A Peek at My Dance Card

So... it's almost time.

I'll be leaving for the RWA National Conference soon, and I wanted to thank lots of people. Your support has come in many forms: offering encouragement, kid-sitting, blog commenting, giving flowers, and lending dresses. I'm grateful for all of it.

In case you're interested, I've listed some of the highlights of my schedule in San Francisco this week.

• Wednesday night is the Literacy Signing where over 500 authors autograph books for charity. I will be there, camera in hand, stalking my favorite authors.
• Thursday, I'm attending workshops for most of the day. A couple I'm looking forward to: "Secrets of the Best-selling Sisterhood" and "Writing the Hot Historical."
• On Friday morning there are more workshops, but in the afternoon there's a champagne reception for RITA and Golden Heart finalists. That means I will be in the same room - sipping champagne - with Regency authors extraordinaire, Julia Quinn and Anna Campbell, to name a few. I'm very excited about this and see LOTS of potential for embarrassing myself here.
• All my fellow finalists are meeting up on Friday night for a Pixie Chick Party. We even had fun Pixie T-shirts made up. However, I will not over-imbibe because...
• ...I have my editor and agent appointments on Saturday morning. (I have prepared color-coded index cards with talking points and will try to memorize them on the plane.)
• Later that night is the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony, of eBay dress and purse fame. It starts at 8:00 San Francisco time, but if you have insomnia, check out this blurb from the RWA website:
  
  "Live from the Red Carpet! RWA will post the winners of the 2008 RITA and Golden Heart awards on the RWA Web site, www.rwanational.org, as they are announced on August 2 from 8-10 PM Pacific Time. So, tell your family and friends to visit the RWA site and root for their favorite authors."
  
  I'm looking forward to blogging all about the conference when I get back, so be sure to tune in next week. Thanks again!

More Fashion Fun

I know how this must look: like I'm more interested in playing dress up than in being a real writer. So, here's a quick update on "The Trouble with Twilight," also known as TTWT (an unfortunate acronym). I've written the first 50 pages and I like where it's headed.

Phew! Now we can talk about accessories.

If you've been following the drama here at my blog, you already know I bid on (and won!) an eBay gown to wear to the RWA Awards Ceremony. I'm very happy it fits because alterations would have cost me way more than the dress. Every chance I get, I've been telling my husband how lucky I was to get such a great deal (and how lucky HE is to have such a resourceful wife). This - you may have guessed - was all to prepare him for the other purchases which would inevitably follow.

I bought shoes today! With their gold heels and glittery straps, they look remarkably like a pair from my daughter's cardboard treasure chest of Disney princess costumes. I love them.

But the item I'm really excited about is the purse. It's not just a purse - it's a "vintage glass-beaded evening bag." I won it on eBay.

Don't worry, I've only bought two things on eBay. It's not like I'm addicted. Sure, you experience a little high when you find out you're the high bidder. But I can stop any time. I think.

Fingers Crossed for the Cheating Wife Sale

The RWA Awards Ceremony is about three weeks away, and just like Cinderella, I find myself without a dress to wear to the ball.

Unfortunately, the similarities between Cinderella and me end there. I'm not expecting a fairy godmother, chubby mice, or industrious bluebirds to crawl out of the woodwork and whip up a hot little designer number for me. Though my sister and sisters-in-law generously opened their closets, I must say the women in our family are sadly lacking when it comes to formal wear.

So, I asked myself: What would Cinderella do in this situation? Then, it came to me. She'd go to eBay.

I'd never bid on an eBay item before, but I channeled my inner-heroine and fearlessly *gulp* registered. The selection of gowns in my size, in my budget, was limited, but I scrolled tirelessly down the page until ... there it was.

A rich, chocolate-brown, silk, strapless, floor-length gown. Sure, it's a little rumpled. So what if it's got a big X written in red marker across the label? The price is right, baby.

The seller is (supposedly) a gentleman from West Virgina who's wife left him. She was, apparently, in such a hurry that she left most of her wardrobe behind. Who can blame him for wanting to make a few bucks by selling off his cheating wife's personal effects?

Bidding for this fabulous, off-the-rack item started at $18 but I was not about to risk being out-bid. I recklessly anted up $20.

I will know by July 12th if I am the proud owner of a new - no, make that slightly used - ball gown. Then, on July 13th I can see what eBay has to offer in the way of glass slippers.

Music to Write By

The desk where I do all my writing is in the corner of my room, and right beside it sits my treadmill. Sometimes, when writer's block strikes, I give myself an ultimatum: either produce a paragraph in the next fifteen minutes, or hop on the treadmill for thirty. It's a good incentive, right? But it doesn't always work. So, I put on my sneakers and headphones and go for a walk.

I need to have music when I walk. It takes my mind off the fact that I'm staring at a wall AND expending a lot of energy without actually going anywhere. More than that, it gets my blood pumping and puts a little strut in my step. It can change my mood.

I've identified at least five different writing moods. Each has its own soundtrack. Maybe you can identify with these:

Mood #1: Inspiration/Starting a New Story
Prescribed Songs: Wind it Up by Gwen Stefani ; Who are You by The Who (for developing character profiles); Stir it Up by Bob Marley; Galileo by the Indigo Girls ("Look what I had to overcome from my last life/I think I'll write a book")

Mood #2: Cranking it Out/Making Daily Word Counts
Prescribed Songs: Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen; I Don't Wanna Be In Love by Good Charlotte; The Hard Way by Mary Chapin Carpenter ("Show a little inspiration/Show a little spark")

Mood #3: Waiting (Contest Results, Responses to Agent & Editor Queries)
Prescribed Songs: Hanging by a Moment by Lifehouse; The Waiting by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

Mood #4: Rejection
Prescribed Songs: Poor, Poor Pitiful Me by Terri Clark; Don't Let Me Get Me by Pink ("Never win first place/I don't support the team/I can't take direction/My socks are never clean"); The First Cut is the Deepest by Sheryl Crow

Mood #5: Celebration
What else? Party Like a Rock Star by Shop Boyz

Got a song you can recommend for any of these moods? I'd love to hear your suggestions because some of the above are pretty close to being played out. I'm not going to say which category. :)