DFW Writers Workshop this weekend!

Whew!  Having I have survived the siege on my personal domain with my sovereignty intact, I recovered quickly from having a malfunctioning body part removed.  Sounds scary right?  I thought so too, which was the reason for my panic about invading hordes last week.  I managed to plan ahead well enough to discourage even the most insistent helpful friend.  THANK GOODNESS!!  The absolute last thing I want when recovering from illness or injury is someone stopping by to chat.  Hair sticking in every direction is my personal right under such circumstances and I would feel the need to comb it or something if visitors arrived!

Anyway…DFW Writers Conference.  Yea!!!

I am losing my jangly nerves about this and starting to get really excited.

Since I joined the writers group in August just before starting this blog, I have access to the Friday night happy hour meet and greet with all the agents, publishers and writers that will be part of the conference!!!  AMAZING! 

I just have to figure out what to say other than…ILoveYourBlogBookWorkAndItsSoCooltoMeetYou.  Yeah, that is one word.

I am looking forward to meeting Weronica Janczuk from Lightning and Lightning Bugs a Publishing Blog and Rosemary Clement-Moore who wrote the fabulous Prom Dates from Hell series.  Rosemary is part of the writers group, but she’s never been at the meetings when I have.  I might even get to see her on Wednesday night since she is doing a little pre conference class at the group.  Ok, so I might be stalking her just a teeny tiny bit, but only in the nicest—I totally want to be you—kind of way.

I would love to know if anyone has been to a writers conference before and has pointers.  Do I really need business cards?  They feel silly to me, but I want to network.  Could I just print up a few dozen little cards with my contact info on them to hand to people who ask….  I’m more of a scrap of paper from my purse networker thus far, but I suppose I might run out of scraps if things go well.

~Cinnamon

Nutty Obsessions

We have all got them. Fear of heights, flying, waking up naked at school ... Or having strange people realize you have messy dresser drawers full of holey underwear and old sweatpants.  Ok, maybe my fears aren't so typical, but they're MINE!

I have reorganized half my house over the last week because of this OCD insanity. I don't actually worry about living with these things on a daily basis.  I mean, mismatched socks and worn out favorite pajamas stuffing my dresser don't actually bother me a bit.  It's just the idea that, in the event of an emergency, someone like mother-in-law or a helpful neighbor, would be examining my life through the lense of domestic madness.

I think it goes back to my horror when I babysat and opened cabinets in search of utensils to make popcorn or cocoa and found an explosion of crumbs and partially clean pots.  I wondered how anyone could live that way.

Now I know, of course.  I wash my dishes while double checking homework, doing laundry and supervising lunch preparations for the next day.  I'm lucky I don't end up washing them in grape jelly while putting cascade on the PBJ sandwiches.

So, anyway, what are your irrational fears--writing related or not.

~Cinnamon

Icefest 2011!!!

My life entered into a strange cocooned holding pattern due to all this ice and snow that we are enjoying here in Dallas/Fort Worth.  Everything is at a standstill except for my kids, who are on a repeating loop of inside outside upside down…change clothes, warm up, and do it again…

In addition.. I'm still sickish...which means I have ALL the best excuses for doing only what I really feel like doing.

So, I’ve watched most of Roswell and some of Veronica Mars. I’ve read Scott Westerfield’s Uglies Series—which was very cool.  I found a new favorite author Jandy Nelson (The Sky is Everywhere). I also watched that Charlie St. Cloud movie..ugh.

Finally, I think I may have exhausted all my laziness….nawww.

Did I work on my WIP…that’s a big nope.  I procrastinated further by checking email.  In amongst the spam and sales fliers, I found a reminder to finalize my agent selection for pitch time at the DFW Writers Conference at the end of the month.  Since my manuscript is a mess and I’ve been staring at my TV screen more than my banging on my laptop, I’m in no position to pitch.  I feel a little like a poser, party crasher, faker and basically unworthy to attend.

Ya know what though…I booked this the moment I could. In August.  I plan to go, learn, and just BE in the presence of other people who understand what it’s like to yearn to be a real writer. All this even if I stick out as a wannabe.  Plus, I've never to gone to a conference of my own free will. I've been to quite a few work mandated, exceptionally boring events, but never to anything I wanted to attend.  So, I’m going to crash the party and hang on every word I hear.

Oh, and guess what--a very sweet blogger—Nancy over at N.R.Williams Fantasy Author—  gave me an award...my very first.  So I’m officially stylish. ***grins***

~Cinnamon