Christmas Joys

For the first time in a long time, Christmas was fantastic. Don't get me wrong; Christmases of the past were good too but this was different.

It started Christmas Eve at my uncle's house. They were doing a white elephant gift exchange. For those who don't know what that is, and I discovered there were several of my friends that didn't, everyone brings a wrapped or bagged gift. Usually it's something that they were gifted and have no use for or a budget is set, such as nothing over $10. Everyone drew a number and whoever drew #1 started the exchange by picking a gift. You open it, everyone sees what it is and #2 goes. THEY have the choice of stealing what you have or picking a new gift. Gifts (for us) can only be stolen twice before they're "dead". I was number one and had mine for all of one minute because it was promptly stolen by #2. So I picked again and the game continued with lots of stealing and laughing and good natured teasing. Everyone cracked up when my grandmother stole the large LED flashlight a second time, there by rendering it un-stealable, for my grandpa. The joke of the night was the turtle. My mother loves turtles and last year one was put in the gift pot. She stole it from someone and her big brother stole it from her, rendering it dead. She was not happy...LOL. When she left that night, it was in the front seat of her car. Another turtle made an appearance along with a Kermit this year. My daughter stole it, intending to give her grandma the turtle and her mom (ME!) the Kermit. Fate intervened...her grandma stole it from her to laughter and boos. My uncle called house rules (it was his house) and tried to steal it back but my mom is ferocious and the turtle stayed in her possession. She gave up Kermit though. The nice thing about being number one is that, since you didn't have the chance to steal anything, you get to go last and, having seen all the gifts at that point, get to decide if you keep what you landed with or steal. I stole...lol. A mason jar of Hershey Kisses with an iTunes gift card. Sorry, Cuz for the dancing Santa.

Christmas day had me a teensy bit worried because the tree was sparse for my daughter this year. As in, there was one gift being guarded by two beanie bears and a few things in her stocking. You teach them it's not about the gifts but wonder if they take it to heart. She did and was thrilled with what I got her. Even when other kids talked about what they got, I never saw a disappointed look. We moved on to my dads where she got her yearly favorite book (The Guinness Book of World Records). She enjoyed explaining to Grandpa how the dragon game worked and then it was time to head for my moms. We were having Christmas dinner and my brother brought his girls over later in the evening after doing more of his family stuff. What. A. Blast. It's been years since I've seen my brother laugh and smile like he did this year. I was snapping pictures like crazy and I kept a lot of them on my phone so I can look at them and smile. I have a bunch of pictures of our girls laughing and smiling as well as my mom and stepdad. A good gag from my mom involving drills and bits had us eyeing each other warily for a while...lol.

The day after involved some clearance shopping and gift card spending, followed by bar food. I love me some bar food. Fingers and fries and ranch, baby...lol. So now it's days later and I'm still thinking back and remembering the laughter, for it was plentiful. And I think, gosh I'm blessed. I hope that even if your Christmas, or Hanukkah or Kwanza, or whatever you celebrate, didn't go the way you hoped it would, that you can  look back and remember at least one smile. Or one laugh. Or one hug. Because that it what it is about. Love and family and friends and blessings. And I hope that the new year brings you more of those, because life is better for them. And if you find yourself without one, shoot me a message. I'm more than happy to share them, even if they're virtual.

Hugs,
Lynn



Mom stealing the turtle and Kermit

 

My uncle unsuccessfully trying for a House Rules ruling to get it back for my daughter...lol...
she gave up Kermit but not the turtle



A successful House Rules ruling between brothers :)

A Starbucks Steal!!

Clownin' with my Bro

I love seeing him laugh



This we were doing to drive my mom nuts. Reading an article on my fave wrestler...lol
She was ready to keep going with the gifts 

Christmas time's a comin...how are you dealing with it?

