Well, I’m leaving for Atlanta tomorrow morning and the RWA National Convention next week. I’m heading out a few days early to visit with family in the Atlanta area, and I’m very excited about that. Some of you know I’ve been hedging about the conference though, and that’s been steady throughout the last few weeks, even though I’d already booked my trip. Last year’s conference (my first) was fun, but stressful. And without Piper there to distract me this time and keep up until all hours of the night, I’ve been a little worried about how this conference will go. However, I’m feeling a bit better about it now.

Tuesday night I went to my local RWA meeting. I wasn’t feeling like going. DH and I had just gotten home from vacation and there was a lot of mother-guilt going on about leaving the kids again for Atlanta and about leaving them one night to go to my meeting. But I went because I’m a good girl, and to my surprise, really enjoyed it. Our guest speaker was Shirley Karr from the Portland area. Shirley write’s historicals, and her third book – Confessions of a Viscount – will be released in Dec. of 2006. Shirley’s one of those people who’s easy to talk to, eager to share her story, and an inspiration to anyone who aspires to be published. One thing she said which totally stuck with me was that she never thought of IF she’d be published. It was always WHEN. It took her three years to write her first book, four years to tweak her second (which was the first she sold) into what she wanted. She never looked at her rejection letters as NOs, simply, NOT YETs. I totally identified with everything Shirley said, and aside from inspiring me again, it reminded me that published authors are real people, just like the rest of us. And most of them are eager to share their story and help unpubs get where they want to be – because not too long ago they were in our shoes.

So now, instead of dreading Nationals, I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to meeting new authors, making connections, and yes – networking. I’m not great at it, but I’m getting better.

I’ll blog on Romance Worth Killing For from Atlanta, and I’ll try to post an update or two here about the conference next week. Hope everyone has a great week!