Friday, August 08, 2008
Lesson 3: I Still Love San Francisco...
...although I didn't see as much as I'd intended, thanks to the specialness and so-much-to-do conference and a hotel that didn't drive me out the door in search of air and space and solitude as often happens. In fact I didn't even scout the shops around Union Square or the big Westfield Mall in the next block to the hotel or Macys or Bloomingdales or Borders (shocking, I know!) The great thing: thinking about this on the trip home and now as I'm writing this post, I have no regrets. I did what I felt like doing, went to the workshops I felt like attending, kicked back with a coffee or a drink and a chat with friends when I wanted, and didn't succumb to the pressure of being here, there and everywhere that has exhausted me at previous conferences. This all sounds as though I didn't make it out of the hotel which is so not the case. Day 1 we found Mel's Diner for breakfast and returned again for a post-literacy signing hamburger and root-beer float (the addiction, I tell you, had to have). Then there were the daily Walgreen visits for the staples: bottled water and bandaids and breakfast snacks. How does anyone make it to the conference breakfast, I ask, when I'm lucky to stagger into an 8.30 workshop with coffee in hand and eyes barely open? A lunch at Annabelle's, the PASIC reception at Neiman Marcus, the Harlequin party at the Four Seasons, were all further excuses for a short, manageable even in heels, walk. On Saturday afternoon we had a couple of hours, a window of opportunity that beckoned, and of course we found ourselves drawn to the bay. Along with every tourist west of the Rockies. We'd thought about doing one of the short cruises that take you under the bridge and around Alcatraz, mainly because getting out on the bay gives another perspective. Due to the crowds, we didn't and so glad.  We stood on the now-uncrowded pier and watched the packed ferry rock by and decided that being by the water was enough, that leaning on the rail and looking back at the hillsides was enough, that the whip of the breeze and the bark of the sea lions and the stretch of choppy blue-grey water at our backs was enough. My favourite cities are all built on harbours or bays or by the ocean. It's not as though I was born near water or feel compelled to live by water. I'm not a water sign. I don't have a pool. But by the water I feel a drawing power and an elemental response that is both calming and stimulating. Paradoxical, I know, but that's how it is.
Down by the bay with fellow Aussie authors Fiona McArthur (Hq Medicals) and Barbara Hannay (Hq Romance.)Labels: Conference, RWAmerica, San Francisco
Thursday, August 07, 2008
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. Labels: Conference, RWAmerica, travelling
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Photos and Memories
Our middle son turns 21 in a couple of months. I gather that this isn't such a big deal in America -- correct me if I'm wrong -- but here in Australia it is the landmark birthday that traditionally signifies the step into adulthood and independence. There is often a party, large or small. In the case of our James we opted for small, mostly family, but then we don't exactly have a small family. The list passed small several pages ago.
This weekend I'm working on invitations. I chose a template from an on-line site. The design includes a series of photos from then and now, which means I've spent hours and hours poring through photos choosing which seven to include. Have also sorted out the best to use in his memory book, which is the next big (fun) task.
While sorting through photos and photo albums I found all kinds of stray and miscellaneous snaps. This one is stray because it's a panorama print: long and skinny and not fitting it any albums. In fact it's so long and skinny that it didn't fit in my scanner and so you're seeing just a portion of the literacy autographing at the New Orleans RWA Conference in 2001. My first conference, my first book, my first signing. I couldn't believe the size of it and it's only gotten bigger since.
 This year will be my fifth RWA conference and my fifth signing. Here is the list of participating authors. All 520 of them. If anyone can fit THAT in a photo, I would love to see it! Labels: Australian life, Conference, RWAmerica
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Back in August There Were Conferences
After finishing a book (more on that in another post!) one of the immediate tasks is cleaning up the desk. Which is what I've been doing, on and off, for the past several days. Yes, I did say several days and that's not because my desk is THAT messy, I just get distracted by what I find. Yesterday I found Kelly Hunter's latest Sexy Sensation SLEEPING PARTNER (snaffled it when I saw it on the shelves in early October, then hid it so I wouldn't be distracted from the writing) and flipped open to the first page. Several hours later...(more on the book and other recent reads also to come.) Today I unearthed a list which was meant to be my blog about the conferences of Romance Writers of Australia and Romance Writers of New Zealand. I came home with a monster of a cold and a deadline and never finished the list or posted the blog. That conference trip was in August. It's now...lemmesee...November. But I can't just put it through the shredder with all my research and character and plot notes, can I? (Correct answer = no.) In the context of better late than never, here is my top ten list of 2007 conference memories. 1. Book launch parties are fun. (Congratulations to Paula Roe and Lilian Darcy for launching your books in spectacular fashion.) 2. Publisher dinners are also fun. (Thank you Harlequin Australia.) 