Conference Notes

I'm back from Lori Foster's Readers' 'N Writers' Get Together. I met a lot of very nice people and picked up some good tips and ideas. I went to one agent and four editor/publisher appointments. All asked me to send partials with synopsis. There's so much I want to talk about but I'm dead tired. Four of us had a great girls' night out last night - we went to dinner and then to see Sex In The City. We took a lot of those silly photo booth pictures as if we were teens again. People looked at us weird, but it was really really nice. BWT, the movie was great. I was never a big Sex in the City fan, but it sounded like a fun thing to do with the girls, and I really enjoyed it. I'd even see it again. I took several pictures of the event and the people I met which I'll post soon as I've not downloaded them yet. Lucy Monroe and Susanna Carr and Alan Foster (Lori Foster's husband) were all very generous with giving me tips and just very sweet people. We sat at the same booksigning table. Susanna's really inspired me to submit to Harlequin Spice Briefs which I'll do asap. If I've forgotten anyone, please forgive me. Treana Sumter, Autumn, and Beckie Davis were my movie-dinner group and they were so much fun and so nice. We'll definitely keep in touch. So were Joanna and Mary Ann and Wendy and the Novel Talk reviewer. Please forgive me if I'm forgetting last names at the moment). I met a 1st Lieutenant recently returned from Iraq. I'm afraid I don't recall her name but she was very sweet and an avid reader. I sat by her at lunch and was fascinated by her tales of life in Iraq on active duty. I must say that Lori Foster is blessed to have such a nice and supportive husband as Alan. He's a real gem and it's obvious they're still very much in love. They were high school sweethearts at my first high school. I, of course, bought several books - Treana's, Lori Foster's anthology Power of Love, Susanna Carr's latest release (I'll report on them all after I read them). Lucy Monroe's books were sold out before I could grab one. At least I couldn't find them. There were so many more I longed to buy but I'll have to get them when I get back home. I read Lori's story in the Power of Love anthology and it's excellent and very sexy. I can't wait to read the rest. It's a must read and all proceeds go to help the Cincinnati/Hamilton County YWCA for battered women. I spent a lot of time at the YWCA in the next county up when I was a kid - I learned to swim there, took art lessons, played sports, and even went to their camp every summer and loved it. The YWCA holds a special place in my heart. There's so much writing and reading I'm yearning to dig into and yet I'm still here with Dad and the aunt and uncle want me to come to their house for at least two days. I think I have to take a nap first or I'll never make the drive. Why can't there be 48 hours in a day? Or 72? Why can't I do four things at once? I am a pretty good multi-tasker - not just my opinion - my day job boss says that's my biggest strength. (Funny, two bosses ago, the boss thought that was a detriment. I think she thought I was hiding stuff flitting between things so fast. The current boss is much smarter.) I met Rhonda Penders, Sr. Editor of Wild Rose Press, and just as special, sister to my blog friend Nicole McCaffrey. Rhonda sought me out specially per Nicole's request just to find out we'd already met and spoken a couple times. LOL. I enjoyed it - she's such a nice lady and I'm very impressed with her and her company. I hope to make this a yearly conference as I'd love to see my friends again, it was very helpful, and a lot of fun. Plus I want to see Dad at least yearly. I'll see what I can do.