Okay, Listen Here

Okay, Listen Here

Monday, August 2, 2010

I'M BACK!

So sorry I am late with my blog this morning. For reasons that are too boring to expound on, our plane was four hours late last night. I came home, ate Indian food, and fell asleep in my chair.

I am turning into my father.

I am glad to be back with all of you and Cheryl. We are not leaving without her again.

I know how fortunate I am to be a member of the Heart of Dixie chapter of RWA but being at conference with these astonishing women always brings it home. It is a time to bond and celebrate. We shore up each other up when it's time to pitch or present a workshop and we put glitter powder on each other when it's time to dress up. And, always, we ask each other, "How did it go?"

We've learned from the best of the best. I refuse to drop names but there are three of our chapter mates who have great big fish to fry—the New York Times Bestseller variety of fish. But, always, always, always, they are there with a hug and a, "How did it go?" and a "That's good; you said exactly the right thing." And best of all,if you said the wrong thing, they would say so.

There's no place like the Romance Writers' National Conference. We have many pictures to share and we will tell you more in the coming weeks but here are some my personal highlights:

Our own Katherine Bone placed third in the Hearts Through History contest with her manuscript Pirate By Night. Much celebration followed.

Our good friend Harlequin Presents author Lynn Raye Harris and her book, Cavelli's Lost Heir, were featured at the Harlequin Spotlight. I already knew the wonderful things they said about her but I admit I got a little teary-eyed.

Our good friends Kimberly Lang and Rhonda Nelson won Harlequin Readers' Choice awards. Kimberly writes for Modern Heat and Rhonda writes for Blaze.

As RWA Leadership Development Chair, Stephanie announced the slate of national officers at the Annual General Membership meeting. We were so proud of our chapter mate Linda Winstead Jones, who is a candidate for President Elect. She is a great lady and will make a great president elect and president. And Stephanie looked fabulous in her new Lucy Ricardo shirtwaist dress and kelly green shoes. Her feet paid for those shoes later but it was worth it.

Stephanie and I met another writing team and we absolutely loved them! It was so much fun to talk to Stacy and Sarah and compare our writing processes. We already have promised we are going to stay in touch and get together at conference next year.

That's only a sample of many of the wonderful things. But the best part was coming home to The Guy. Let me tell you what he did.

Back-story and I'm not even going to try to weave it in: I love Eloisa James's books. I always buy them the day they come out. but A Kiss at Midnight was released last Tuesday, the day I flew to Orlando. I intended to get it at the literacy signing on Wednesday but it didn't happen.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: A postcard announcing the book's publication came in the mail and when I went to bed last night, that book was on my pillow.

Who wouldn't want to come home to man like that? One of this year's Golden Heart winners said in her acceptance speech that she couldn't write a better hero than her husband. As my mother would have said, "She said a mouthful."

Did you go to conference? What was your best experience?

17 comments:

  1. Totally enjoyed see you at conference! So proud of all our HOD sisters and the RWA conference organizers. Whenever I go to the conference, I want to be three people so I can catch all the good news and events in person. But you shared the bits I missed so well that I feel like I was with you when those events happened.

    The Guy sounds pretty much like an amazing hero. I love Eloisa James as well.

    Now get some rest today!! That was a long long day at the Orlando airport :-)

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  2. Aw, Jean, that's so adorable!!!! My guy took me to dinner, but then I came home to a mountain of stuff he wasn't able to get done. Sigh.

    Thanks for getting teary-eyed for me! I was teary too, I have to admit. :)

    So glad everyone had a wonderful conference. I didn't get to see you all as much as I wanted, that's for sure.

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  3. Christine, I know what you mean about needing to be three people. It was a long day at the airport but, on the bright side, Stephanie and I found a pilot to come to speak at our chapter meeting.

    Lynn, We we all just so proud of you! We never get to see our favorite people enough but the good part is we all had different experiences and we can dine out on them with each other for a long time.

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  4. Jean, I am so glad everyone is back! I missed all of you! I promise not to be left behind again! I am proud of our HOD members and the wonderful responses they all got - you, Stephanie, Kathy, Marilyn, Andrea and Danniele! HOD is Great! Isn't it amazing we have so many talented people in our midst?
    Glad you are back!!!!!

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  5. Cheryl--you can count yourself among that talent. We are blessed to be part of such a group!

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  6. Jean, what a wonderful description of your's and our conference experience. Thanks for giving me a shout out too! I'll talk more about that on Wednesday.

    Christine, I want to clone myself too. ;)

    Lynn, must have been an epidemic. :D My guy and #4 took me to eat too. Cracker Barrel was nearby and, because I was tired, we opted for my fav, Chicken Fried Steak. Yummy!

    Cheryl, thanks so much for all of your encouragement during the trip. Your sweet e-mails meant the world to me, especially going into my contest results and pitches. :D

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  7. Jean,
    It was so great meeting you and Stephanie at the conference. We really appreciate you both taking us newbies under your wing! We definitely need to keep in touch and I'm already trying to figure out how to afford to make it to NYC next year!

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  8. Sara and Staci--Definitely try for New York. And our local chapter and a fabulous readers' luncheon in May. Your book will be out by then so you could have an author's table. No wait. That would be authors' table!

    We'll be in touch.

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  9. Oh! Definitely come to the luncheon, ladies. As luncheon coordinator, I can hook you up with a table. ;)

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  10. Glad to see everyone back here at home on the blog. We all seem to be worn out. I feel asleep this afternoon and took a 4 hour nap!

    Christine-Glad you made it home safely! It was, indeed, a long day at the airport.

    Cheryl-Jean is right-we don't want to go without you again. :-) You were missed!

    Lynn-Glad you are getting unpacked. Lovin' the tweets. Hope all the missing items turn up. lol

    Sara & Staci-It was fabulous getting to know y'all. I look forward to many more conferences together now that we have found each other!

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  11. Kathy-that chicken fried steak sounds great right about now, especially with some mashed potatoes!

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  12. Ahoy, there were plenty of mashed potatoes... and gravy! Yum!

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  13. But were there any pirates?

    Also--I misspelled our new friends' names in the blog. They are Sara and Staci.

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  14. Sadly, no. :( But I'm sure Jean would love to go back to the Pirate Show and experience another go round with me. ;)

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  15. Oh, yeah. It's the pirate's life for me--what with the screaming, pulsating music, strobe lights and 10,000 people. My kind of place.

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  16. See, I tell people how much we rock, but now they're starting to believe!

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