Lisa Hendrix

I’m laying here in bed at a friend’s house in Dublin, CA, enjoying a final few moments before the week of craziness begins.  In  a couple of hours, I’ll hop on BART and—with a stop to meet my buddy Sheila Roberts at the Oakland BART station—head for downtown San Francisco and the RWA National Conference.  I’m taking advantage of these last restful moments because I know what a madhouse conference will be.

Not only is the conference itself packed with wonderful workshops and speakers (for some of whom I intend to turn total FanGrrl), but every moment in between is full of teas, dinners, cocktail parties, drinks, editor and agent appointment, and various casual sit-downs, not to mention all the friends you bump into in the lobby.

The official start of conference action is the Library and Bookseller event, which for the L&Bs begins Wednesday morning with workshops and presentations, but which for us author types begins mid-afternoon when we get to meet and schmooze with all those lovely folks. They’re both our heroes and our biggest supporters, and we love them to death–literally, you’d think by the amount of stuff we force into their hands with the hope of endearing ourselves to them, and thus to their patrons. The whole thing gets so overwhelming (500+ published authors and maybe 100 of the L&Bs) that some wise soul at RWA decided to split up the authors into three batches this years. We’ll take shifts, and the theory is that it will be less traumatic for all.  And we may even be able to talk to each other.

The unofficial start for me, however, is the squeal as I see Sheila at BART this afternoon, followed shortly thereafter by the squeal as I see Debbie Macomber, whom we’re meeting for tea at ___ (you don’t really think I’m going to tell you where, do you?).  I’ve actually known Debbie longer than Sheila*, and consider her a mentor as well as a dear friend. We used to be in the same chapter of RWA, but because I’ve moved and she now winters somewhere warm (not telling you that either), we haven’t seen each other in several years.  It’s going to be great to sit down with her, and I’m sure I’ll be laughing within minutes. And knowing Debbie, it may just be the most informative hour I spend at conference. It’s certainly one of the things I’m looking forward to the most.

The other thing I’m looking forward to is the annual Readers for Life Literacy Autographing, which I talk about here (and a bunch of other places, too, but I won’t bug you with them, since you can learn everything you really need to know HERE).

Whether you’re a reader or a writer, I hope to see you at one or the other of these events.  If you spot me, say hi and introduce yourself.

* I can keep track because shortly after I met Debbie, she asked me to help her with a computer problem.  As I worked, she bounced my 5 mo-old baby boy on her hip.  He’s now 17, 6′2″, and totally unbounceable.  I met Sheila the following year.

Apparently so.  Today is my regular monthly blog slot at Rose City Romance Writers.  The topic of the month is research, which could be boring, but has turned out not to be at all.  What’s most interesting to me is how differently each person approaches both the topic and the research itself. Pop on over and check it out. I promise we won’t bite.

So many bloggers are doing posts about preparing for the RWA National Conference that it’d be stupid and redundant for me to try to add anything. So here’s a roundup of the best. 

Wet Noodle Posse—(shown, right, at the 2005 Rita/GH Awards Ceremony, courtesy Ila Campbell)  They’ve been doing a terrific series of conference prep posts all through July, but unfortunately, they haven’t been very consistent with their tagging, so I can’t give you a single link that will get you to just those posts.  Just scroll back through their July 2008 posts to find info on various aspects of getting ready, from shoes to conference etiquette to business cards.  (Btw, you still have time to get cards via your local Office Depot. Even nice, thick, full gloss cards, printed both sides, are under $100 for 1000, but if you’re really on a budget, they have 100 basic cards for just $19.99.)

Plot Monkeys on Getting Ready

The Writing Playground offers a roundup of tips and advice from experienced authors.

And of course, I’d be remiss to leave out the ultimate conference prep resource, RWA’s own Conference FAQ.

If you can’t attend, never fear.  You’re covered, too.

Left Behind — A group of bloggers doing workshops during conference week. Links and Info will be on Karen Duvall’s site.

Plot Monkeys (again!) want some non-attending readers and writers to fill in for them while they’re gone.

Romance Divas are having their  Not Going to Conference Conference on their forums.

Do you know any great links to help someone prepare for conference?  How about turning your stay-at-home experience into a learning experience? Share them in Comments!

Andrew Stone (Stone Design) wrote an app called Twittelator for the new iPhone 2.0, and to show it off on the iTunes Store, he took a screen snap of his phone.  Right at the top — a Twitter from my husband, David. Woo-hoo!

(click to enlarge)

By the way, there’s a new version of iTunes you should download now, before the servers go crazy on the phone launch Friday.  It includes the new Applications area of the store, chock full of iPhone apps, including Twittelator…and my dh.

From TMI Tuesday:

1. LUST: Besides your current Significant Other who do you lust for or have you lusted for?
2. GLUTTONY: What food brings out your inner glutton?
3. GREED: What are you greedy for?
4. SLOTH: What is your plan for an ideal day of sloth?
5. WRATH: Describe a time that you let out a can of whoop ass on someone. 
6. ENVY: Who or what do you envy? Why?
7. PRIDE: Have you ever had to swallow your pride? What are you proud of?

My Answers:

1. Lust:  Pierce Brosnan. In so many ways.

2. Gluttony: Potato chips. Literally cannot control myself. Once I start, the entire bag goes. I don’t even bring them into the house any more unless we’re having lots of people over so they vanish without my help.

3. Greed: Attention. Money. My way.

4. Sloth: Stay in bed as long as I want with someone waiting on me, then move to the hammock (summer) or the couch (winter), also with someone waiting on me. All accompanied by plenty of Bailey’s Irish Cream, in coffee or on the rocks. Alternatively, sitting by a pool in Hawaii, with people bringing me iced tea with pineapple spears, all day. Which leads me to believe I should probably add Servants to my answer on #3.

5. Wrath: We had an extended  series of 1 a.m. prank calls (over several weekends) which would repeat every 20 minutes for an hour or two — just enough time to fall back to sleep, in other words.  One night, after being awakened for the fourth time, I ripped the kid on the other end–one of my daughter’s classmates, I believe–a new one and informed him that I had already called the phone company to have his calls traced (true) and if he called back again I was going to have his scrawny ass busted and thrown in jail as fresh meat for the child molesters.  I was absolutely hateful.  He didn’t call back.

6. Envy: Nora Robert, Debbie Macomber, Katie MacAllister, Lucy Monroe, and any other author who can write quickly and still tell a cracking good story.

7. Pride, Swallowing: The night I had to admit my first marriage was a failure and ask my folks to send money so I could move back home for a while. I was all of 24, and my mother had told me the marriage was a mistake to begin with, but I knew better, of course. It killed me to admit she was right, and for precisely the reasons she’d given me.

    Proud of:  My kids. They are growing up to be amazing people. I’m not sure how much I had to do with it, but I’m proud of them, nonetheless.  I’m also proud of my writing—that I can do it, that I’ve been published, that I get email from fans saying I’ve somehow touched them or made them laugh. I get a deep sense of accomplishment from those things.

Okay, that’s my first ever meme.  I’m tagging Amy at Writebrained, Scott Shanks at Epinephrine & Sophistry. and Sheila Roberts at Sheila’s Place. Pony up, guys.

Brilliant stop motion animation by Patrick Boivin at Daily Motion (via Gizmodo):