Someone posted the other day how they were glad not to be "doing" Christmas this year as it saved on time and stress. They'd seen posts about shopping and cooking and stress and were glad to skip over it this year. It got me thinking that sometimes we let the world intrude on our wonderful times. I thought about whether or not I could choose not to "do" Christmas. I decided I couldn't. Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. Even in rough, or lean, years, it was always a sign of "new" times coming. My childhood Christmases were filled with decorating live trees with fun ornaments and gaily wrapped gifts under the tree. I remember one year, I think I was 10, asking for a "china doll." Unbeknownst to me, what I wanted was a porcelain doll. My parents took me literally though and I got my first ever geisha doll that year. I still have it and it started a love of the orient that still influences my shopping today. I now have a fun collection of geisha dolls and look for more to add all the time. I remember getting New Kids on the Block stuff, (Yes, I still love them...don't judge), a pogo ball (who remembers those?) and as I got older, drawing things. Color pencils, sketch pads, paint by numbers. Loved it all. One most memorable year, I opened a closed box and shrieked before realizing what was in the box was not a rainbow colored snake but a tie-dyed t-shirt tied up like one. Petrified is too mild a word for my fear of snakes, but he grew on me and I had him for almost twenty years before my then young daughter unraveled him. I still have the little plastic sunglasses that were perched on his head and she still runs around in the shirt.

There were Christmases with not so fond memories. The year I miscarried two days before Christmas was particularly difficult and the first Christmas without my, now, ex was brutal. Much drama surrounds that and won't be gone in to here. There was the year my mom volunteered to work her second job on Christmas morning so her boss could be with her young daughter and we needed the money. That sucked at first but my brother and I turned it around. She hadn't had time to decorate working two jobs so we went into the shop, carefully dug through her boxes and decorated. It was corny and not the most tasteful (we were only 12 and 9) but she got home and was thrilled with the surprise. Even in the crappy years, I found that if I could immerse myself in family and food and music, it eased the painful feelings. Christmas lights never fail to make me smile, I sing Christmas carols starting in November and play with the buttons on the Christmas decorations we sell at work all season. I get laughed at sometimes when I say I've started decorating a couple weeks before Thanksgiving but I stopped apologizing for it because it makes me happy and I think, if it's not hurting anyone else, so what?

As a child I also developed a love of Christmas vinyl. My grandma would do her Christmas baking to the shiny black vinyl of Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Perry Como and many others. After she passed, the tradition faded but when over the last ten years, I've hunted and searched and now have a spiffy little collection that, when I want to wander down memory lane, I can and remember her with much love. I also remember she put tinsel on her tree until it was almost all you could see and that out stockings from her always had apples, oranges and nuts in them. The last gift I got from her was a little green and purple dressed clown doll. She sits on my shelf to this day. I remember on the other side of the family, I always got a cute sweater or something from my grandparents and was jealous the boys got handmade shirts. I was 16 before I convinced my grandma to make me one of her famous denim shirts. She did it so well, someone stole it less than a year later. Not cool. We always got to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it was whatever we got from my grandma that lived out of state. I have several awesome handmade quilts still.

Now Christmas revolves around my daughter. She loves it as much as I do but we're careful to remember what it's really all about. We love giving gifts but know that when times are lean, it doesn't matter what's under the tree, but who's around it instead. This year has been a little rough but we're bangin' through and will enjoy it to the max. My character Aurora, you find out, avoids Christmas because of the pain it brings her heart. You learn more about that later but it makes me think...Christmas is what you make of it. If you let it, it will be stressful. If you let hurt invade the season from the past, you'll not enjoy it. Think about what it is that's making it not enjoyable and decide if it has to be that way. Does the hurt from years ago have to take away from the joy? Does not having "enough money" have to ruin it? Can you put the focus back where it belongs? Whether it be Christ, family or whatever...I hope you can. I hope that it becomes what you want it to be.

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza or whatever, I hope it's a beautiful time for you. I wish you loads of love and happiness.

