well let me tell you how we do it in california

My best laid plans continue to go awry. Blame it on the alcohol, indeed. But I'm having a glorious time at the conference; this year I'm feeling no pressure at all, since I'm not up for anything, wasn't responsible for anything, and had to give one workshop that was done by noon on the first day (that would be today). So the rest of the conference is pure working and fun. Actually, I suppose I should be thinking about the editor meetings I have tomorrow (both my freelance editor and the editor I'm pitching), but I prefer to ignore all of this.

Today was utterly lovely - I woke up too early, since I thought my workshop was at ten, but that meant that I was able to meet up with my friend Sarah in the lobby and write over coffee for an hour or so. I didn't get much done, since I discovered a massive fucking problem right in the middle of my manuscript, which I now think I know how to fix but wasn't making me happy this morning. Then I gave the workshop, skipped out of the hotel (not fast enough, since I kept running into people, which meant I had to take a taxi), and went to the office, where I did one meeting while eating a whole plate of steak. Then, I left the office, got to the subway, realized I'd left my phone in the office, went back to the office, and then had to call an Uber to take me to the Ritz-Carlton, which was an expensive but luxurious way to roll up to the fanciness in style.

At the Ritz, I had high tea (and a bellini) with some historical writer friends and the readers who won having tea with us as part of a charity auction we participated in in May. And I utterly gorged myself on gluten, but for once I don't regret a single bite, because it was all totally amazing. They had this grand marnier infused cream puff that was the best thing I've ever eaten, and there were all these great tea sandwiches, and they had scones, and I wanted to die from happiness. Then I almost really did die when the taxi on the way to the hotel had no air conditioning and took forty-five minutes, which meant I sweated ('glowed') all the way through my dress and missed my meeting with my freelance editor (who was luckily in communication via text, so we're meeting tomorrow).

So after all that, I was going to take it totally low-key - but instead, I took a cold shower, went downstairs, and had a v. lovely dinner with my San Francisco writing chapter (a dinner I was way too stuffed to eat, so I just had alcohol and a potato, which is like my perfect meal). Then I was going to go to my room and write, but I walked out of the restaurant with Rachael, so I ended up in her room talking selfpub over a glass of scotch. Then I actually made it to my room...but Kristin texted me, so I met her in the bar, where I had two drinks and networked with a million awesome people, and also told two Microsoft guys my father's distinction between romance novels and porn, which is too dirty to repeat here. The Microsoft guys were perhaps initially uncomfortable, since I overheard one of them whispering to the other that 'all the women here write *smut*), and I v. uncharacteristically interrupted and called them out on it. But then we had a rambling half-hour conversation about romance, which was made particularly shocking to them when they learned that I work at [tech company] and one of my fellow writers is an Episcopal priest. Heh.

sssanyway, after having a v. fruity drink with Tessa Dare (namedropping) and her v. high-powered literary agent (who lives in the same town as my former agent, may her name live forever in my heart), I have finally returned to my room, and I shall stay here for eight blessed hours. And then the fun will commence again, hopefully without me developing cirrhosis overnight. Goodnight!

talk about it somewhere only we know

I'm super sleepy, and also still sick, which is a total bummer. Also, I'm pretty sure my ulcer friend is back; I'd thought ulcer friend was back in Denver and had started taking acid blockers, but stopped taking them when I got home because I felt better, but now after a week off of them, my stomach hurts and I feel nauseated...so, acid blockers again. Stupid ulcer friend.

sssanyway, I woke up feeling quite ill, but I managed to shower, dry my hair, etc., and drag myself down to Mountain View to have lunch with a former coworker and give a career development talk to the team she's now working on. Yes, it's ridiculous that they invited someone who resigned to give a talk on career development, but that's the way they roll (and I have at least two more pending invitations, which I find hilarious). The talk went well and was entertaining, at least to me, and my old boss Dave vc'd in to listen to it from Ann Arbor, which was v. nice of him. After the talk, I hung out with Heather (aka dear respected madam) and retrieved the sandals I'd left at her house last week before grabbing some coffee, checking my mail in Palo Alto, and driving back to the evil city, where I wrote down some epiphanies about the gargoyle series, then sat on the couch in a sad sort of torpor and tried to ignore my ulcer friend.

When Terry got home, though, we watched an episode of "Bones", then filmed another segment of the video we're working on for my romance alter ego. I may be dimwitted, but I do recognize that it's probably not a good idea to mix a virulent cold, cold medicine, ulcer friend, acid blockers, and alcohol -- so I did this segment sober, which went well even if I was clearly a bit more tightly-wound than I was in the other segment we filmed. But I still managed to dress myself up like a hot mess, so I think it will all work out. The footage (we'll call it the 'dailies' even though we're far from being a legit production company) looked pretty good, though, and I found a Creative Commons license for some classical music to use over the intro/credits, so things are shaping up. Hopefully we'll finish taping this weekend and I can share it with you in all its ridiculous glory sooner rather than later! But now, I must sleep so that my throat/lungs/sinuses/stomach lining can heal themselves -- goodnight!

i just thought maybe we could find new ways to fall apart

I'm surprisingly intoxicated, but more on that in a moment (spoiler!). Today was lovely; I slept until eleven, which shouldn't be a surprise since I stayed up reading until three a.m. Then I putzed around the house, made myself breakfast (oatmeal and bacon = breakfast of champions), showered, etc., and worked on my gargoyles for awhile (yay gargoyles who have nothing to do with gargoyles). I also hauled my suitcase upstairs from last week's trip to Denver and considered doing laundry, but I abandoned it as a fool's errand and decided to save it for tomorrow, when the washer can run without disturbing me or overheating me since I'll be out of the house for a few hours.

I spent the late afternoon/early evening preparing for a video shoot; Terry and I are doing a video for my romance writer alter ego, which has proven to be super super fun and ridiculous. I worked on the script this afternoon, and also figured out my costume and rearranged my room so that we could get the right shot of my desk. Terry got home around 7:30, and we ordered a pizza and had two (v. strong) cosmos to get the "talent" (aka me) in the properly inebriated state for filming this video. Then I slathered on the lipgloss, perched my tiara precariously on my head, and we went to town with the filming, getting all the shots that we needed to get of me at my desk. Since the shots ended with me doing a shot of whisky out of my tea mug, I'm glad we got that one in one take -- I'm not sure I could have done another shot of whisky without retching onto my laptop, which would have been cinematic in an entirely unwelcome way.

Anyway, after we shot everything, we watched it on the camera and it all looked great, so yay for that. We still need to get a few more scenes over the next week or two, but I feel much more secure and comfortable about it, so onward, Christian soldiers, right? If the Christian soldiers are willing to go on Crusade to make a video about romance novelists, which is unclear. Anyway, I digress. The video was fun, and I still need to do some script work, but I'm quite happy with where we got tonight, and Terry seemed to be happy too (although she was nearly as drunk as I was, despite her lack of a closing whisky shot, so maybe she'll change her mind in the morning).

And now, I really must sleep; I've got tings to do tomorrow and they don't involve lying around in my bed bemoaning my encounter with a bottle of Maker's Mark. Goodnight!