Atlanta, part III
Oh! Finally remembered one of the things Toni and I did on Tuesday after lunch (Hey! That WAS two weeks ago! I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night!). We registered for the conference. Yay!
We snatched our loot...I mean our lovely donated gifts...and headed out for the hotel patio to go through them. There were probably 20 books! This is one of the most fun parts of Conference...free books! You learn after the first year, though, that you can't, and shouldn't, take ALL of them home. When I went to New Orleans in 2000 (I think), I sent home 93 books. YES, 93! Most of them were free. I think I bought 5 of them myself. I paid $50 to ship them home. Still $50 for 93 books was a bargain. But, you know what? Six years later there are still books that came home from that conference with me that I have never read. Each conference since, I have told myself and told myself I would cut back.
Well, I have. In New York I had to ship books home again, though, only to discover after boxing them, labeling them, etc., that there was no business center in the hotel. Christina and I had to cart two boxes each down into the subway several blocks away to find a Mailboxes, Etc. Not cheap, either.
In Reno, I cut down a little further, ending up able to pack my books into my suitcase...which then weighed a ton and ended up getting me charged extra for too-heavy baggage.
This year, in Atlanta, I'm not sure how many books I ended up with (oh, 40 my daughter says). I packed better than last time, dividing them into my main suitcase and a second soft-sided bag I'd packed just for this occasion. Much better than last time. And no over-limit weight surcharge either.
Still, though, between myself and my roommates, we left behind quite a few books. Friday night we donated a bunch to the busboy who brought up our room service. He asked if we were with the romance writers and said his mom, who was an avid reader, was really tickled that he was working amongst all of us. We sent him out with a tip and a care package of books. We also left some for housekeeping when the week was over and we'd weeded out all the books we already owned and/or didn't think we'd have time to read. I really hope they are enjoyed. Maybe we'll create a new fan or two!
So Wednesday started with an awesome breakfast back at Allie's Bar and Grille...the breakfast buffet was yummy and included freshly custom-made waffles and omelets. Delish!! Then, the rest of my pals got registered.
I won't give a blow-by-blow of every move we made over the next few days. Just the highlights. Wednesday night was the Literacy Signing...hundreds of authors and thousands of readers packed into a room. I had a list and I mostly stuck to it, making a few detours when I noticed someone I knew or wanted to know. I said hi to online pals, Out of the Blogosphere buddies, and Serena and Diana Peterfreund and Jennifer Echols, all signing for the first time ever. Okay, Jennifer and Diana weren't signing because their books never showed up, so I whined with them and sympathized. What a bummer! I managed to get out of the signing with only $120 worth of books. What was that about cutting back this year?? However, this was a cut-back from the $160 worth I bought in Reno last year. :-)
Then we went to the Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal Chapter's Gathering and joined that chapter, since all of us write paranormal anyway. We listened to the state of the subgenre addresses from editors and agents, ate some nummy desserts, and then hung out until the Prism Awards started, at which time we snuck out because they were getting a late start and we felt like we were missing something. :-)
Christina had headed next door for the Chick Lit Chapter party, so we hung out in the entryway of that party, said hi to a few more old friends, Dona Sarkar and Heather Koenig, Marley Gibson, Aryn Kennedy, and Diana Peterfreund. I took a sip of Marley's bright blue drink, made "specially" for the chick lit party and wondered when NyQuil on the rocks had become a popular cocktail. Ugh!!
Can't remember what we did the rest of the evening, but it was probably fun!
Thursday held the first half day worth of workshops. I attended one by Sharon Sala, whom I've not read before (Darling Daughter has...of course Darling Daughter has read a LOT of books I haven't). But one of the things I was told about choosing workshops, because there is only so much time in a day, is to to not necessarily choose them based on what the topic is, but WHO is doing the speaking. Some of these speakers impart such wisdom just by the sheer volume of their experience. And, I tend to do things like attend workshops based on the speakers being my friends. Not really a good move on my part, though I like being supportive. Also, I started last year always purchasing the complete workshop CD, so even when I miss workshops, I can always pick them up on the CD later. Most all of them are taped with very few exceptions.
