March of the Librarians - video fun

RWA Conference fast approaches.

Greetings all,
The RWA National Conference is quickly approaching and I'm nervous and feeling out of sorts. I haven't really gotten myself together and I leave on Sunday. Robin Rotham is going to pick me up as she passes through Iowa and by the end of the trip we will either adore or loathe one another. :-) I'm voting for the former. I think Robin is a pretty cool chick AND an excellent writer.

Still, when I attended RWA two years ago I was so much more organized than I am this year. I feel like a chicken with my head cut off...flopping around mindlessly while people wait for me to wind down before they throw me in the pot for supper. Yeah - it's a rather grim kind of metaphor but it fits.

I'm looking forward to touring Washington D.C. though. I've never been in the nation's capitol before so I'm planning to hit all the sites. Or as many as I can get to between conference sessions and parties. I'm planning to visit the Library of Congress and the Holocaust Museum. I want to see all the monuments. Washington, Lincoln, VietNam, WWII, etc. If I can manage it, I want to visit the National zoo too. Not sure about that one though. I'm going to take a ton of pics - that much is certain.

Homeward Bound!

This morning I got to see Misty again before heading for the airport. It was so fun to finally MEET her in person. We've known each other for a couple of years now, but only online. Misty is a really talented writer and I had a lot of fun talking with her.

The other thing I got to do today was fly. I know this is the least favorite part of other peoples' travel experience but I love it. I don't like the airport part, but the taking off, soaring through the air, and landing parts are faboo. (Yes, I am an Animaniacs fan.)

Still, I gotta tell you I was SO glad to get home - even though one of my cats had pooped on the carpet. Thank God for Resolve carpet stain cleaner!

RWA was wonderful. Overwhelming. Exhausting. Inspiring. Well I could go on with words for hours, but I am glad I went and I intend to save up my money and go next year. I'm looking forward to San Francisco.

Pitching and Pitching some more!

No, I didn't go to the RITA awards tonight. Too bloody tired! But the day was good! I started out with a pep talk from my crit partner, Misty Simon. She let me try out my pitches on her and gave me tips. It really helped because...

I put on my suit today (my job interview suit) and went to pitch to Ms. Raelene Gorlinsky of Ellora's Cave. Yes, the lady with the neat hats. I liked her and she was very professional... but she has quite the poker face. I wasn't sure if I'd done well with my pitch or not. Still, she told me Crime of Passion fits what their readers like to read (older hero/heroine, rubenesque heroine, and shapeshifter hero) and asked me to send a submission. That has to be good in my book. Yaaaay! So is that a no hitter or a homerun? No, really. I wanna know.

Anyway... After catching my breath and allowing my heart rate to return to normal, I hit some other sessions. Notably, two very cool spotlight sessions. One for Samhain Publishing, the other for LooseID. Samhain was interesting. The big news from Samhain was that they will be open for submissions again soon. I look forward to that and may submit to them in the future.

The LooseID session was way cool. If you asked a question, they gave you a book. Let me tell you I was scrambling for a question because one of the books they were giving away was Angela Knight's new how to book about writing erotic romance titled, Passionate Ink. I got a copy! Wooo Hoooo!

Not only that, but Ms. Treva Harte told those present that she would listen to pitches after the session if anyone wanted to pitch. At first I was too nervous, but then Maya and Marie (fellow PI chapter members) encouraged me so I got up my gumption and went up to pitch my medieval paranormal romance, Seeking Truth. You know, eventually I'm going to get every subgenre of romance rolled into one book. Anyway, she was really nice because this pitch had not been practiced the way my other pitch had been. However, I managed to interest her and she told me to send her a submission. I'm so proud of me! I rock!

Promotion and Scoping Out Agents

My Friday afternoon was spent in more workshops. I attended two in a row with Jessica Faust as a panelist. Jessica is with BookEnds Literary Agency and I read her blog fairly regularly. I really liked her. She's professional but realistic which appealed to me. She is also funny. Funny is very good. Yeah - maybe I hope she reads this when I get up my courage to query her, but if she doesn't that's cool. I'd feel the same way regardless.

At the end of Friday, I'm starting to suffer from overload. I'm tired and a bit let down, but inspired. I have NO idea how that combination works - maybe I'm hormonal or something. Tomorrow I have to pitch. Now since I'm pitching I should be going for a no hitter, but what I want to do is hit it out of the ballpark. Talk about your mixed metaphors. More later!

