What I will be doing while everyone else is at #RWA15

So as many of you writers know, next week is the Romance Writers of America national conference.  For a variety of reasons, I haven’t been able to attend in the last couple of years and this year is no exception.  So for those of us watching from the internet sidelines, I thought we could share in our respective ways of coping. 🙂

When the Twitter hashtag starts rolling along, this might be me…

And when the Facebook posts of happy writers and selfies start ….

And of course, the pictures of everyone all dressed up for the parties start showing up…

 When realization has set in that I need to get OFF the internet and pretend RWA isn’t happening.

I’ll watch a few movies.

And binge watch some TV…

Then desperately look for something else to occupy my time.

Then I’ll remember that yeah, I’m a writer.
I can put my time to good use and find character names amongst the happy #RWA15 attendees…

Not that I plan to kill them off or anything in my next book. Really. I promise.

On Day 2, I may just decide it’s not worth getting out of bed.

And when I do,  I’m pretty sure Haagan Daaz will be my best friend.

And if anyone asks???

I’ll be strong.

No. Really. I’m FINE.

 I”ll look for ways to muster through and feel good about being a writer. (You know, by actually writing…)

Then maybe find a cat video…

And then back to writing because I blew off way too much steam checking out Facebook quizzes…  (But now I know I’m meant to live in Texas,  I most identify with Lorelai Gilmore (shocking), and I have been reincarnated exactly 8 times.  Playbuzz.com is the devil.)

But mostly, I’ll remember the years that I  have made it to RWA, the friends I’ve made and still connect with… and how much I have gotten out of this organization.  I’ll remember the goals I set for my writing career in those early years when the concepts of “Show, Don’t Tell seemed like a bad Sesame Street skit and it seemed like the road ahead was more this:

than this:

I’ll know that I’ve achieved some important goals I set for myself.  I published with two publishers, Wild Rose Press and Carina Press/Harlequin.  My book with Harlequin made it into a language I can’t read (Italian? Anyone? I have a few copies if you want one.), but it’s sure fun to have on my shelf.

I made PAN in 2014. (The Published Authors Network at RWA.)

I published my third book.  And I am working on my fourth and plotting well into the future.

All in all, though I couldn’t make it this year to RWA, I think I’m doing pretty good.  And there’s always next year…

What about you?

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