What I Learned At RWA 2008, Lessons 1 & 2

It's been a while--far too long!--since I blogged here. One of the main reasons was my preparations and the work I needed done before leaving for the Romance Writers of America national conference, held last week. I had intended blogging before I left and possibly even from San Francisco but where did the time go? Adopting the tenet of better late than never, over the next week I'll be tapping into my memory bank for a series of posts. The theme: lessons learned (because, after all, isn't a conference trip always a learning adventure?)

Lesson 1: shortening the length of travel into doable chunks and arriving at conference fresh and relaxed and not shattered with exhaustion is a very, veRY, VERY good idea. Kind of makes me wonder: why didn't I think of this before? Duh. Travelling with a group of friends and hanging out a couple of days and nights in Hawaii (that's our hotel centre back of the picture) = the perfect place to break the Pacific crossing and the perfect start to a conference trip. Which segues rather nicely into...

Lesson 2: select your travel companions and room-mates well (See picture, with fellow Harlequin authors Alison Roberts, Kelly Hunter, Trish Morey and Fiona McArthur.) Medical authors, for example, are fabulous travel companions. As well as a (sometimes black) sense of humour, they know important stuff such as the importance of aspirin and support socks when flying long haul AND how to travel in style. Most important is choosing friends you can relax with, be yourself with, laugh with, shop with, gossip with, and brainstorm with. This is all particularly important when your plane is delayed and you have four hours to fill in at airport. Sure there is a serenity garden at Honolulu airport, which we really did appreciate, despite the serenity being slightly bruised by the scent of aviation fuel and the persistent screech of jet engines.

Other top Hawaii moments: Watching the sea turtles from our balcony. Swimming by moonlight. Shopping, day and night (gotta love 11pm closing.) Mai tais, pina coladas, daiquaris and my first root-beer float. The Waikele Outlet Mall. And the fire-knife dancer.