Jitters, Passionate Ink & Ellora's Cave...oh my!

Today I wore a dress and heels. Why such torture devices? Because today was the PI luncheon where they would be announcing the winners in the Stroke of Midnight and Passionate Plume contests. I was a finalist in the Time Travel/Paranormal category of the Stroke of Midnight contest. I won't keep you in suspense - I didn't win. I was a bit bummed but it was an honor to be nominated. No really. I was NOT making the Oscar face. Okay, I was. But I was happy for the winner - I just wanted the winner to be me. Maybe next time because I am certainly not giving up.

Before I attended the luncheon I went to the Ellora's Cave spotlight. This was VERY cool because Raelene Gorlinsky had books. Boy did she have books and after the session she gave them away. I also snagged one of the coveted Ellora's Cavemen Calendars. Now I know why they are coveted. Definitely inspiration for my next erotic romance. I was also very impressed by the presentation by EC. They answered a bunch of questions I had and it was interesting to get a preview of what Ms. Gorlinsky is like because I was able to get an appointment to pitch to her-which I will do tomorrow. I must say, the lady is very put together and I love her hats.

And they're off!

The conference began in earnest today. My morning started with a great breakfast held by the Hearts through History chapter, of which I am a member. Great food, excellent view, and interesting company. HHRW gave away wonderful goodies for members. I received a couple of certificates for accomplishments - achieving PRO status and finaling in a contest. It is nice to have formal recognition, so it felt good.

After breakfast I headed for the PRO retreat. The speakers offered tons of useful tipson promotion, how publishing works, and the importance of persistence. Historical romance writer Jo Beverley was named PRO mentor. Her speech was wonderful. Not only was it substantive and inspiring, Jo has the most marvelous British accent. I could listen to her talk for hours.

My great morning was made greater because the PRO keynote was presented by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Yup, I got to see her again. She may have given the speech many times before, but it was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment in time. Sherrilyn Kenyon rocks!

The afternoon was the luncheon and keynote address by Lisa Kleypas. Can you say, armadillo? Sorry, ya had to be there. :-)

The finish to the day was the Annual General Meeting - AGM. The AGM was...interesting. It was also painful. Painful in the way a room full of scalded cats is and all because of a "Hot Sheet" released by the board. Now I don't say that to be mean, because I admit freely I am one of the scalded cats. Go to the RWA Web site for details and fall out. I'm sure I won't explain it well. Suffice it to say, there will be no erotic romance category for the Golden Heart or the RITA and somehow most or all (still not sure which) e-publishers were designated as "subsidy or vanity" presses. This is baloney. I hope they revisit their definitions...soon.

The Literacy Signing

A room full of romance authors. Have I found Nirvana? And no, I'm not talking about the band! I was SO glad I was feeling better tonight because tonight was the literacy signing. My favorite authors and new books...what could be better? Okay - sex with a really hot cover model but that wasn't happening on this particular trip. Oh well. :-)

I met several authors whose work I love and got to chat with them for a few minutes and get their autographs. Yes, I even got to tell Susan Lyons I loved her book! My crit partner, author Misty Simon, was signing and I had a chance to meet Robin Rotham too. Kathy Bacus, who belongs to my IRN group had only a few books to sign because somehow a whole bunch of books were placed into the goodie room by mistake - great for goodie gatherers but not-great for the literacy charity.

The highlight of the evening for me, though, was meeting Sherrilyn Kenyon. She wore a large black swan hat, fangs, and a bustier. The lady has style! She's also got class! I waited for about 30-45 minutes to reach the front of the line but it was well worth it. I had a chance to chat with her for a few minutes, get books signed and have a photo taken. Believe me, I was not the only fan who waited to see her either. There was a row long line when I was done and she stayed there signing until the last one got to see her. She was gracious, friendly, and genuinely grateful to her fans for their support. I used to just love her writing, but now I love her too! When I grow up I want to be just like her!

Now I didn't meet a bad apple at the literacy signing. All the authors were friendly and welcoming. There were lines for other authors who were as wonderful, too, but Ms. Kenyon made a lasting impression on me and I'm honored to have met her.

