Sucker for Romance

It's a pretty well-known fact, I think, that I am a sucker for romance.  Always have been. At least, if you know me, you'd know that. And if you didn't know it, now you do.

My last post included my trip to the RWA (Romance Writers of America) conference in Denver. One of the reasons I went was to support one of my authors who'd been nominated for a RITA award.  About four hours before the award ceremony, she tells me that the winning authors AND their editors go up and say a few words (just like every awards show you've seen on TV). Now, never in a million years did I ever think I'd be having to go up on stage and speak to hundreds of people, including some of my favorite authors! I was in a panic...did I want her to win or not? Now I wasn't so sure.

Yes, I was sure. I wanted her to win.

So I prepared.  I had a few hours and jotted down a quick note:

As an editor, you always hope the manuscripts that come across your desk will be well-written, have great characters, make you feel all the emotions, make you laugh (in the best way possible, and not in a oh-my-God-this-can't-go-out-into-the-world way) and make you cry at the right time. I am so honored that all of that and more came to me in Evelyn's book, Dare and a Deposition. Thank you to the judges for your time and commitment to the process, but most of all, thank you to Evelyn for letting me be part of your journey. 

So, that's what I wrote down. I had some more ideas in my head, because there was more I wanted to say. But having never been to this ceremony before (or watching it online, which, apparently you can do), I wasn't sure of the tone of the night. Was it serious? Crazy? Laugh-a-minute? Tug-your-heartstrings? So I kept my thoughts to myself - didn't write them down so I wouldn't say them out loud unless I read the room and felt it was appropriate.  Or maybe so if someone saw my little speech, they'd be surprised by the ending.

That someone was, of course, my hubby. He came to Denver with me and worked that week with his guys in the area.  He wanted to support me for the award ceremony and generally support my career. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling well that week, and the day of the ceremony things came to a head. He actually was at a Urgent Care clinic that afternoon, getting some tests run. By the time he was done and back at the hotel, the award ceremony had begun. I was in the banquet room, waiting for him, and he was out of the room, trying to find me. After about ten minutes of miscommunication and missed opportunities and missed connections, we finally met up and I took him to our table.

At this point, it's past dinner time...and neither of us have eaten. I don't know about you, but I can be rather...cranky when I haven't eaten.  And I was nervous. And I was worried about the hubby - because he wasn't feeling well and he hadn't eaten either. We were both stressed, to be sure.

But you know what? He came through for me in true romance-book-hero fashion. He was there. He cared enough about me to do his best to support me, even when he felt like crap and just wanted to grab something to eat and go back to the room to sleep. And he's always been that way. He's always been supportive of my choices and encouraged me to stretch, to grow.

So, to end my little speech, I wanted to thank my husband for always being there for me, for encouraging me to pursue this path, even when he didn't think it would necessarily go anywhere or work out well. I wanted to thank him for putting up with the deadlines and accepting that all my authors were the most important authors ever, and I needed to give up cleaning the bathrooms to make sure that those commas were in the right place. (Just kidding...I never actually really clean anyway!) And I especially wanted to thank him for being my body dummy when I had a problematic scene where I couldn't quite figure out where the guy's hands were in the sex scene. 

And all I could think of was that famous (well, for people of a certain age, I guess) Emmy award speech by Kristie Alley, where she thanked her husband for "giving her the big one." I was sure I was going to channel my inner idiot and say it just like she did:

But I'm kind of okay with that. After all, if you can't admit to loving your partner in a room full of romance junkies, where can you?

More Adventures...

Well, it's been a busy few months. I can't believe it's actually been three months since my last post! I've been on another adventure since then, have another planned, and completed a major project on my list of things to do.

So, about my adventure... I went to RWA in Denver this year. I joined as an associate member, which is what you do when you're an editor, not pursuing a career in writing.  One reason I went was to cheer on one of my authors who had been nominated for a RITA award (totally check out Dare and a Deposition for a great read!).  I also wanted to meet some more of my authors who were going to be there. I had a wonderful time, did a little fan-girling over some of my favorite authors (whether they were my clients or not!), and helped out at the trade show, representing the EFA. I sat in on some interesting seminars and picked up some cool tips to keep in mind while editing.

And it didn't hurt that because it was in Denver, I got to see my boy and my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.

One of the elevator doors at the Sheraton

Sarra Cannon getting ready for her seminar on Getting Things Done.  She did a great job!

At the IT'SUGAR store at the 16th Street Mall

More from IT'SUGAR

Hey, everyone needed to check Facebook!

The EFA booth on Saturday

I totally grabbed Carrie Ann Ryan when she was walking by on Saturday morning!

I saw this in the restroom at a local bar

My next adventure: Well, it's a bit of a repeat of a previous adventure.  Yup, I'm headed back to the the Niantic Book Barns. This time, it's an EFA meeting at the library, a quick lunch in town, and then time at the book stores.

