Writers Conference: These Girls Get It

It's late Thursday evening and Destiny has the pillow over her face, snoring away.  I decide to read however, as I can sleep in. We have until late Friday morning to register.  So I read and read, until 1am.  My burning eyes and my body screaming that it's actually 2am reduces me to sleep.  Fine.

*sigh, stretch, yawn, rubbing eyes*  Friday Morning. We hit Marshalls, and I find these hot babies. Jessica Simpson, I love you.  Say what you want about her, that girl can design shoes. Obviously, I had to have them. Delicious, right?

As we walking into the Chaparral Suites hotel, at 11:45am, we find that not only is it swarming with ladies and a handful of men, that there is chocolate at every turn.

Am I at Chocolatefest?
My only thought?  

These girls get it. *deep sigh of contentment* 

However, I am saddened that Serene isn't in my back pocket or hiding in my purse.  She'd love this.  Books AND chocolate everywhere.

I knew I should have stashed her in my suitcase.

I'm sure she wouldn't have been missed.  Too much, anyway.

We immediately find the table with our gift bag of goodie {stuff a bit of chocolate into our mouths}, and then hit the Raffle Room.

{We find more chocolate.  Consuming a few more pieces, I stuff a few into my bag for later.}

The only thing I pull out of my gift bag is my name badge, because I want to be just like everyone else and wear my name.

Looking at all the donated gifts that I possibly could win, I see books, and treats, and more chocolate, wine, gift certificates, etc., etc., etc. And then I decide to risk it all for ONE THING.  I decide to really go for IT.  I'm an all-or-nothing-kind of girl.

A NOOK. *squeeeeee! eeeeeek!*  This shouldn't be shocking.

I spend $40 on raffle tickets.  Then I proceed to painstakingly separate the 100 raffle tickets into two piles.  The ones I keep and the ones I will strategically place in order to win something.  There must have been over 60 options for guests to try to win.  But there was only one Nook.

I don't have or a Kindle, a Nook or any kind of iPadishliketouchythingamajigger.

So, there I sat, nursing a Dove dark chocolate square, thinking.

And my brilliant plan surfaced.

Put all 100 tickets in one bag. 

The bag to win the Nook.

Now, let's just clarify one thing before we get to far ahead of ourselves. 

1. I do not gamble.

2. I decided to support the raffle's purpose.

3. I believe in conspiracy theories on occasion.

and

4. I don't usually put all my eggs in one basket.

But this time?

What the heck?

If I win, I get a Nook!  If I loose, I give $40 to a literacy thing.

Done deal.  Off we head off to attend the first class, a Keynote Speaker.
Write It Forward, by Bob Mayer

"Excuse me, Mr. Mayer?" 

It's funny.
Do you get it?
I wonder if he gets tired of it.

Anyway, it was an interesting couple of hours in that room with him.  There were things I didn't understand AT ALL, and things that made common sense to me, and things that landed somewhere in the realm of make believe and fictional characters drama television.  And there was mention of aliens.  It was a completely fascinating experience.  I admit I didn't walk away feeling energized or pumped that I could write a book, but I appreciated his insight.  Well, at least the stuff I understood.

He did have my full attention especially when he started talking about the Myers-Briggs Types. I am not sure what personality type I am in this 16 type organization.  I am curious.  I would guess that I'm not exactly one type, but a mixture of a couple. But if you forced me into one category?  I don't know.

He also had me craving a background in Psychology.  He also pointed out some interesting insights that surround writing and they were interesting to me:

• The genre you write is most likely the genre you like to read.
• The Point Of View you write in is most likely the POV you like to read.
• How you organize your life is how you will organize your book.

As his class ended, I walked out feeling like I'd enjoyed a lecture that had a lot of substantial information, but overwhelmed with it as well.  Thank goodness for his 15,000 page handout.

Thanks Bob, for the information.  I'll try to soak it in.

We enjoyed the warm Phoenix sunshine, while I indulged on some Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, in the gorgeous courtyard. {And would discover we would linger there a lot over the next two days} Most guests were either smoking, drinking, chatting, silently going over their pitches, using the restrooms, or checking their digital devices.

The warm sun beat down on my face, and I relished its attention, while Destiny craved the shade.  That's the difference between Vegas and Idaho, I guess.

Soon after our few warm minutes of Arizona sun/shade we headed off to a workshop.
Emotion: The Heart of the Novel, by Brenda Novak

One thing I picked up from her is this: ''Emotion equals Reader Participation.''  Well, I should have known that, but I don't think I did. I don't think I had ever consciously made note of that. But my favorite thing about her class?  She used West Wing as examples of subtle emotion. Loved that.  She's a smart woman in my book for the references to that show alone.

Another thing I took away from her class was "If you are naming the emotion, that is/can be a red flag."

I appreciated the insight, so thank you Brenda!

Now, at this point, I am going to end this post on the two things that broke my heart over the whole weekend.

Strong ending, right?
Hey, no one said this was a Romance.

SAD FACTOR #1:
So here's the thing: I did NOT win the Nook. *blowing nose, sniffle, sniffle, tear falling* I know!  How is that even possible?????  Remember how I mentioned I believe in conspiracy theories on occasion?  Well, I think you'll see my reasoning, and you'll join my side of it, when I tell you there was a conspiracy going on Friday night as the raffled away the Nook.

I'm telling you. So it must be true.

See this lovely, busy, organized, awesome to email, great lady? She's the Event Coordinator for the WHOLESTINKINGCONFERENCEFROMTHEAUTHORSTOTHEBOOKSIGNINGSTOTHEGIFTBASKETS.

And she "WON" the Nook. 
Conspiracy?  Hmmmmmm?

 

 {I'm totally harassing her, by the way. *insert perfect angel smile, with a growl* She won it fair and square........ I think.}

*blowing nose, sniffling continues*

SAD FACTOR #2:

We got stood up by the ONE author we've been *DYING* to meet. More than a year of emailing, face-booking, taking her online classes, and more face-booking. Don't even ask me about it.  I'll just worked up about it all over again. And even though I'm super cute when I'm mad, it's just not funny.

At least the girls who threw the party and stole the best gift, GET IT. 

Now, pass the chocolate.