The only negative of the evening was that by the time I finished paying for my books (oy the line!) it was almost 8:30 and the FF&P Gathering had started at 7pm. By the time I arrived all the food was gone and when I looked into the room where it was being held I didn't see any chairs available. There probably were seats, but without food I wasn't going in there because I was STARVED! I hope that next year The Gathering is held at a different time so I can attend. I really wanted to meet some of the folks from that online chapter.

Sticker Shock and sickness

I went out with IRN friends last night to Smokin' Joes BBQ. The food was incredible, the company was awesome, and the DART was clean. The Dallas train system really impressed me. Reasonably priced, clean, and non-scary. Being a small town girl, I thought traveling around in a city the size of Dallas might be intimidating but the people were really friendly and very nice.

This morning though, I woke up sick. Nothing to do with last night's food, I'm sure. I think the stressful trip and the nerves caught up with me. I mean, after yesterday I thought the worst had to be over. But no... However, the positive thing to come from things was I really like my roommate, Justine. We had met online (both belong to FF&P chapter), but never met in person. We like each other and she is very cool! Things could have been dicey otherwise.

The night before as we chatted together, both of us sweet little small town midwestern girls (Justine is from Kansas, I'm from Iowa) had to pick our jaws off the ground as we noted the cost of some "amenities" of our hotel. For example the bottles of Evian water on top of the entertainment center were $5 a bottle. Ouch! I'm an Iowa girl. $3.50 for an a la carte cooked egg is a touch steep. Now, I like my eggs, but that's a bit much. Fortunately, Justine drove down, so today we went to Wally-world to buy some groceries.

Most of the shopping expedition went well, until I broke into a sweat and the sparkly lights started dancing around my eyes. This is never a good sign. I think I may have had low blood sugar because after dragging myself back to the car and eating half a 24 oz container of strawberry yogurt I started to recover. BTW, just in case you're curious, Dallas drivers are insane. Not quite as nuts as Chicago drivers, but...

More after the literacy signing and The Gathering tonight!

Can we say nervous?

Next Tuesday I will be winging my way to Dallas, TX for the RWA National conference and I'm nervous and excited both. I'm looking forward to meeting people I currently only know online via special interest chapters, and I'm going to enjoy spending some time with my IRN friends who will be attending the conference too. Most of the IRN crew has attended before, and they've offered some great advice as far as planning for the trip and getting ready for my pitch appointment.

I've been worried about coming up with the perfect pitch and still can't seem to come up with a "high concept idea" to save my life. I hope the people I meet won't be hypercritical. As everyone I talk to tells me, they are just people. They put their pants on one leg at a time. Assuming they wear pants - if they do skirts - all bets are off! ;-)

Keep your fingers crossed for my good health and success. Off to Nationals I go!
Woo Hooo!

Writing madly

I attended my local chapter meeting for RWA today. I belong to the Iowa Romance Novelists in the Des Moines area. I was so pleased to be able to announce that I had written 90 new pages this month. The cool thing was those were all on the same manuscript. A medieval, paranormal romance called Seeking Truth. Lord Eaduin Kempe is my hero and as I said in a previous post, I'm falling for the guy. Damn he's hot.

In addition, I went shopping and found several cute outfits to wear to the RWA national conference, so I am feeling set. Now I just have to get my pitches ready and I'll feel less nervous...maybe. We'll see.

Starting next week, I will get back to writing (and editing) madly. It feels very good to be so productive!

Nationals approach swiftly...

After I received my tax refund I took my money and bought my plane ticket for Dallas and paid for my conference fees for the RWA national conference. I am excited and nervous all at once, but I am THRILLED to be able to attend.

What has me so thrilled? Networking. I belong to quite a few online chapters through RWA and I'll get the chance to meet many people who have thus far been only names on an email. Not only that but I may get to meet, or at least see, some of my all time favorite romance authors. Down deep I'm a real fangrrl, I admit it. ;-)

Will I meet Nora? Will I rub shoulders with Christine or Sherrilyn or Robin? Not only will I get to meet new friends, I'll get to meet my heroines. Women who have overcome obstacles to make a name for themselves in romance. How cool is that? On top of all that coolness, I have an appointment to pitch to an editor and may get to pitch to an agent if I stumble across one at a workshop, in the hallway, while eating...just not in the bathroom!!! I been warned about that one, believe me!

Keep your fingers crossed for me in July. It's going to be an incredible trip!