There were a few things Sharon said that really struck me. For one thing, she's been through a LOT, and she still writes and produces. Good thing for me to remember when I came home to sucky news! Anyway, she mentioned, for starters, to keep a list of everyone helpful to you as you progress in your career, and acknowledge them. Great advice! I have a horrible memory when it comes to things like that, so I know if I don't want to leave anyone out, I need to follow this. Another thing she mentioned was that success is not only being published. Some people never even achieve the success of finishing a book! I should be proud of myself for this accomplishment, as well as selling.
Next I attended the P.C. Cast (and guest star Gena Showalter) workshop. What a hoot! I already knew Gena was a kick, but PC (who is a high school teacher like I wish MY high school teachers had been), is funnier than hell and had us roaring. The workshop was about writing realistically for teens. Great info...writing tight, getting into the conflict right away to keep a teen's short attention span focused on the book and not on the boy in the corner who keeps looking at her. :-) Loved it!
The highlight of Thursday, though, was lunch. Not only was the food pretty decent (especially considering Reno's crap menu last year), and I had grits again, which was even better this time with salt and butter instead of the cheese, but the speaker was THE Meg Cabot. Wow! I've seen The Princess Diaries movies, read a few of her other books and pretty regularly read her blog (which is a hoot!), but she is just as funny in real life. I laughed until I cried. Not kidding. What a great day it turned out to be!
Can't remember what we did for the rest of the day. How pathetic is that? Probably hung out and talked...I mean, networked. Networking is very important at conference. Oh, and this was the day I met with Deidre in the afternoon, but I already talked about that a few posts back.
More tomorrow.
Shannon
We snatched our loot...I mean our lovely donated gifts...and headed out for the hotel patio to go through them. There were probably 20 books! This is one of the most fun parts of Conference...free books! You learn after the first year, though, that you can't, and shouldn't, take ALL of them home. When I went to New Orleans in 2000 (I think), I sent home 93 books. YES, 93! Most of them were free. I think I bought 5 of them myself. I paid $50 to ship them home. Still $50 for 93 books was a bargain. But, you know what? Six years later there are still books that came home from that conference with me that I have never read. Each conference since, I have told myself and told myself I would cut back.
Well, I have. In New York I had to ship books home again, though, only to discover after boxing them, labeling them, etc., that there was no business center in the hotel. Christina and I had to cart two boxes each down into the subway several blocks away to find a Mailboxes, Etc. Not cheap, either.
In Reno, I cut down a little further, ending up able to pack my books into my suitcase...which then weighed a ton and ended up getting me charged extra for too-heavy baggage.
This year, in Atlanta, I'm not sure how many books I ended up with (oh, 40 my daughter says). I packed better than last time, dividing them into my main suitcase and a second soft-sided bag I'd packed just for this occasion. Much better than last time. And no over-limit weight surcharge either.
Still, though, between myself and my roommates, we left behind quite a few books. Friday night we donated a bunch to the busboy who brought up our room service. He asked if we were with the romance writers and said his mom, who was an avid reader, was really tickled that he was working amongst all of us. We sent him out with a tip and a care package of books. We also left some for housekeeping when the week was over and we'd weeded out all the books we already owned and/or didn't think we'd have time to read. I really hope they are enjoyed. Maybe we'll create a new fan or two!
So Wednesday started with an awesome breakfast back at Allie's Bar and Grille...the breakfast buffet was yummy and included freshly custom-made waffles and omelets. Delish!! Then, the rest of my pals got registered.
