Java Davis's Blog - Posts Tagged "pubsmartcon"

I leave Monday for the two day road trip to Charleston, SC, for the PubSmart Conference. I hope the time, effort, new clothes, shoes, hotel rooms and meals will be rewarded with an amazing event. Hopes and fears are high.

The car has been checked out for trip-worthiness. The healthy, low-cal snacks and bottled water are bought and ready for car-feasting.

Leaving my husband, home, dogs and cat is painful already, before I've even left town. Losing my Passover holiday is equally painful.

So here's the thing. I'm gonna keep everyone posted on my progress and what the conference ultimately offers me.

Stay tuned.

I packed the suitcase. I put things in the car. I found a halfway point and a hotel there. I leave in the morning.

The car is topped off with gasoline. Hoagies for dinner remove the whole last-evening-cooking and clean-up thing.

My two don't-forget lists are almost complete.

I'll have my cellphone with me, but in my age bracket, there is still a need to say goodbye to friends and family. It wouldn't have felt right to ignore that long-standing custom. I'll be leaving home with everyone's well-wishes. They'll all miss me, and it doesn't get warmer or fuzzier than that.

I'll miss them, too.

Hello to all from Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina! I was wearing sunglasses for the road, and I thought that the black cloud over my head was the result of the sunglasses. I took them off and DUH! It was a real black cloud! But no raining on my parade.

Beautiful day for a drive. I forgot how wonderful a road trip is. Pee when you want, eat when you want, stop for the night when you want. And the TV in your hotel room is all yours.

But when I paid for the room with my credit card with a picture of one of my dogs on it, well, sniff ...

Tomorrow, on to Charleston, SC!

It's about 6 a.m., and I'll be on the road again soon. I'll get to Charleston today and have the evening to rest up for the fist day of the PubSmartCon conference on Wednesday.

I had planned on blogging from my phone, but the phone is not allied with me on this. I can see Goodreads, but I can't get into my blogging area. Hopefully, the Francis Marion hotel will have a public computer, so that I can keep everyone posted on the road trip.

The morning coffee is very strong here. Why that should be of interest to you all, I don't know!

Thank you for following this happy and exciting road trip.

My windshield wipers were on Supersonic today, but I made it to Charleston. This neighborhood is adorable, and BEHOLD! A Starbucks right in the building! They were expecting Northerners.

Looking forward to meeting my girls Christine Nolfi and Kari Kilroy. They're bound to be disappointed, but I'm sure I'll be delighted.

-- with love from Java

Here I am, stiff from all the sitting during day 1 of the conference. The thrust of the conference is author marketing and branding, and I'm so full of ideas, I could burst.

I've tried to connect with other authors as much as possible, but clearly, the information is much more meaningful to me. The socializing is secondary.

The organizers have done a wonderful job, and I'm sure if they do it again, it will be even better the second time around. Great speakers, time for connecting with industry professionals, and time to see vendor set-ups.

It looks like these posts are not getting onto Twitter immediately. When I return to Pennsylvania, I will try posting them again. Sorry for the delay. Pretend you're using dial-up!!

-- Java

The PubSmart conference is beginning to feel like a dream. After breakfast, I leave the hotel and hit the road once again, this time for Emporia, Virginia.

My husband took a photo of our two dogs with his phone, but was unable to figure out how to send it to me. He was right, though, that it would have done me good to see their photo. He promised me that he is trying to pay some attention to our cat, as well, but the dogs are insistent. Home.

I passed through Emporia on the way to Charleston, and it looks like a nice town. I'm looking forward to seeing it as an overnight guest.

My iPod has a number of playlists that I've created for my different car-moods: bouncy, dance, sing-along, Jewish favorites, country, classical, African, etc. My voice got hoarse after 5 hours of driving. But I'm fully recovered now, and ready to sing again.

Home again! Got an appropriate greeting from the two dogs and the cat (in particular, the cat!). Caught up on mail, email, unpacked, etc.

So now it's time to start sorting through all the information and goodies I got at the conference. I met loads of lovely people and found companies and organizations that I'm anxious to connect with. I feel like Java Davis will be entering a new era of commercial quality and occupational connections.

I also discovered that my husband missed me. We never travel together so that one of us is always home with the animals, but usually, there is no problem being apart for any length of time. Whoever's away just comes back home. This time was different. After 18 years of marriage, there are still surprises left.

I hope that everyone out there had a wonderful Passover week or Easter Sunday. G'd bless you all.