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Staying sane at Nationals
For all my friends attending RWA's National Conference in the next few weeks, here are a couple of tips for staying sane (at the conference and in NY).
-Accept that you won't get enough sleep. Consider a power nap before lunch.
-Eat breakfast. Pick up some granola bars or yogurt to keep in your room. Breakfast will give you the energy boost you need to get through those early morning workshops.
-Bring your walking shoes. The hotel isn't that far from Central Park. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed by everyone and everything, take a walk!
-Keep snacks on hand. Nothing ruins a day faster than a blood sugar dip.
And my most important tip? Have fun. Most of us writers like to keep to ourselves. Let's be honest, we don't get out much. This is your chance to step outside your box. Labels: conferences, healthy writer
Nap time?
Is it nap time yet? I spent the weekend at the Emerald City Writers Conference, hosted by the Greater Seattle chapter of RWA. All I can say is, wow, what a weekend. I love going to our local conference. It's an opportunity to catch up with old friends, make some new ones, sing bad karaoke, and hopefully make some headway with my writing career. This year is the one where I made headway. A few months back I mentioned I finalled in the Emerald City Opener, the annual contest associated with this conference. Every year I think about entering, and this was the first year my nerves didn't talk my hands out of it. And boy, am I glad I followed through. First was the call to tell me I finalled. Then was the unbelievable moment when I heard my name announced as the...1st place winner! I'm still in shock. I swear, I sat there for a good 30 seconds before it sunk in. I'm so thrilled to have shared that moment with so many good friends. Their cheers drowned out my nerves for once. Of course, now I'm home and it's time to button down and send out those lovely requests that the editors and agents I met are all eagerly waiting for.Labels: conferences, contests
Your name is really familiar...
All through conference fellow writers said this. No one every knew where they'd heard it, but they assured me it was all good. I'm choosing to believe them. The upside of all this is that apparently my name is becoming more familiar in the writing world. More people are recognizing it and the circle is widening. I'll take it!Of course, here I am several weeks later and I'm still wondering where they heard my name before. Unfortunately it's a mystery I'll have to leave for another day.***In other news check out the page count meter! I realize I haven't updated it in a while, but you can see why. I've been hard at work scrambling toward the finish in Cherry Adair's "Write the Damn Book" Challenge. I have vowed to finish my current WiP, even though I'm dying to get started on my next project...one I know will absolutely rock. One that whispers to me in my sleep. One that's guaranteed to make folks at my coffee shop look at me sideways when they catch me laughing to myself as I write.We're also gearing up for the new school year, which means trainings along with prepping my classroom. Nothing like a little time pressure to get the blood pumping...Labels: conferences, writers aren't crazy
Ow!
The RWA National conference is creeping up way faster than I think anyone expected. In just over a week I'll be in San Francisco gearing up to pitch my manuscript, schmooze and be inspired. All over the country women (and even some men) are pulling themselves together for this conference. They're getting waxed, buffed, polished, mani-ed and pedi-ed, all in an effort to put their best face forward. So like my fellow conference-goers, I ran out this morning for my every 6 months (or so) brow wax. And now I hurt. I have a lovely little burned strip just above my eye lid, and it looks lovely. It should fade before San Fran, but if it doesn't, please don't look too closely at my eyes when you see me there. I appreciate your understanding. In the meantime, as soon as the burning sensation goes away, I'll experiment with covering it up with make up. Wish me luck!Labels: beautifying, conferences, random musings
The one where they go to a conference...
 Man, I'm still in recovery mode from last weekend's conference in Bellevue. Once again I attended the Greater Seattle RWA chapter's Emerald City Writers Conference. This year lived up to all my expectations, and then some. Where to start, that is the question. Do I start with the workshops? I attended several amazing ones presented by such fabulous authors as Elizabeth Boyle, Eileen Rendahl, Christina Dodd and Jayne Ann Krentz. Workshops on the YA market and project managment, surviving the business and thriving in the business. We fed our muses and laughed our tucheses off.
I pitched TMI to an agent and two editors, all of whom requested partials. But I know what you're all waiting for. You want the goods. The fun stuff. The pictures.  (Sisters-in-law Kelli and Carolynn)
 I also made some new friends, ones I look forward to meeting again in San Francisco next summer. Saturday night brought dinner at Maggiano's for the Tiaras, Carolynn, the "sisters" Eileen and Ruth Kaufman. Let me tell you, between the nine of us, and the table of Homecoming Barbies behind us we enjoyed a fabulous evening.
(Shannon and the "sisters" Eileen Cook and Eileen Rendahl) 
(Serena and the fabulous Ruth K.)
 (Carolynn and I enjoying a night out.)
And I returned home Sunday afternoon exhausted, without even the energy to pick up English muffins for breakfast. I'm still dragging two days later, but I'm hoping (and praying) it's short lived. Labels: conferences, geeky fun, writing
The Fire in Fiction...
Yesterday morning I woke up bright and early to meet fellow writers Serena and Dona for a ferry ride over to Bainbridge Island for the Fire in Fiction Conference. At the ferry we joined Kelli and Christina for our ride. Shannon planned to meet us on the island.
The ride over was foggy, but we made up for the lack of view with plenty of chatter. Plus, there would always be the ride home.
The conference itself was wonderful. The Fire in Fiction was presented by Donald  Maass of the Maass Literary Agency in New York. We've been hearing for years from other writers that if we ever have the opportunity to hear him speak, to jump for it. Let me tell you, they weren't wrong. Maass is a well known agent, as well as a prolific writer. He's the author of Writing the Breakout Novel, one of the most talked about craft books around.
Yesterday he brought us something new. The topic? Continuing to find the passion in your writing, and how to make each book the best it can be...even when it's your 50th. His writing exercises for adding unexpected details and unexpected emotions certainly helped to make some of the scenes in my current WiP richer, and I can fully see how I can incorporate these techniques in my next book. Mr. Maass was a very dynamic speaker, interspersing anecdotes and advice with opportunities for the audience to practice what he presented. In teaching, we call this the optimal learning model, moving from modeling to guided practice, to independent practice. I left the conference with much more concrete ideas of what I need to do to make these revisions more worthwhile, and  also what might need to be done in order for me to move forward with the revisions. Serena, Dona and I took the next ferry home, giving us time to debrief the conference as well as other random discussion topics. Don't they look like they're having fun? And thankfully the sun  was shining for the ride home, and burned off all the fog. So we also had a lovely view of the Sound. Labels: conferences, writing
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