Merry Christmas,
Lynn

Holidays and Writing Plans

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's time to prep for Christmas. The Holidays have always been my favorite time of year. Halloween, while not my favorite holiday, has always been a signal that a grand season was coming. My mini-me decided that she had one more trick or treating in her this year and that next year she will help her grandma pass out candy. Thanksgiving was spent with my mom and step-dad. My step-brother and his family drove in and we had a great time. My SIL generously volunteered to brave the gas station with me to retrieve an ad paper and ice as my mom had forgotten about it. We made it home in good time and there was no insanity. Yes, even on Thanksgiving morning I was concerned about nutty people and the last minute things they forgot...lol

Now for Christmas, my favorite time of the year. I used to be one of those people that decorated starting the first of October but I've tamed it a bit now and don't start until the first of November. Mini-me and I started putting the tree up on Thanksgiving when we lived out of state since we had no family and even now that we're home again, we still maintain that. It's up now with lights on it but it will probably be next weekend before we get to the ornaments.

I released my first book last Tuesday with an online FB celebration. It was exhilarating and exhausting. My mom bought me a cake and an adorable little snowman that was wearing a blue ribbon. She was rather proud I had finally done it. It's not storming the charts but that's okay. Word of mouth will spread and in the meantime, people will enjoy it. I'm working on the rewrite of book two in the trilogy and hoping for an early spring release. The third I want out no later than fall but it will all depend on schedules and unexpected occurrences. You know what they say about best laid plans.

Now it's time to focus on more of what I didn't know I needed. Like a media kit, for instance. I had to google that to figure out what they were talking about. It seems a monumental task and one I wish I could hide from but I can't so I'd better get on it...lol. A bio, and questions and media links and awards and, and, and...maybe someone will take pity on me and help me figure it out. There's also decisions to be made such as whether or not to expand into other sales areas such as Nook and Kobo or to stay with amazon and ride it out. There is a lot more decision making and option weighing than I thought there would be but I'll figure it out.

Binding Elements: Discoveries will be on sale through Cyber Monday for only 99 cents. On Tuesday it goes back to it's regular price of $2.99. I hope you'll get to take advantage of it. It was a fun and challenging story to write and I can't wait to share the rest of it with you. In case I miss you before then holidays are over, Merry Christmas!

-Lynn

It's almost here! And some of the journey...

My first release on the 25th is nearly here! I'm both excited and terrified. I started book one a little over 8 years ago. The goal was to just finish something...anything. Before I had finished it, I had ideas jotted down and paragraphs completed for a second book. Whoa? A second? But this wasn't meant to be a series. Turns out my muse had other ideas. So I finished the first and moved on to the second and BOOM! Again, before it was finished, I had ideas and notes for the third book. A trilogy?? This is never going to happen. Fast forward another four or five years and the trilogy is complete, the first ready to be published and the second in it's rewrite infancy. What took so long? you may ask.  Eight years to publish?

Well, here's the deal. First, you have to actually write something. Sit your ass in the chair, or on the sofa or in the bed and write. I mean, you can't publish what's not out of your head. They don't sell mind reading subscriptions in Kindle, Nook or Kobo format. So far as I know. When the first story took hold, I wrote at night after I'd put my daughter to bed. I wrote on breaks at work (dangerous business though cause it's easy to get wrapped up in it and lose track of time). I wrote in the car while waiting to get her from school. I finished and breathed a sigh of relief and set it aside. When someone asked how it was going, when I was going to publish, I'd give vague answers "I'm looking into it...", "When my daughter is older and I can focus on it". What they were, in truth, were scaredy cat answers. Publish? No one wants to read this. Then I let someone read it...they liked it. I started doing a little research, asking questions online of people who were  published or about to be.

