RWA Nationals

Last year I attended the RWA Nationals for the first time, and boy was I surprised.
I had no clue what to expect, I stayed with 3 people I had no idea who they were, even though we were all on-line writing buddies. My hubby thought I'd gone off the deep end.

He says, "You who are afraid to go anywhere by yourself flies to Houston to stay with three strangers." He shakes his head....

How could I make him or my family and friends understand. Once you make a writing buddy on-line, you get to know them really well. Besides, they are writers, they can't be bad, right?

One of my WB's picked me up at the airport with her hubby and 2 little girls. For all they knew I was a axe murderer. But, us writers have a good judge of character. So, I sat next to the baby girl in the back of the van, and what a sweet little doll she was. Talking baby talk up a storm to this stranger. (me). Sweet!

WB's hubby drops us off, and we go inside the Hilton and there are tons of people everywhere. My mouth hung open. "Holy Crap." I had no idea. Huge!

We then find our other WB partner and she's so excited, we all hug, find our room and then we stalk famous authors, agents and editors. (no, we didn't, not at first.)

We mostly hung out at the bar, then we had people join us. I saw some other writers I met at other conferences, and hung out with them too. I ended up having a great time.

I didn't have any appointments last year, I wasn't ready, but I did go and tell a few editors hello that I met. And yep, they remembered me by name. Shock Shock.... Made me feel less nervous...

So those that are wanting to go but are scared to because they are not the out going type. Just do it. I did, and I have to say I had the best time. Don't focus too much on your pitch if you have one. Just enjoy the information you'll absorb, the great people you'll meet, and just an opportunity to mingle with people that love the same things you do. "Reading and Writing"....and if your pitch happens to be great, thats a plus. Remember everyone has different taste, just like we do.

Oh, and don't forget to bring a camera. You'll get some great pics. of your favorite authors.

I'm sad I'm not going this year, but I had another writers thingy that cost a ton this year and I chose to do that instead. Which it turned out really well. I had a NY Editor request my work and 3 NY Agents as well. (no news yet)

I'll miss my WB's but they'll see me next year, maybe by then I'll have signed a deal.
And keep my bed empty, Dawn and Nikki!!! And nope, I don't want the blue smurf this time, I think Dawn M. wants to keep it.

Dawn C.

A cruise to remember!

Just got back from a wonderful cruise on the Carnival Valor. Although, I wouldn't recommend 7 days on a ship to anyone. At least, that is not my idea of a great vacation. Next time I'm flying to an island, skip the boat scene....4 to 5 day cruise would have been plenty of sailing for me.....

I got plenty of writing idea's from this trip, and no it's not going to be about a cruise. It's more of an tropical island mystery thriller. I only say this because after our trip we heard our driver happened to sort of be a sly fellow, I won't go into details, but let's say his day job was a cover-up. He didn't tell us this, but the locals did. Maybe they were joking to give us a thrill, but boy did idea's pop into my sunburned head...

Then we ended up on a nude beach, stunned. We had no clue. You can imagine our surprise. We ended up snokeling in St. Thomas and St. Maarten, what beautiful beaches they have....Wow!!! We also visited Atlantis in Nassau. Gorgeous!

Now its time to get back into the writing, and stop crying about how tired I am and how much weight I gained on the trip...(did someone say diet?)

Okay, anyone in the New Orleans area want to attend a SOLA writers meeting please do. 2 meetings are free...and in August we have a great author speaker, "Diana Rowland".

Update on Revision Hell

I haven't blogged in awhile. But just to update, I revised almost 300 pages in two weeks.

I sent out my queries and my requested submissions, so I'm happy.

Dawn