The Glamorous Life of an Author… Once a Year!

My life as an author is about as far from glamorous as it’s possible to be. Most of the time, I’m in my ‘writing cave’ (when I’m not parenting or trying to make a living doing something that pays better), and occasionally I get out and commiserate with other authors.

But once a year there’s the Romance Writers of America National conference, which IS actually sort of glamorous… but never happens near my home base in Minnesota. It also falls at a terrible time (late July) when I’m frantically preparing to work the Leader Motorcycle booth at the Sturgis motorcycle rally (this is the first year we’ve sat it out). Thus the reasons I hadn’t yet been.

So what was RWA like for this conference virgin?

Well, first: I’m glad a couple of “homegirls” from my local chapter were there (that’s me with Denise Devine and Lauri Robinson on the San Antonio Riverwalk). I had someone to meet for lunch and dinner, and Denise’s husband was the most awesome chauffeur a girl could ask for.

There were 1800 writers there, 99% of them women. I’m used to being around a lot of people when I work motorcycle rallies, but this was different. This was like being on crack for four days straight; the ‘buzz’ was like a pissed-off bee colony! Either I’m getting old, or there’s a BIG difference in a crowd of mostly women versus a crowd of mostly men!

It took me until Day 3 to stop feeling like I was missing something important, like I needed to be everywhere at once (because of course I couldn’t). And the seminars were a mixed bag: some good, some meh. I learned not to lollygag between seminars or I’d be sitting on the floor for an hour – NOT enjoyable!

I’d hoped to make more connections with other authors, but the sheer volume of people frankly made that difficult. Highlights:

pictures with the “cowboys” at a reception hosted by Amazon (here we are at right!)
the awards ceremony, which was pretty cool (but too dark for pix)
meeting Heather Ashby, my ‘cyber friend’ and fellow writer whose characters I love (military heroes similar to mine!)
learning something new about the Alamo (which was literally kitty-corner from my hotel)

Outside the conference, we spent a little time on the Riverwalk. I had been there 20+ years ago, while attending Army Combat Medic training at Fort Sam Houston (just north of town). I have fond memories of my mates/friends drinking on the Riverwalk, but now the Riverwalk just felt claustrophobic, kitchy and just plain hot (the oppressive heat was too hard on this Minnesota native).

Possibly the best use of my time while in San Antonio was the time I spent at Brooke Army Medical Center for research related to future military/veteran characters. But that is a whole ‘nother post for a whole ‘nother day!