You must have an agent! You must have a compelling query letter! You must have your manuscript polished before anyone will look at it. You must not expect your first submissions to be accepted! It will suck and it will be rejected! If it's your first attempt, throw it in a drawer and do something different. It won't be good enough because it's your first time out of the gate! And be warned, there's a good chance your second submission won't be accepted either! (Insert doubt, broken heart and tears at this point)

One author offered to read my query letter. Sweet! Then broke it down line by line, and sent back "here's how I would write this" and "I would change that" and then maybe someone will take a look at it. I thought, okay, I'll take her advice. After all, she's published numerous times. She must know what she's talking about. So I re-wrote it and hated it. It didn't sound like me at all. It sounded like her. So I threw it away and tried to make it me. Then I heard from an agency. Super exciting but I'd read enough about agents and such that a little warning bell went off in the back of my brain. I did a little online search and learned they were probably shysters. Great, they only wanted my money. I shoved the whole publishing thing in the back of the desk and worked on finishing the trilogy.  After all, maybe someone would be more likely to want it if they new I'd finished it.

Fast forward to 2013...my step mom takes me with her to a book signing here in Vegas. It was fabulous but she kept telling people I'd written a book and was going to publish. SHHH!!! Don't tell people that! Then they'll ask questions I can't answer and...and...hang on. These  ladies (there were no male authors at this signing) started offering tips and advice. They're asking about my story as if they care. They're giving me cards and websites and email addresses to look at and ask questions and telling me to call or message them if I have any questions. I was ready to cry with joy. I had people backing me. I had people I could ask for help from. I was hooked. I knew I could do this. Then I went home and doubt set in again. Of course they said that, they were nice people. They wanted to encourage but really, I was a first time writer. Or was I?

I found an old notebook that was a complete story I had written in high school. It was terrible and I cringed reading it but it lit a small fire. I had completed something before. It sucked but I knew what I had written now was better than what I had done then. Maybe the new stuff just needed tweaking. A couple months later, I attended an conference with my mom. I walked up behind her and heard her telling someone her daughter was an author and that I was trying to publish. My mom was totally pimping me to everyone she met! I had people approaching me and asking questions and offering advice. It was wonderful. When it was over, I started in on the rewrite of the first one. Another conference in May nearly ended my aspirations but I met a fabulous lady that re-inflated my hope. In nine months, the first book saw two complete rewrites and three rounds of edits.  

Now, on the 25th, my book will meet the world. It's terrifying. Not everyone will like it but not everyone will hate it either. My family is jazzed and my friends are waiting to click "buy". My author friends are supporting me by attending my online party and nominating my beautiful cover for an Indie cover award. They are sending me lists of stuff I need to do because I don't know how or know that I need to do certain things. It turns out, you don't need to know everything or have everything perfect before pursuing your dreams. You just have to pursue them. <3 font="">

-Lynn

Hot Mojave Knights 2014 Sandwich Reveiw

It's that time again! I'm going to give a review of HMK 2014 in the same fashion I gave the a previous conference. Let us not say I'm not fair. It's a sandwich review. Start with positives, move into opportunities and end with positives. Got it? Here we go.

I attended the 2nd annual Hot Mojave Knights event in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. I live here so that made it almost a no brainer. The reasonable price was a bonus. Breakfast included as well as dinner each night through the various events. There were also simple lunches provided for those that didn't want to go downstairs to the casino. I went to the first one last year and enjoyed it a great deal. It's put together by 3 wonderful ladies...authors Shannan Albright, RM Sotera and Johanna Riley. The event was slightly longer than last year, starting on Thursday night with the Wine tasting and Meet and Greet, moving into events on Friday and Saturday and then the "Meeting of the Minds", is what I'll call it...lol...on Sunday morning.

First, what most people need to realize it that it's a boutique event. It's not meant to be on scale with RT. It's a reader event with fun and engaging panels, along with classes for writers...such as the marvelous Kathryn LeVeque's class on KDP publishing (she had hand outs! You all should know by now how much I love hand outs), Courtney Sheets' class on Second Life (it's a virtual world you can create a character in and do stuff with...that would be a whole other post) and Cynthia Vespia's interactive How to Write Fight Scenes class (again, more handouts!!). I particularly enjoyed this one as, for once, I volunteered to help and got to attempt to "shank" Cynthia, as Courtney so eloquently put it. Cynthia, in turn, showed us how our characters would move to get away from said shanking. I'm lucky she likes me at least a little since I'm roughly two and a half times her size but have no doubts she could have planted me on my ass at any given moment. True story.

