Tuesday Comings and Goings

Spent the weekend at the New Jersey Romance Writers conference. Other than signing books at the author book signing and giving a workshop on Writing with Someone Else (Not Already Talking in Your Head) I enjoyed meeting up with writing friends and attending workshops.

Victorian Alexander is one funny lady! I've heard her speak before and it's well worth it. If you ever get the chance to hear her, do it.

Over all, if you're a writer (or want to be or even just want to understand the behind-the-scenes-of-writing) attending writing conference. Local ones are better or at least less crowded and gives you a chance to meet more authors, listen to more of them answer your questions, and really get to know some of the other writers (and readers!) attending.

Studying

In a couple weeks I'll be at NJRW doing a workshop on writing with a partner. Okay the technical term is that we will be there but since it's easier to use I than WE, there is it.

The outline is made, the handouts are in the rough draft stage, and the content is simple--for us at least! If you're going, this workshop is designed to help you understand the needs of yourself and your potential writing partner and help you work together.

See you there!

March Goals

Maybe I should start keeping track of my monthly goals rather than story word counts? Something to think of, though in this they're one in the same.

This month I have:
Bemoaned the fact that another month has gone from the calendar.
Wondered if we'll ever have consistent warm weather.
Battled head colds and sinus/allergy problems every frakkin' day.
Enjoyed maybe 3 days of sun, warmth, and teasing spring-like weather.
Wrote. Don't get me wrong there, definitely wrote!
Planned out a workshop for the 2011 NJRW Conference

Conference workshop

Now that my brain is no longer fried from the great weekend at the NJRW conference, I can honestly say that the workshops I managed to get to were worth it. I met a lot of great people and had a blast.

I also got to pitch to some wonderful editors and will be sending them my stuff ASAP. (Except that 1920s story I have to cut by 10,000 words and edit since I finished it and shoved it aside months and months ago.)

TGIF!

This has been a long long week. In addition to the puppy, I think I had a bad reaction to my flu shot this year. Not that I've ever had a bad reaction before, and have been getting them for years, but there you have it. I hear they added in the H1N1 vaccine to the regular mix. Not sure that was it, but it's what I'm going with since it was the only outside variable.

Things checked off my ToDo list: Finished synopsis AND the partial. Reading it through one last time Saturday and then emailing it off. Very excited about that, no matter what happens. And within the next several weeks, I plan on finishing the story and working on a couple other shorts and unfinished stuff.

October is jammed packed with conferences. I say jammed, does 2 count? ALBACON in the beginning of October, then New Jersey Romance Writers at the end. I'm really excited about ALBACON, it's the first conference where I'm on a workshop panel. We'll be discussing history, research, and writing with someone else. I think it'll be fantastic!

(PST: Registration for both is still open!)

NJRW Conference

I'm bummed I won't be going this year. It's a great conference with lots of wonderful workshops, authors, a ton of agents and editors to meet and greet, but this year didn't work out. I was going to go. Signed up and everything. But it's a week after my surgery and there's no way I want to jeopardize my recovery with the drive and energy it takes to actually do the conference. So, I had to cancel.

It'll leave me with more time to write, though! And since I have several stories contracted with Ravenous Romance, I better get to getting!

Recap

The NJRW Conference was great! I didn't get to do everything, there were just too many workshops to attend and of course they all conflicted. Hopefully some fellow conference friends will eventually share their notes, as I eventually intend to share with them. I left Saturday afternoon before the bookseller's bit and the after party. I was exhausted and had other plans for the weekend.

Karen Robards was the Saturday breakfast speaker, and she's just hilarious. Funny, down to earth, and very personable. It's no wonder her stories are bestsellers! Sherrilyn Kenyon was our lunch speaker. I enjoyed her talk, but it wasn't as off the cuff or hysterical as Karen's. Different styles and all. Still, listening to her trials to get published was inspirational. not in the spiritual sense (and if you've ever read her books, you know what I mean!) but in the keep at it sense. Which I plan on doing.

What else. Workshops! Learned lots, and tomorrow I'll post more about them, once I have the chance to look over everything again and remember them in something other than a jumble of people and talks.

NJRW Conference

The New Jersey Romance Writer's annual conference is this weekend. This is not the first time I'm going, but it is the first time I'll already have something at a publisher (who hopefully hasn't trashed it and never wants to see my name again) and am not pitching anything to anyone.

I can't tell you the relief in that!

I can enjoy all the workshops, lunches, people, and stuff I couldn't last year because I was so worried about what I was going to say, how to remember to breathe, please stop trembling, and oh, what was my story about?

Lots of great authors with cool ideas are going to be there, and I can't wait.