FIND INSPIRATION IN THE EVERY DAY.

Friday, June 27, 2014

Yee-Haw, Austin!!

Walking down SoCo is like walking on the surface of the sun.  A weird, colorful, super-hipster sun, but a sun just the same.  I'm on my second shower of the day and it's 4pm.  Oh.  And I just ordered a margarita.  Is that wrong?  Seems like the thing to do here to balance out the delicious salty/fatty offerings of food trucks parked on every corner: at gas stations, wedged between restaurants, or just hanging out by the side of the road.  Thai.  BBQ.  Pulled Everything.

The light's different here.  I thought it'd be like the light in California, but it's different altogether.  It's hard, unforgiving - the kind of light that angrily blasts off your husband's watch, directly into your eyes, as you drive your car in the late afternoon.  Aggressive light.  The kind of light that keeps you honest.  No shade to hide in here.

South of Congress (SoCo) is full of vibrant, independent-minded shops, lampposts plastered with a lasagna of music posters, and food, food, glorious food.  I'm not sure I was cool enough to walk down the street, but one green-strawed sip from my Tropic Thunder (lime, grapefruit, orange and ginger) and I didn't care.

I'm here for the Agents and Editors Conference.  Just checked in.  Have my spiffy badge with its pale blue "Finalist" ribbon, hanging from a decidedly un-hipsterlike lanyard, but I don't care.  I'm wearing it with pride.  Folks from home have been so supportive with surprise flowers and notes and texts.  I'm a lucky, lucky girl.

I can't wait until tomorrow to listen to all these smart folks talk on topics like "Dynamic Duos: The Author-Agent Relationship" and "Finding Your Creative Tribe".  I'm going to soak in every last word, take copious notes, and pray I don't pass out during my consultation with an agent.

Stay tuned - Hope to give you the low-down on all the info that is gleaned from the non-stop panels/workshops/presentations tomorrow.


















Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

TWL Finalist! Isn't It Romantic...

I'm creeping up on the end.  I see you, The End…I can alllllmooooossssttt reach you…!!  It has meant getting cramps in my fingers, angrily deleting as much as writing, and reading/writing/deleting so much this past year that I now need readers.  (Which is fine, because I think librarians are hot.  Smart girls in pencil skirts?  Nuff said.)  It has meant ignoring dust bunnies, packing bananas and goldfish crackers as ersatz lunches for the kids because I haven't gotten to the store.  It has meant banging my head against the wall more days than not. I am apparently able to write only 5 to 7 good pages a day.  It does not sound like a lot because it is not a lot. But it's like losing weight: a half pound isn't much per week, but after a few months, you have to buy new jeans.

Happy to say the work seems to be paying off.  Just got the word that  I am a finalist in the Romance category for the Writer's League of Texas Manuscript Contest!

I'm heading to Austin at the end of June, for their 21st Agents and Editors Conference.  The line-up for faculty and workshops sounds amazing and I cannot WAIT to meet other writers and to learn more, more, more about writing craft and business. (Sidebar: why is EVERYTHING I do a hybrid of craft and business?  Note to self to examine that sometime…)

All the winners and finalists will be announced at their keynote address and the biggest thing is that I will have the opportunity to meet with an agent.  Gulp.  Crafting the elevator pitch might be the toughest two sentences I've ever written.

I'll take any kind of luck y'all can spare.