One of the issues from last year was that there was too much going on. You rushed from place to place and had to choose between classes and panels you really wanted to take and hope someone else attended that you were friends with so they could fill you in on what you missed. This year, it went a little too far the other way. Don't get me wrong, it was very nice to have a slower pace (especially for my mom who has RA and needs breaks) but a few times it became a "ho-hum...what do I do for the next hour while I wait for the next thing to start." I have no doubt that the ladies will find a medium balance next year. They're good like that. Scheduling got a little tricky with changes (it happens) that didn't always get out or around.

The two events I had the most trouble with was the Wine Tasting Meet and Greet and the Salsa party. There are rules you can't break with hotel in regards to food and alcohol so these events had to be done in the hospitality suite and there just wasn't enough room for everyone and it was hot. Not so much fun, except when a few of us sat chatting in the hall. It was amusing watching people come and go but not as much as if we could have mingled...in a cool, not sweaty kind of way. Keep reading though, as there are already some updates on this particular issue.

I enjoyed the Military Ball much more this year than last. It wasn't as loud, so that you could actually talk between the folks sitting next to you, whereas last year, my mom had me yelling in her ear all night. The food, dessert and bar were really good. I bought a ticket for my sister, who was nervous being around so many people she didn't know, but by the end of dinner, she was ready to do the whole weekend next year. The Jello Shots (not my cup of tea but woo-hoo, was it fun seeing my mom do them) and pajama party were a lot of fun. The pajama party was definitely on the naughty side (the stories we could tell but won't...lol) but lots of good laughs were had (along with a lot of secret confessions). A slightly tamer side event wouldn't go amiss for those of us who don't do too great in loud situations. Perhaps a pajama movie party would be cool with a chick flick or, for us geeks, a super hero action flick, with popcorn or whatever (Courtney, let's talk to the ladies! Maybe we could do one!). I digress...

The Knights were six of one, half a dozen of the other for me this year compared to last. Last year there was, I believe, four of them (pros) and only one of them ever even spoke to my mom and I over three days, even though there were all kinds of mingling events. He got our favours last year though he didn't win the "Knighthood". This year, there were only three and while they were much more chatty and friendly, we rarely got to see them as they were regular guys (there's nothing wrong with that) that had to work and so were only able to be there some of the time. Again, I have no doubt the Ladies have already got plans for that.

What did I love? I loved the Pleasure party...the lady presenting (and I can't think of her name) was knowledgeable and hilarious to boot. Her teasing of the freshly minted 21 yr old Knight was insanely funny. I loved the swag room...that was a nice addition this year. The book bingo was a lot of fun. It was hosted by the ladies of the Vampires, Werewolves and Fairies, Oh my Blog. They were generous in the humor department as well as the prize department. I also loved seeing a lot of the people I met last year. I loved catching up as well as being recognized by them. I liked sitting and chatting with the HMK ladies in between panels and classes. They were constantly asking how it was going, what suggestions did people have, even before the "Meeting of the Minds" on Sunday. They are determined to make this event better every year.

Some of the items already in the works is having the registration downstairs where we can register and them move into a large area to grab a drink and mingle. SWEET! They're also looking at adding a few panels and classes back in as well as how the scheduling is done and changed. The Book Fair...oh yes, let us not forget that. I liked it so much more this year as last year, it was spread over two days for a couple hours and you weren't quite sure who was going to be where. This year, everyone was together and it made it much easier to spend money...LOL. The only glitch was that there was a class or two scheduled during the book fair so that the authors could not attend and book buyers were buying books and missing the great class offered. There's already talk of doing "serious" things in the morning and "fun" things in the afternoon. A teensy bit more advertising to bring in more readers would be great for it.

