I had a crepe for dinner! Living within walking distance of the crepe place is one of the critical benefits of living in the city; and now I just have to write a monthly check to Chandlord for the privilege, rather than going through all the jhokey rigamarole of actually being friends with her. Everybody wins!
My earlier post may not have sounded that enthusiastic, but I left the conference at the end of the day feeling like registering for the conference was one of the best decisions I've made in awhile. When I was done with my latte, I went back for the keynote lunch, where I met some lovely ladies and had a pretty great (particularly for hotel conference food) lunch. The keynote speaker was Victoria Alexander; I may need to give her books another try (if I ever tried them -- I can't remember anymore!) because the woman was a hysterical speaker. Here's a fun tidbit -- many of her books have a dead husband/boyfriend/whatever, and they are all named some derivative of Charles, after her husband Chuck. She claimed that she started doing this because her husband never reads her books, and now it's a trademark. It'll be easy to try her books, since there were copies of her two most recent books, plus a clothing/pillow spray, as a gift for everyone at the luncheon. Score!
Following lunch, I went to two workshop sessions, and was blown away by both of them. The first was a chat with Nora Roberts -- if you have ever strolled through an airport bookstore, Borders, Wal-Mart, or wherever else books are sold, you've likely seen her. She's written almost 200 romance novels and is widely recognized as the queen of the genre. I loved hearing her talk; she seems incredibly down-to-earth, blunt, and entertaining, with a voice that is much deeper than I expected (apparently the result of alcohol and cigarettes, which makes me love her even ore), and an apparent hang-up about the nuns from her Catholic childhood, since she repeatedly referenced them as the reason why she does anything disciplined/productive/guilt-inspired. She also reminded me (not me personally, I just realized this as I was listening to one of her comments) that it's okay to not want to be part of a critique group or pay too much attention to the industry/author blogs/websites/magazines -- she thinks that for some people this can all be counterproductive, and from the limited experience I've had with my own process, I would have to say that I agree with her. But whether I could ever be her is a much different issue; for one, I don't know if I could actually write for eight hours a day every single day, with most weekends off, the way that she does. It clearly didn't happen while I was one leave; but maybe if my livelihood depended on it, things would have been different.
The second talk was by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She's basically the only contemporary author I read, and I adore her; she's known for her witty dialogue and her tendency to pair average-looking but highly-intelligent women with gorgeous athletes and actors. And her talk was also outstanding; unlike Nora Roberts' session, which was pure Q&A, SEP's talk was more along the lines of broad themes/techniques that one should consider when writing. She was a fantastic speaker, and her techniques and discussion got me all excited to make serious progress on my second draft.
I left the conference around 4:30 and walked back to my apartment, where I spent the rest of the night until now unpacking and reorganizing more stuff (with the exception of my awesome crepe break, that is). Phase One, in which things are mostly put away, is nearly complete, and will likely be done by the end of this weekend. Phase Two, in which I decorate and get shelves so that I can unpack the rest of my books, likely won't be complete for awhile. But that's okay -- as long as I can watch the Olympics without feeling like I'm living in a dump, I'll be v. happy.
One more thing -- this morning before I got my latte, I ran over to the opening of the brand-new CB2 store on Ellis St. CB2 is the trendier, hipper, slightly cheaper cousin to Crate and Barrel, and I'm such a loyal Crate and Barrel customer that they sent me several emails to say that they were having the grand opening of the CB2 store today. Since the conference was only a block from the new store, I had to swing by. If only I were cool! They had some really awesome stuff, but CB2 doesn't really fit my style; as much as i wish that I were hip or trendy or urbanized or whatever, I really just like classic styles of furniture, so CB2 probably isn't for me (although I did heart the hourglasses and one of the bookshelves, so we'll see). But if you're in SF and like furnishings, you should check it out; they've done a great job designing the displays, and if I had the money to get rid of all my stuff, move into a renovated factory-style loft, and buy a bunch of new stuff, I would probably buy it at CB2.
Okay, it's definitely bedtime -- I haven't been sleeping enough lately, and I have to get up at 7ish so that I can make it to the conference in time for the first workshop. I suppose I should get used to the lack of sleep, though; I only have three days of freedom left! That shocking realization is enough to make me want to cry, but I think I'll go to bed instead.
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