I had another excellent day at the romance conference. I missed the 8:30 session because I was rather tired form yesterday (which doesn't bode well for going back to work next week!), but I then pulled myself out of bed and walked the ~15 blocks to the conference from my apartment, stopping along the way for one of those lattes that has firmly cemented me in the absurd California lifestyle to the detriment of my more prosaic Iowa roots.
The workshops today were mostly excellent, although I attended one in the late afternoon in which the speakers were just reading straight from their handouts; the information was good, but the delivery didn't feel as spontaneous and inviting as some of the other sessions I had been to. However, I must say that the quality of the workshops and talks over all has far, far exceeded my expectations, and left me aching to get back to revising my draft. In fact, I skipped the lunch to go to a nearby cafe, where I had an excellent tuna nicoise salad and some yogurt while contemplating my current draft, how to up the tension, and how to slightly tweak the heroine's character, while simultaneously writing down all the ideas I had for the next book in the series.
I think that this conference came at exactly the right time in my writing process -- I've finished the first draft, so I don't feel like a complete fraud or imposter by being there, but I'm not so stressed about finding a publisher or an agent that I had to worry about pitching and networking and all that other stuff that I probably should be focusing on soon. Instead, the sessions have left me really energized, with some great ideas and tips for how to improve my writing as well as a list of books and movies about a mile long that I somehow need to work into my reading/viewing time ASAP since they tripped my curiosity.
After I left the conference, I stopped by Borders; being within walking distance of Borders is dangerous for me and will likely mean that, more often than not, I'll have to take a cab back because I'll be too loaded down with stuff to attempt the walk back up the hill to my apartment. I bought three romance novels; one is a new Eloisa James, one is by Jordan Dane (who writes contemporary thriller/suspense, which I usually don't read, but I went to a panel discussion on 'Bad Boys and Naughty Girls' - essentially villains and anti-heroes - and she really intrigued me), and the third is from Gena Showalter's 'Lords of the Underworld' series (more on that in a minute). The last thing I need is more romance novels, I know, but they're my version of the drugs that have destroyed the lives of so many people that I walk by in the city of sin. So if you see someone wandering around someday, dazed and confused, wearing a tattered and dirty pink coat, give me a book rather than a quarter -- I'll appreciate it more. Or I'll start stealing shit from you and pawning it to support my reading habit. Then we can go on Dr. Phil and get our fifteen minutes of fame the easy way!
After Borders, Vidya (aka Chandlord) picked me up, and we hung out for a couple of hours. We had to pick up a cake for a party she's attending tonight, and the bakery looked like it turned out some incredible stuff; I wish I had been in the mood for dessert! Then we dropped stuff off at her sister's house before going in search of a drink and some food, which we found at Panera. The Panera here is much more expensive than the Panera in West Des Moines, and at the behest of Vidius I made the mistake of ordering the sweet green tea, which was pretty awful. But my soup and sandwich combo made for an excellent dinner. And Chandlord and I had a generally good time catching up; even though I haven't been here for the past few months, I'm still sad that she's leaving, and I'm going to miss her :( But on a brighter note, I won't have to use the 'Vidya' label quite as frequently! That may cost me the readers who only check this blog to find out what's going on with her, but I'm hopeful they'll become friends with me instead.
When Chandlord dropped me off at the apartment, I didn't even claim that I was going to continue cleaning/unpacking; instead, I stayed up and read the entire Gena Showalter book. I was going to go into more detail about it, but a) most of you don't care about romance novels, and b) I'm too tired to keep typing. Perhaps I'll review it tomorrow! But don't hold your breath -- I've got the romance conference all day tomorrow as well. Then I only have one day left before I go back to work!
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