Overall, it was a great weekend that I'm already signed up for next year...as a featured author!! I can't wait. Lots of the ladies will be back and it will be wonderful seeing them again. There are already lots of plans and changes in the making and I can't wait to see what is next! My recommendation? Give it a shot...it's well worth it.

-Lynn

 

The Paranormal Panel...Tisha Wilson, Viola Grace, Misti Martine, Jewel Quinlan, Nikki Prince, CR Moss and Courtney Sheets

Me and my Mama...we have such a good time when we go to these things

 

My sister...yeah, I know we don't look anything alike...no, we are not blood sisters...and yes, I do believe 30 years of friendships automatically qualifies us for sisterhood...LOL <3 em="">

 

Author and HMK Committee member Johanna Riley presenting a check to Operation Homefront for over $800...money was donated by author's and readers buying raffle tickets for gift baskets...it was well worth it

 

The wonderful husband/wife writing team known as Adriana Kraft...I so want to be them when I grow up :-D

 

The ever hilarious Courtney Sheets

 

I call them the Ladies of HMK

 

Book Bounty!! Woo-Hoo!

Work and Writing...don't always mix

I work a forty hour week and take care of my mini me when that's done. It took me a VERY long time to realize there was a way to balance my "Real Life" with my "Dream Life". It's not an easy way and has to be a very flexible way, and it certainly wasn't something I could handle when she still needed help getting dressed. She'll be 12 in a couple weeks and over the last year, she's come to realize how much I want to be a published author. She understands and tries (though isn't always successful) to give me my writing time. She's still learning what justifies yanking Mommy out of her scene and it's not "Can I have a sandwich?" Just in the past two weeks, I've gotten nearly 30k done in my final draft before editing and it's because she knows how close I am to yanking that dream off the shelf and dropping it in my shopping cart to take home.

Anyway, back to the title topic...

Last week was a snarly work week that kept intruding on my writing time. In the midst of a scene, my phone goes off and it's one if my people, texting me an update on his condition. Cool...no problemo...give the standard, though genuine, reply of "if you guys need anything let us know." A job? What? For who? Benefits early? Whaaa...? So, by now I'm staring at my computer screen, completely ripped out of what I'm doing and I shoot the boss man a text...can you help me out? Stop responding, is what I get back. Aw, crap...ticked boss...Oh and by the way, the boss man and the boss man's boss will be walking my store that night (he shoots me back, in text)...while I'm not there...At this point, I'm digging in my freezer for the bottle of tequila. First lesson of the night, never take a text in the context of how it "sounds"...cause you're probably gonna be wrong. I was...he wasn't ticked...he's just not a texter, but also a marine and keeps it brutally short.

Second lesson, and not for me but the boss man. DO NOT, under any circumstances, tell me you're going to be in my store when I'm not there. It took me over two years to get him to quit telling me when he was going to do my reviews. Once, on a Friday afternoon, he says, "I'm doing your review next Tuesday." ..."WHY FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DID YOU JUST TELL ME THAT?! I'M GOING TO BE WORRIED SICK ALL WEEKEND NOW!!"...I get the look and the "Why? What's the big deal? You have nothing to worry about." I'll tell you the big deal. After nearly being submarined at a favorite job by a vengeful manager, I get a little twitchy knowing it's coming. Don't tell me, just do it...be like that sports shoe company. He laughed last week when I told him the boss walking thing falls in the same category. It was all a bed of roses for me because I can run my business but good lord...I did not need that. The tequila stayed in the freezer but the 72% Godiva Dark Chocolate bar in the fridge from my friend Suzan had a chunk taken out of it. Forty five minutes later, I'm back in the groove.