I won't give a blow-by-blow of every move we made over the next few days. Just the highlights. Wednesday night was the Literacy Signing...hundreds of authors and thousands of readers packed into a room. I had a list and I mostly stuck to it, making a few detours when I noticed someone I knew or wanted to know. I said hi to online pals, Out of the Blogosphere buddies, and Serena and Diana Peterfreund and Jennifer Echols, all signing for the first time ever. Okay, Jennifer and Diana weren't signing because their books never showed up, so I whined with them and sympathized. What a bummer! I managed to get out of the signing with only $120 worth of books. What was that about cutting back this year?? However, this was a cut-back from the $160 worth I bought in Reno last year. :-)
Then we went to the Futuristic, Fantasy & Paranormal Chapter's Gathering and joined that chapter, since all of us write paranormal anyway. We listened to the state of the subgenre addresses from editors and agents, ate some nummy desserts, and then hung out until the Prism Awards started, at which time we snuck out because they were getting a late start and we felt like we were missing something. :-)
Christina had headed next door for the Chick Lit Chapter party, so we hung out in the entryway of that party, said hi to a few more old friends, Dona Sarkar and Heather Koenig, Marley Gibson, Aryn Kennedy, and Diana Peterfreund. I took a sip of Marley's bright blue drink, made "specially" for the chick lit party and wondered when NyQuil on the rocks had become a popular cocktail. Ugh!!
Can't remember what we did the rest of the evening, but it was probably fun!
Thursday held the first half day worth of workshops. I attended one by Sharon Sala, whom I've not read before (Darling Daughter has...of course Darling Daughter has read a LOT of books I haven't). But one of the things I was told about choosing workshops, because there is only so much time in a day, is to to not necessarily choose them based on what the topic is, but WHO is doing the speaking. Some of these speakers impart such wisdom just by the sheer volume of their experience. And, I tend to do things like attend workshops based on the speakers being my friends. Not really a good move on my part, though I like being supportive. Also, I started last year always purchasing the complete workshop CD, so even when I miss workshops, I can always pick them up on the CD later. Most all of them are taped with very few exceptions.
There were a few things Sharon said that really struck me. For one thing, she's been through a LOT, and she still writes and produces. Good thing for me to remember when I came home to sucky news! Anyway, she mentioned, for starters, to keep a list of everyone helpful to you as you progress in your career, and acknowledge them. Great advice! I have a horrible memory when it comes to things like that, so I know if I don't want to leave anyone out, I need to follow this. Another thing she mentioned was that success is not only being published. Some people never even achieve the success of finishing a book! I should be proud of myself for this accomplishment, as well as selling.
Next I attended the P.C. Cast (and guest star Gena Showalter) workshop. What a hoot! I already knew Gena was a kick, but PC (who is a high school teacher like I wish MY high school teachers had been), is funnier than hell and had us roaring. The workshop was about writing realistically for teens. Great info...writing tight, getting into the conflict right away to keep a teen's short attention span focused on the book and not on the boy in the corner who keeps looking at her. :-) Loved it!
The highlight of Thursday, though, was lunch. Not only was the food pretty decent (especially considering Reno's crap menu last year), and I had grits again, which was even better this time with salt and butter instead of the cheese, but the speaker was THE Meg Cabot. Wow! I've seen The Princess Diaries movies, read a few of her other books and pretty regularly read her blog (which is a hoot!), but she is just as funny in real life. I laughed until I cried. Not kidding. What a great day it turned out to be!
Can't remember what we did for the rest of the day. How pathetic is that? Probably hung out and talked...I mean, networked. Networking is very important at conference. Oh, and this was the day I met with Deidre in the afternoon, but I already talked about that a few posts back.
More tomorrow.
Shannon
posted by Shannon McKelden @ 7:24 AM
1 Comments:
At 12:45 PM,
Dona Sarkar-Mishra said…
Shannon:
Loving the recaps from ATL! The Knight Agency house is SO amazing! For some reason, I imagined some one room shack with a million computers...oh yeah, that's MY office!
Looks like you babes had tons of fun. And the Knight girls are SO nice!
Lucky girl!
:)
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