3. Visits to Korean ginseng bathhouses COULD be fun, but I would need to have consumed a lot of champagne to make it so. (There's the nekkidness, see, that I so do not do. On the other hand, it's all fodder for future books, right?) 4. The Woman Fuzzie Awards (TM, Ally Blake) are not only fun but funny, and a fabulous bonding experience for the Harlequin authors. As are the new chick awards, welcoming the newly published into the fold. 5. I love awards nights and the highlight this year was seeing Barbara Hannay receive her RITA from Marion Lennox who had collected and lovingly transported the golden lady back from the RWAmerica conference in Dallas. Congratulations also to Anne Oliver and Karina Bliss who won the 2007 Romantic Book of the Year Awards (short and long, respectively) with debut books! 6. Presenting workshops is not fun when the audio goes haywire and takes out the eardrums of the entire room. 7. Waiting in airports for delayed flights is usually not fun, but it passes much more pleasantly with good company. (Thank you Sheila Hodgson.) 8. A writing retreat between conferences is a brilliant idea, especially when in the company of Fiona Brand and Daphne Claire (who makes the best apple cake!) 9. Conferences would never be fun without fun roomies. (Thank you Fiona and Fiona.) 10. The sparks that lit this year's conferences were our visiting speakers, the inimitable Jennifer Crusie and Anne Stuart. Everyone left conference with a different perception of rats, squirrels, Japanese poprock, Yani, and themselves as writers! Labels: Conference
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Word on Wednesday
No secret that I'm a nut for word books (another of those obsessions!) Picture me at the RWAust conference. A bookstall, table after table stacked high with a glorious smorgasbord of books. I spot a section with thesauruses (thesauri?), ones I don't have on my bookshelf, with shiny bright new covers. Mmm, shiny. Picture me, several hours later, bellying up to the concierge's desk. Me: "Could you point me toward the nearest post office." Concierge: "Yes, but we can handle your mail for you." Me: "Even this--" I point to fat stack of recently purchased books "--load of books?" Concierge: "Not a problem, madam. We'll box them up and charge it to your room." Madam: "Perfect. Thank you." Smiling, Madam returns to the bookstall. Fast forward twelve days. I have returned from RWNZ conference. I have remembered the two boxes of forwarded books. Which, strangely, haven't arrived. Slightly worried, because I don't have the particular concierge's name and I can't locate my copy of the receipt I signed when handing the considerably valuable cache of books over, I call the hotel. Very helpful hotel people find me the concierge by description alone ( Amber; her name was Amber!) and I'm told that the boxes were returned undelivered but have been redespatched.  Whatever, they arrive two days later. I love new books. And word books. Funnily enough, I don't use them much when I'm writing. But I love looking up the different word choices just for fun and I love finding new words. At the moment (well, not right at THIS moment, but at night, while watching ridiculously addictive TV shows) I'm flipping through Roget's Descriptive Word Finder. And finding all manner of new and unknown words, which is what prompted today's post, which may become an ongoing Wednesday Word feature...or not, depending on whether I remember or not. Today's word: lickerish adj. Which could mean: a. sweet, black, as in pertaining to liquorice. b. something you would like to lick (which may also pertain to liquorice). c. tempting, enticing, appetising (which could also pertain to liquorice). Which do you think is correct? And now I'm feeling a yen for liquorice... Labels: Conference, RWAustralia, Wednesday word, win books
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Tuesday Tip: Hotel Alarm Clocks
I'm back from the conference trip and nowwhere near recovered from the post-Sydney-conference flu which seems to have struck down a good number of attendees. Including keynote Jennifer Crusie. When my head has unclogged some I will report on the conferences. Meantime I have a brief tip for the unwary traveller. When checking into a hotel room, always -- and that would mean every day! -- check that the bedside alarm isn't set for some ungodly pre-dawn hour. Because finding the off-switch on that strange alarm is damn difficult in the dark. Even the second morning. Labels: Conference, travelling
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Conference Packing
 I'm in the throes of organising and packing for my trip to the RWAust and RWNZ conferences. I need outfits for 6 parties/dinners and 6 conference days as well as 3 days travelling and 3 days of ultra-casual writing retreat. My natural inclination is to pack a different outfit for each event because my Bronwyn Jameson wardrobe doesn't get out too often. When I open the door to my good-gear closet the rack of crepe and silk and sparklies beg and plead for their turn. Pick me! Pick me!But I am being ruthless. Everything is doing double duty in Sydney and Auckland. If I spill wine, there's always the hotel cleaning service. First task is choosing shoes. This year I'm taking black boots and silver sandals. All clothes I pack need to go with so I'm packing several black pants and skirts and a stack of bright tops. Oh, and 2 -- possibly 3 -- dresses that roll up into nothing for variety. Job done...apart from writing what I'm wearing to which event in my PDA schedule. And not succumbing to the temptation to fill the suitcase with one more jacket or an extra pair of cute shoes. On the trip home, I need that extra airline baggage allowance for books. Labels: Conference, RWAustralia, RWNZ
|
