First Official Conference Day

Well, yesterday was the first official day of conference and it kicked off in a bang. First I had some breakfast with my friend Colleen. The hotel breakfast was lousy and expensive ($15 for fake eggs and some misc. other stuff), but what are you going to do - that's higher end hotels for you. Then I headed off for Nelson Agency Spa Day. My fabulous agent, Kristin Nelson, took her clients, our editors (if available, and mine was - yeah), and her best bud Deirdre Knight (and company) to the Crescent. The Crescent Hotel has a top five nationally rated spa and it was fabulous! Plus, I finally got to meet Kristin's assistant and fantastic woman that organized the spa day, Sara Megibow!

I started off with a one hour Swedish massage, then went for a one hour pedicure, then had a light lunch and finished up the day with a manicure. All the time sitting around in these fluffy robes and being offered lemon water or champagne from spa employees. It was an extraordinary treat! But then, I have always said Kristin is the best!

After spa day, I headed back to the hotel and joined my friends in the bar. I will try to remember who wandered in: Cari Manderschied, Cindy Taylor, Patrice Luneski, Colleen Gleason, Jaye Wells, Esri (and I cannot remember her last name - but she is a Wet Noodle Posse girl) - and a ton of others that I can't even remember. Saw Nora stroll through a couple of times and I always laugh because I wonder if she thinks we won't recognize her wearing sunglasses. Oh well, can't blame her - I'm sure crazy people bother the heck out of her if they get her cornered.

Things were going fine until my friend Colleen came back from checking stock at the booksigning and told me that they did not have my books and could not find them. Yikes!!!! I called my editor and the race to find books was on. Here's the really awful news - someone at RWA screwed up and put all the Dorchester author books and some of the Warner author books in the goody room and they all got given away. None of the authors had stock to sign and there wasn't a damned thing to be done about it. I was the only one with books because I live locally and always keep a stash at my house. I called my hubby, Rene, and he loaded up a container and brought them to the hotel, thus saving the day for me.

My parents came with Rene also, so they all got to see a national booksigning event. And even more important, since they were carrying my precious cargo, I got to sneak them in the backdoor early and my mom got her Nora autograph before there was much of a line - yes, there was already a line before they opened the doors. :) They all got to meet my editor and agent and my writing friends that were at conference. I got to meet Erin and Brooke, two fabulous Dorchester employees that I had not met yet, and book sales went well. Plus, I had a lot of people stop by and say they'd already read the book and loved it.

After the booksigning, I was starving, especially after eating somewhat healthy all day, so a group of us walked over to the West End in downtown Dallas and finally found a restaurant that was still open and had some much needed food! Then we caught a cab back to the hotel and I went straight to my room and crashed. Day Number 1 was officially over.

A Title At Last!

A big thanks to Anissa, who gave me the secret handshake for posting a title in blogger these days. You gotta love technology!

Here's the first day of conference run-down: Cindy and I headed out for breakfast early and took our time, then picked up a few last-minute items (deodarant is always a good thing), gased up the car, and headed to the hotel. They had a room available even though it wasn't yet noon and we were able to check in and get all the stuff up to the room. And let me tell you - stuff increases a lot when you have books to push. I carried a lot less stuff before I sold. Guess I'll be shipping stuff to conference next year.

We grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the airport to pick up my good bud, Colleen Gleason. I know it will shock you when I say her plane was late - and even more shocking is that the airline didn't know and still showed it as on time. Big surprise. Once we gathered Colleen (who manages to do an entire conference with a carryon - what the hell), we went back to the hotel and headed to the bar - the place for all business transactions at conference.

We did the registration thing, ran into my fabulous agent, Kristin Nelson, at checkin, and went to stake our place with some drinks. I ran into a lot of people I'd met at conferences before and chatted AND I had already run into Barbara Vey, my friend from the RT Convention who blogs for Publisher's Weekly. I'm so excited they decided to send her!

We had drinks, then dinner, then coffee, then went out for a relaxing dip in the hottub until security made us leave. Three women in a hot tub with bottled water are such a security risk, you know. So we went back to the room, checked up on email and finally crawled into bed.

Today is the Nelson Agency Spa Day (I can't wait) and this evening I meet with my fab web mistress, Dawn, then we have the booksigning. I can't wait!

More tomorrow and if you have any questions about conference and how it works, please feel free to ask them.

Blogger is STILL not letting me put a title so today's title is What To Expect When You're About to Leave for Conference.

The answer - galleys.

For those of you who don't know what galleys are, they are a printed form of your final book. It is your last chance to change wording, catch typos and generally not look foolish in print. It is a universally accepted truth among writers that galleys will appear on your doorstep at the most inconvenient time possible. I opened the door yesterday, saw a package, read the return address and just started laughing because I knew I had received galleys on my first day of vacation when I am on my way to conference.

Galleys have deadlines of we needed it yesterday to two weeks. I have two weeks, but leave for another training week after next so that means if you see me at conference with a stack of paper and a bald spot, I am working on my galleys. Sometimes I read them out loud - do not be afraid. I am not on medication.

Otherwise, Cindy and I are packed - hoping like hell we have not forgot anything and ready to head to the hotel.

More tomorrow!

Blogger is being totally weird this morning and won't let me post a title - whatever - I'm on vacation and refused to be disturbed by anything. :) So consider today's title - Monday of Conference Week.

It's Monday of conference week and I will go back and forth between busy and relaxing. Right now, I'm busy - got laundry to do and clothes to choose and marketing/promo items to run down so that I can pack. Around ten, my cp, Cindy will be here and we will journey out to the nail place, then probably pick get some lunch and perhaps do a little shopping. Afterwards, I see a beer and a chair next to the pool calling me.

We won't leave for the conference hotel until tomorrow, so this is a planning/preparing/resting day before the storm. My conference schedule is already filling up - spa day, dinners, lunches, meet for drinks - and I couldn't be happier! Conference is the absolute most fun for a writer.

BTW - A month or so back, I did a GCC tour of Joshilyn Jackson and BETWEEN, GEORGIA. Well, her books sounded so interesting that I downloaded one for my reader. I got her first, GODS IN ALABAMA. I have to say this is one of the best books that I have ever read. The woman is a genius and you should all do yourselves a favor and get this book. Check out this first line and tell me how you could fail to enjoy such a writer:

"There are Gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel's, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus."

Does she have the south pegged or what. And the book has a fantastic plot with turns I never saw coming, right on up to the last scene. Absolutely fabulous - they had to make me get off the plane because I was almost done reading it.

Oh well, I must run and do some more laundry, then try and get some breakfast in me before I start running the roads with Cindy. Have a great day, everyone - and check in this week for conference updates!