Spy-free Weekend

It's the first weekend home. Amazing how quickly conferences can come and go just like that, after months and months of anticipation!

August is MY BIRD DAY MONTH, by the way. I celebrate it in one long joyful bash because it's ever so nice to receive presents every day ;-). The trick is in telling a different date to different people and they all send you stuff at different times of the month! Nothing like having a whole month of birthdays, I tell you!

You know, I haven't even opened my present to myself yet--the Dieux du Stade VCDs! I just know it's going to be a feast for my eyes, heh. Viewing all that rugby nekkidness on my 50 inch TV--whew!!! You're all welcome to join my slumber party ;-).

Last few memories of RWA experiences:

1) Gail Wilson has excellent comedic timing. I love Gail. She gives the best workshops on writing and she's always the most gracious at a party, talking to newcomers and making them feel at home. During the RWA Gala, she was given the job of introducing the Lifetime Achievement Awardee, Susan Elizabeth Philips. Gail had the entire audience laughing with her absolutely hilarious and dramatic telling of SEP's biography, a totally made-up story told with a straight face, of how SEP was seduced in her youth by the lecherous caretaker and then ran away to be a showgirl and street prostitute. Anyone who had met the impeccable SEP would appreciate this funning around with one of our romance best storytellers.

2) Always find time to visit somewhere interesting when you're at a convention. I know that most of the women prefer to just stay at the hotel or walk to a nearby restaurant, but the point of a convention being held at different cities is also to give the writers a chance to look around the area. You never know whether you want to set your story at a particular city unless you walk away from the hotel and its immediate surroundings!

I went to Turner Field this trip and am still regretting that I didn't find the time to visit the Margaret Mitchell Museum. I will, the next time I fly into Atlanta, now that I know how to use the MARTA!

3) There is no better promotion than giving out free books ;-).

4) Susan Grant and Cindy Dees are KICK-ASS women. Wow. Not only are they pilots, but they also wear kickass underwear. You'll just have to attend their future workshops if you want to know more!

5) CJ Barry will be writing romantic suspense under another name, Samantha Graves. We'll now call her CSam. When we get together at the bar, Pamela Clare and I will yell out CSamdrinkwine!

6) It is possible to have a conversation at the top of your voice in a room full of 2000-plus romance authors and readers. It is!

7) Be careful of the RBL girls' Asian Sammich. Pictures taken can be used as future blackmail! ;-P

8) Marjorie Liu doesn't like to share her bed space. Okay, with people of the same sex. I said BED SPACE. Woof!

9) Male readers of romantic suspense has gone up from 7 percent to 25 percent! Hurrah! But I don't know what that means, really. LOL.

10) At least, if you're stuck at the ATL airport, you can shop at all the concourses and pretend you're in a mall, and your airplane is just getting a lube job outside. Uh-huh.

11) Don't sit in the lobby and read. Your friends will bother ya.

12) Shoes are very important. Everyone notices pretty shoes. I'm not a shoe person and even I got into shoe-watching because everyone was talking about them.

Off I go to the day job. It finally rained yesterday, thank goodness. The natives were getting restless; even the painters had an out and out street fight/argument yesterday. Wow. Painters are about the mildest of the bunch at a job site, you know...all those fumes make them pretty happy most of the times. Bwah!

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