Good bye RWA!

So, this is the last night of RWA. I went to every agent/editor panel I could find. I met some new friends and saw some familiar faces. I was happily surprised to run into Magdalen Braden and Tracy St. Hillaire, both STAR members. I've got my fingers crossed for Terri Walsh to get her RITA!

The end of the conference is always bittersweet. I've got tons of ideas running around in my head, including the basics of my next book, No Hope in Hell, featuring Hope Monahan from At The End Zone. It'll be a stand alone, though, not an official part of the series. I'm very excited about it. A big part of it will be Hope's Facebook page and blog.

I'm bringing home tons of promo ideas from the goody room to share with my STAR buddies!

I'll first finish my Dave, but that'll have too wait until I've got the second Star Search script written. I'm not excited about that at all. But it has to be done. It would be nice if I actually got paid to write the script, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. I'll have a week to write it if I write every free minute I have.

But, I can't wait to share everything I've learned here with the rest of you!

My big honkin' RWA report

As always, RWA National is an exercise in balancing being a professional writer and being a fangurl. I have done very well, except when I went through Suzanne Brockmann's line at the Literacy signing and went all fangurl on her.

I've only taken workshops on branding, selling to and working with editors and agents and leadership at the National level. Frankly, being active at the National level is less work than working for STAR.

But, I've got lots of information for Carol Henry about changes in the way we run things. This year is the continuation of the work we began last year.

I've been looking out for my STAR and critique group buds. I've got a list of agents for Lisa.

I saw in person some people I've known online, which has been the biggest thrill. I'm looking at you, Nancy O!

I did get to swim, but the water was too warm to work out in and there were too many kids, even in lap pool. Also, not enough chlorine. There were kids in diapers in that pool. Ummm, yuck.

Met some Wild Rose Press authors at breakfast today and then with some the E-Span authors at a lovely tea. E-Span is a special interest chapter for writers who are published digitally or with small presses. I had a plan about what to do about Wild Rose now wanting shorter stories and going to Print on Demand. Dave is a big book. Even though Rhonda said she'd contract it, she may no because it's long. So, I'm worried, and making plans A, B and C. I've six books in this At The End Zone series.

All in all, I'm having a great time and learning a lot and making some good contacts. The executive director of RWA knows me without looking at my name tag. That's an accomplishment!

The RWA staff has done an awesome job, especially since they had to move the conference at the last minute.

Smoochies to all!

What Ian Wants, out now! Here's an excerpt!

He wore his eagerness to please like a cub
scout wore his first merit badge. Her heart melted a
little more. “Coffee sounds good, but don’t worry
about it.” She reached in her purse. “I can get it.”
“No, I’ll get it. I insist.” He came from around
the table and glommed onto her elbow, then pushed
her into a seat. “Your feet must be aching. Just rest
a second, and I’ll be right back.”
Stunned, Gina had no choice but to do as he
said. Curious about the array of blue books, she
picked one up, one he had already graded. It was all
in French. The questions, the answers, his red pen
comments, all in French.
She couldn’t understand a single word. She felt
like a total doofus.
“Don’t mind those. I’ll gather them up and put
them away.” He placed the large coffee in front of
her, then moved into the booth and started to pick
up the blue books. “I feel like I’m constantly grading
papers. If I don’t keep up, they bury me.” Stuffing
the papers into the open briefcase at his side, Ian
dropped the lid. It landed with a soft thud. He looked
at her, his eyes hopeful. “I don’t know how you take
your coffee, so I brought both cream and sugar.”
Jamming his hands in his pockets, he pulled out
enough packets of sugar to put her in a coma, as well
as a handful of creamers.
She reached for a creamer. “Just cream,
thanks.” It made a hissing sound as she pulled the
wrapper off the top. “What’s up?”
Ian looked away for a moment, pulled the
glasses off his face and cleaned them with a paper
napkin. “There’s no graceful way to ask this.” He
studied his glasses before slipping them back on his
face.
“Why don’t you just spit it out?”
“Right, then.” He nodded. “I need you to marry
me.”

Check it out!