So I’m sitting here in the sprawling king size bed of my hotel room, in my happy little pillow cave, turning on my computer for the first time since Friday morning. Other than using Twitter on my phone to track folks down at the conference, I have been unplugged all weekend. It was a strange and liberating sensation, not so much to be unplugged, but to be unplugged because all the people I talk to all the time were HERE.
I cannot describe to you the awesome of getting to meet my agent, the Magnificent Laurie McLean, in person. (Yes, she’s totally hilarious IRL). I got to meet my agentmate, Victoria Scott (so fun!). I got to hang with all the WANA peeps–Kristen Lamb (who totally has a Presence, despite not being any taller than I am), Piper Bayard, Donna Lawson (who has, I think, decided I am a total lunatic and thinks that’s awesome), Tiffany White, Jillian Dodd, David Walker, Nigel Blackwell, Julie Glover, and Jess Witkins. I finally got to see the darling Kendra Highley (who introduced me to Abuelos…omg, best strawberry margarita EVER). I met all kinds of awesome new peeps (half of whom I forgot to get cards from, so I hope they all track me down on Twitter), including Jean Leggett (comedianne extraordinaire), Meredith Barnes (former agent turned marketing director for SoHo Press, who totally has her finger on the pulse of the future of publishing), Cheryl Ammeter (hoot an a half and also believes in kick ass female leads), Matt DeVaney, Sean Fletcher, M.A. Legvold (who has a beautiful smile), K. S. Bartow, J. L. Glenn, Sidney Bristol (of the adorable red shoes), Suzan Butler and a whole boatload of other fabulous fabulous people. Oh, and I nearly wound up in James Rollins (yeah THAT James Rollins) lap. But you gotta buy me a drink to get that story. 
OMG, y’all, this was the most fun you can legally have in six states. At least if you’re a writer. To be surrounded by a few hundred people who ACTUALLY GET ME…I can’t describe how amazing that was. I have done very little sleeping, a whole crapton of socializing, and have just been immersed in this primordial pool of creative juices.
This conference was my jump in to the deep end experiment to get over my fear of public speaking (I was on two panels–one on the Anatomy of a Book Launch and the other on Choosing To Self Publish). And I discovered an amazing thing: If you actually know what you’re talking about (and I don’t mean just have all the facts memorized like I used to do for debate in high school, but really KNOW), it’s not scary! I wasn’t nervous at all. It was…you know, I know I need to pick another adjective besides “Awesome” but right now I’m running on a lot of sugar and caffeine and very little sleep, so that’s what I’ve got.
I’m totally bummed that it’s over, as I can’t remember when I’ve ever had this much fun in my adult life. But there will be next year, and now I get to put all my attention on MOVING TO THE NEW HOUSE. I imagine I will do some blogging this week, but there’s probably going to be some days I’m AWOL until we get the internet sorted out and set up.
See you on the flip side!
Like this:
8 bloggers like this post.