Two nights later, yet another set of texts from one of my people, for reasons I won't go into, and again, ripped out of what I'm doing. Do I have SAP or SUCKER stamped across my forehead? Get boss involved, another short brutal message that I don't take totally wrong (ok, the stomach still clenched and my imagination ran wild but the chocolate went untouched...I get points for improvement). Half an hour later, back in the groove and the next day, all is well again...sort of...but that's work not writing, so I'll spare you. The happy part was, as I said, the joy of getting more than half of my final done...and yes, I told the boss he drove me to chocolate.

Tonight, not writing but for this blog because I must put together fruit kabobs for a partnership breakfast tomorrow morning at work...(sigh...stares longingly at the file)

Anyway, so what have we learned?

1) Texts don't usually mean how they "sound"
2) Bosses and work people can have an amazing impact on you...outside of work, when you're struggling to grab that dream off the shelf
3) Friends who give chocolate are angels in disguise
4) That I'm still working on the smooth flowing blog thing and that...
5) Nothing is unworkable, just be flexible

Keep reaching for your dream!
See you next week!
-Lynn

Review of RNC 2014

I'm going to give a review of RNC 2014 in the same fashion I give my associates their reviews at work. It's a sandwich review. Start with positives, move into opportunities and end with positives. Got it? Here we go.

The first thing I have to say is that once the classes got organized and going, they were great. I never took a "dud" class the whole time I was there and never heard a word from anyone about being unhappy about a class they took. NYT Bestselling author Angela Knight started me off with a wonderful class called Brainstorming to Revision and provided handouts for us furious note-takers. You'll discover I love handouts. I'm a visual person so handouts are stupendous. She also gave a class called  Mild to Wild: Writing Love Scenes that Sizzle. I didn't get to that one but she had, you guessed it, handouts from it at her table at the book fair! I also took part in VS Nelson's sprinting class (twice, cause I love it so much and she had a chart), a class on using Scrivener by Livia Quinn and Cadence Denton (with a fabulous handout), a panel class called Indie Publishing 1,2,3...10. Guess what? Another hand out! Woot woot! That was done with Mary Harris, Fiona Jayde and TJ McKay. Indie Writing As A Business by Victoria Danann (no handout...lol). Fiona Jayde gave a class called The Rebel and the Trendsetter. Every one of them was filled with information and new ideas for handling all kinds of things in the Author World.

Now for the middle portion of our sandwich. The biggest area of opportunity for this event was organization! I will admit to being disappointed on that count. There were several indications going into this that the organization issues from last year had been fixed and I'm afraid to say that was not the case. That being said, there were MANY wonderful volunteers working frantically to get things going and keep them going. Many of them took some of the blame for the lack of organization and I will say freely, and all the authors I spoke to agree with me, that it was not their fault. They kicked a** and took names whenever they could and should be commended for their hard work. I have a special place for Taabia D. who, on that first day, answered every question my mom and I had when we were trying to get where we needed to be and when, amongst the confusion. The simple fact was that when it was boiled down to the nitty gritty, the organization was simply not there. There were many other issues but I won't go into those as none of them involved me directly and there are two sides to every story. However, it should be noted that it was not one person here or there with one issue or another, but many people with same issues repeatedly. There were quite a few other inconsistencies but I think you have a fairly good idea of what was up.

There was also the issue of our host being a ghost that flitted in and out of the scene and was usually more out than in. They were not even seen at the Welcoming Social until 2 hours after it started and there was no welcome or even mingling among the guests. I can say that in 5 days, I never spoke a word to him and saw him only after social events had started and always hanging with his intimates. I saw more texts being sent to him than I actually saw of him. This does not impress me in the slightest as it said on the front page of the website, that he would be completely available to attendees. Maybe you just had to be a specific attendee. I was also surprised to see the banner sitting at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the convention floor was not for the conference, but for the hosts personal website. That sat wrong with me as we were there for the conference, not for a webpage and a webpage was not going to draw people to the conference or book fair/signing. If I had been walking through the casino, I'd have stopped in curiosity at the idea of a book fair. Books? For sale? AND I can have them signed? And I can get a picture with the author? I'm so there!! I'm going to completely pass the website advertisement and wonder what the casino had it there for.  