Major Project Completed: I've been thinking about updating my website (it's been a couple of years!) and decided to hand off the project to someone else.  That's right, I hired someone to take that over.  And I'm so happy with the results. You'll have to check out the website, and if you are interested in any updates for your site, Ogden Studios can help you out.

Year End Review/2017 goals

I've watched a few of these MarieTV spots on YouTube, but I really liked this one for a year-end review process:

So here are my answers to her 3 questions:


1) What did I do, create, or experience this year that I'm really proud of: I am picking experiences here. I am proud of my continued dedication to my swim lessons.  Now, this may seem peculiar, but if you factor in how afraid of water - much less actual swimming - I had been in the past, you can see how sticking to the lessons for a year and a half now is quite the achievement. I really look forward to my lessons: the time in the pool, learning a new skill (I'm currently struggling with the dolphin move) and fine-tuning it until it's just about perfect, and frankly, doing something I thought I'd never do.

The other experience I'm proud of is my attendance at the EFA National Conference.  Again, it might seem weird to you outgoing types, but for this introvert to go into (what I perceived, anyway) a large group of strangers and make it a point to talk to new people - well, it was a big deal.

Dinner out in NYC

Cool book walls at the resturant

Me and Mary Norris, of The New Yorker

2) What mistakes did I make that taught me something?  What lessons did I learn that I can leverage? I'm not sure what I'd consider a mistake in 2016; I'm sure there was something I did wrong at least once. So I think I'm going to say my mistake (and not one isolated to 2016) is my tendency to think I can't do something...that I don't have the skills or the talent or the innate quality to be successful at whatever that particular "thing" is. But the truth is I can do things I think I can't (see above re:swimming).  I'm learning all the time...I just have to realize I can and I am, and feel confident that I even if I am a beginner or novice, every expert started just like me.

3) What am I willing to let go of? This one is a bit harder. I don't like to let go of things (just ask my husband!). But maybe I can let go of my disappointments (I really don't have to dwell on them, especially in the middle of the night!) when things don't go quite my way...or the way they have always gone. I need to let go of that negative attitude, that negative mindset, when it sneaks up on me.

So what about you? Can you take a few minutes an answer these 3 questions? Share in the comments (if you dare!).

Am I Crazy or What?

Yes, yes, I know it's been several (okay, almost six) months since I last wrote. It's just been so busy - in so many great ways.  My last post was just after my summer vacation, and after that wonderful, restful time...it was back to work! And more work! And volunteer work! And some house projects (okay, I didn't really do any real work...I was just there to see all the work get done and make sure no one melted away in the oppressive August heat).

And The Boy and The Girlfriend visited at the end of October.  It was nice to visit with them...and have him take my car on adventures as they went to Boston for a friend's wedding. Some things never change...kids always want the keys to the car.

Now Thanksgiving is over (let us give thanks!) and Christmas and New Years is staring us in the face.  And I suspect 2017 is going to be just as busy, crazy, eventful, happy, sad, interesting, terrifying, and uplifting as 2016.

But I have a few changes in store for 2017, so I'm working on my goals early this year.  And by early, I just mean not on Dec. 31. I'm going to take some time over the next few weeks (even if it's just 5 minutes before I go to sleep) to really think about the things I want to accomplish for 2017.  Here's my preliminary list, in no particular order:

1) 2017 is a "go to a writer's conference" year (2016 was my EFA conference, which apparently I only blogged about in my dreams).  I had thought it'd be Romantic Times in Atlanta, but I don't see many (actually, I think there was only 1) of my authors signed up to go.  So I'm thinking I might go to RWA Nationals in Orlando instead.

2) That leads into the probability of joining RWA, and maybe an online chapter.  There are a few chapters in my state, but I'm not sure I have the actual time to go to an actual meeting.  And that's because...

3) In addition to everything else I'm doing already, I've decided to head up the CT Chapter of the Editorial Freelancers Association. Our previous leader got a full-time job editing, and doesn't have the time to continue.  I really liked our meetings, even when they were just networking/talking with other editors, so if I wanted them to continue, either I had to wait for someone to take the position or do it myself...otherwise the chapter would have been dissolved. So, yeah, after waiting a few weeks and checking in, no one else had expressed any interest in heading up the chapter.  So...there you go.

It probably seems a bit crazy for me to take on this additional responsibility. After all, I can't even keep up with a blog on any kind of regular basis, right? Which leads to...

4) I am going to write out a schedule of blogging.  It won't be much - maybe twice a month - but I need to get back in the habit.  I often use my blog posts to illustrate a point to my authors (how many of you have seen a link in the manuscript comments to a post I'd done in the past?), so it's a useful tool for me to have.  And if I had a plan of some sort, I could either follow it (Gasp! Follow a plan!?!) or ignore it for something I felt needed to be touched on.

How about you? Are you thinking ahead to 2017? Do you have ideas about what you'd like to accomplish?