five percent returned as prizes". Maybe I should have bought the mailing labels for local players to do a mass mailing to explain my vision of a tournament based less on cash prizes and high entry fees and more on playing rated games.
I know my 11 year old nephew is coming. I'll be there. So I know that we'll have two people at the tournament. But I break even at 14, and do want to get at least some attendance even if not quite 14. Meanwhile, a business acquaintance has found me a banquet hall at an Indian restaurant I can use for March tournament without breaking the budget. I think that however my January tournament comes out, I'll try a March one based on cash prizes, to see if that will work better or merely differently.
January 10 is the last day for people to get a "discounted" entry fee. Let's see if anyone enters by then. If not, it's going to be an amusing time seeing how many people show up on January 24.