And the bottom bun of our sandwich. The socials. Aside from not starting on time (ever...sorry, I dipped back into the middle of the sandwich) they were a lot of fun once they got going. The music was fun, the dancing was great (I guess I should say watching the dancing was fun as I only danced a handful of times...still trying to come out of my introvert shell at these things...lol). The Welcoming Social was especially fun for me as, for the first time in my 35 years, I got to dance with a gentleman taller than myself. It was awesome! His name was Justin and he was one of the event Casanovas. He was four inches taller than myself and it was awesome having to look up to talk to him. Sharon Hamilton's Military Mash and Costume Ball was given in conjunction with the release of her new SEAL book, Seal of my Heart, and was a blast. It was so much fun to see everyone dressed in costume. The Rone' Awards presented by InD'Tale Magazine were wonderful. It wasn't perfect and had it's little glitches but to me, it fit us perfectly. We Indie author's are not perfect and break rules and convention all the time. It seems only right the awards for us should go the same way. TJ McKay and her staff did a fantastic job. And I was super excited to see my friend Suzan Tisdale win for her book Rowan's Lady. The Casanova Contest involved some very handsome gentlemen and I hear it went well. It was not exactly my thing, so I went downstairs and had a drinks with a couple friends before they flew home. Congrats to Weston who won the Casanova 2014 title. On a more personal note, I attended a publisher social and was casually asked about what I was writing. After an informal rundown, I was asked to submit to them! Major ego boost for me! I was grinning like a fool...LOL

And speaking of Suzan, I finally got to meet her (we've been friends online for a while). It was pretty funny because I was using my pen name for the first time so when I caught her attention, she looked at me kind of blankly until I gave her my real name. Then I got the girly squeal and monster hug. She is just as fabulous in person as I thought she would be. She is also very caring as she called me just to make sure my mom and I had not got caught up in one of the organization debacles going on. I was ridiculously excited to win the raffle for her basket and let me tell you...that woman knows how to build a raffle basket...lol. I got to see my friend Eryn again and enjoyed several random hugs from her. It was pretty thrilling for me to be recognized by Kathryn LeVeque and asked how it was going. Hey, I'm a newbie and anyone recognizing me makes me happy. I spent some time with the wonderful Halle B. and her husband Gregg, Amy J., Victoria V. and met two fun ladies by the names Livia Q. and Cadence D. They were silly excited that I was working my way to publication and more than willing to help and offer ideas. I met many new people and look forward to building those friendships in the coming months. I enjoyed the book fair a great deal (I had to make two runs to the hotel room to dump my goods...lol) and loved getting to chat briefly with everyone before they started leaving.

So. Overall, though I learned, laughed, sang, danced (a little), and talked (a lot), unless there were some major changes to the organization, I won't be attending next year. In something like this, while free time is welcome, it shouldn't be used waiting for things to start or people to get where they need to be. I personally feel that the host of something like this should at least say a few words to welcome the people that spent hard earned money to come to their conference. That being said, THANK YOU to everyone I met. You all had some kind of impact during those five days and 99.9% of it was good.

 

With the Casanovas...I love this pic!

 

 

Look! That's me! Using my pen name for the first time!

 

 

Dancing at the Welcome Social

 

 

Sharon Hamilton's Military Mash and Costume Ball

 

 

 

Me and my momma :-)

 

 

That is a Tequila Sunrise and it was good!

 

 

With Suzan Tisdale after her Rone' win

 

 

The ever handsome Justin and the first man I had to look up to when we danced

 

 

With the wonderful VS Nelson

 

 

 Livia Quinn

 

 

Cadence Denton

 

 

My sweet buddy Eryn Black

 

 

InD'Tale girls! And HD Smith

 

 

Crunchreel Tim

 

 

Selfie with Suzan!