my redneck past is nipping at my heels

I'm leaving tomorrow for San Antonio and the annual romance convention, and so I spent the day getting ready for that - mostly packing in a rather desultory way, eating huevos rancheros, and getting my nails done. The nails were a conundrum; since I can only wear flipflops still, I wanted my toenails to look nice, but since the reason for my flipflop-wearing is that my toe is still broken, a pedicure didn't seem like a great idea. But vanity won, and so I got a gel manicure (because those suckers look amazing even if they'll give me melanoma) and a pedicure (which didn't hurt at all because the salon owner put the fear of god into the nail tech about not touching my broken toe). And now I shall feel pretty and put together even though I'm going to have to wear flipflops (or, worse, the boot) to every party for the next week.

But I'm all packed up, and my flight tomorrow leaves at a v. civilized hour. Kathia and I are flying together, so I'll have a partner in crime (and one who will likely keep me writing rather than letting me stare off into space). And as I was packing tonight, I was reflecting on how much has changed since my first conference six years ago. That one was in San Francisco, just days after I moved back from my sabbatical in Iowa, and while I went to a lot of workshops and learned a lot, I didn't know a single person and was too shy (and found it to easy to go home immediately every afternoon) to meet a lot of people. But then the next year was when I won the award...and it has all moved so (relatively) fast since then.

So, needless to say, I'm really looking forward to this week. I already warned the people at work that I'm not taking my work laptop or my corp phone with me, so there is no way for me to check my work email - which is good, since I want to fully immerse myself in my writing life for a few days. That pretty much means writing, going out with a bunch of different people, attempting to attend a few workshops, and undoubtedly finding myself waylaid in the bar. I don't have any huge goals or expectations for this conference, but I do want to keep building the relationships I've already been building, and it's easier to do it in person than on Twitter (although Twitter is surprisingly good for that in the romance community, at least).

But now I should stop rambling and go to bed - goodnight!