What to Do When You’re Not at the RWA Conference (Otherwise titled: how to pass the time while your friends are off being cooler than you)
I know Terri gave a bunch of places to hang out online if you couldn’t make it to Conference. I’m not that helpful, so I figured I could just put out some suggestions for stuff you can do while you wait by the computer (phone/email/etc) to hear from your friends who are there, currently too busy having fun to pay attention to you (er… me, um, er… us).
1) Read – probably on the top of most of our what-to-do-when-killing-time lists. Lots of great stuff is coming out this week/weekend. Besides the one on Sin’s and my minds (*cough* Breaking Dawn *cough*), Before the Scandal by Suzanne Enoch and Some Like it Wicked by Teresa Medeiros are both out this week. There have been some wonderful summer releases as well. I’m looking forward to Colleen Gleason’s fourth vampire book, out on the 5th. Reading good books can get your brain into writing mode.
2) Movies – movies are great for revving up the old creative juices. As Hellion is always saying, there are no new stories, so watching stories on the big screen can get your own story moving. The most recent Mummy movie and Swing Vote both come out on Friday night, so that’s something. I want to see Dark Knight still, so maybe I’ll have the DH take me there.
3) Dinner (well, more specifically dessert) – check out a favorite restaurant, try a new one, or just order take out. A little special occasion eating always puts me in the mood for diving into my WIP (especially if there is chocolate involved).
4) Writing – (Last but not least) as you probably noticed, all my other choices had something to do with writing. But, seriously, what better way to make our conference going friends jealous than to have written scores of words while they were off gallivanting, sipping champagne with Nora. Hey, it could happen, they could be jealous….
So tell me, what are you going to be up to this weekend? Writing, reading, eating? Any other suggestions to kill the time during conference? Any other suggestions of activities that get your creative juices going?
Books by the Crew
31 comments:
I actually went out to dinner last night. I hope to wrap up the first draft of my WIP this weekend, or come close. My summer goal was to get it finished before school starts the last week of August, and I'd actually be ahead of schedule!
I'm going to the ROM today. That'll be my excitement in place of SF. Looking at dinosaur bones with the wee heathens.
And worse, I booked this week of an eon ago so I could attend the conference. I'm going to catch up on my reading I think. I started Fairyville Emma Holly last night.. holy hot m/m batman :) I have about 600 books to choose from so I'm not sure what's next as I await the much anticipated Breaking Dawn.
Maggie - Yummy dinner last night? Have anything yummy? Good luck finishing up your WIP! You must be so excited.
Tiff - Wow, dinosaur bones. I haven't been somewhere like that in years but I expect I'll be off on such trips before I know it. DS is starting to get interested in dinos. LOL!! m/m batman, huh? Not sure I'm in for that one. I prefer Spiderman, anyway.... :)
LMFAO! I haven't read any good m/m lately. Emma does a lovely job--all kinds of lovely jobs *g*
LOL! I believe you.
Tiffany, save that one for me. I love Emma Holly!
And I'm at work...
But that's okay, my release date is tomorrow (YAY!!) and I start my holidays on Monday!
That's right, JK! Immortal Kiss comes out tomorrow! Something else to add to you TBR this weekend. :)
I don't know if work would have made my fun things to do this weekend list. Sorry about that. Unless you have some fun job I don't know about.
I've been to the gym...I have written some. OKAY, I've REVISED some (sue me that I'm still stuck about Chapter 3--I say I need a research trip to Vegas, damnit, someone should humor me) and will probably work on GOGU again. You know, until I get tired of it again and go back to the A&E story. (I don't know why I call it that, when who I want to write about is Lucifer and the stripper. *sighs* I think Adam is slightly beta or something and I'm not as interested in writing him. I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm tired. See first sentence.)
However, since the blogs and emails have been QUIET, we should all (those of us still here) should find plenty of time to write. I remember reading a Teresa Medeiros interview where she says she writes on her laptop because it's not connected to the internet! I feel her pain.
I'm wireless, I have internet connect with a click to the corner...lol! I'd have to get out of my house and go somewhere where the net costs money so I didn't use it.
I've done a lot of writing this week. But I still pathetically surf the net looking for word from RWA! It's sooooo lonely. K, I really have to get read to leave.
I admit to starting a new story this week. I've written 3500 on it so far in the last couple days and I'm in love with it. (It is the beginning though, I believe the smitten part sort of goes along with the beginning.)
I would love to hear the Lucifer and stripper story. You should write that next!!
And I want to go to Vegas too! I keep thinking I'll go sometime soon (DH and i love to play craps in Atlantic City). We just haven't made it yet.
I am with you guys. I can't seem to keep myself from the net. It's sad. I'm an addict. Chalk it up to my other addictions. (Coffee people, purely innocuous.)
I've been sucked into all those virtual workshops people are giving. And crying about the technical glitch that took most of my current wip and wiped it out. Sigh.
You know, you use an online writing program (that's free) to write and store your work, because it isn't going to just disappear! But apparently it can sometimes do that, just delete 80% of your work for no reason and you can't get it back. Get what you pay for I suppose.
So, I can announce that Walmart has SanDisk 2G flash/thumb/whatever drives for $12.88 right now. Guess I'm moving to porting my work around and saving it in ten different places, which will drive me nuts and be so hard to make myself do.
Sarah
Sarah! That's awful! I'm so sorry about that! How horrible!
*running to Walmart to back up my work*
I'm editing. So much fun! LOL.
I'm sure we'll hear tons of stories when people get back. But, in the meantime, I have no excuse for not focusing on my manuscript. Damn.
I'm doing everything this weekend that I've put off while frantically finishing my WIP. And I got it done last night! Woohoo!
I think we're going to go see Step Breathers, and of course I'm going to read Breaking Dawn. I can't wait!
Tiffany - congrats on your release - how exciting!
Hellion - research in Vegas? We should all totally go on a field trip while everyone else is at RWA
Marnee - a new story already? Way to go! I have a new one I want to jump to, but I want to do revisions first, and really, I know better not to race you!
Ely - Yay editing! Go you!! :) I am still avoiding my first MS like the plague. No revising yet. Aren't you proud!? LOL!!
Haleigh - that's awesome!! Congratulations!! What a huge accomplishment!! Isn't it a great big weight off your shoulders? A wonderful feeling.
And everyone told me not to revise for as long as I could stand it, at least a month. So, I decided just to dive into something else.
Marn - a HUGE weight off my shoulders. And that's smart - to hold off and work on something else. Now that you mention it, I might do the exact same thing. Thanks!
Field Trip!!! (We'd so have to hit Treasure Island! I want to see the ship. Do you know you can get married on that ship? That is just a riot right there.)
Marnee, I can't do Luc & the stripper until I do the A&E story. I mean, you'll see bits of it...because Luc is doing his own thing while leaving A&E to dating, but, ah, hell, I don't know. In my head, I can see scenes and stuff I think will happen or would be funny...but I start writing it down and it's not the same. Irks me sideways.
Hal: CONGRATULATIONS!!! (And I totally want to see Step-Brothers...just gotta say. *LOL*) And yes, definitely dive into something else, after you've celebrated a couple days.
Thanks Hellion! I can't wait to see Step Brothers. I'm not-so-secretly in love with Will Ferrell. I'm definitely going to celebrate for a while before thinking about anything :)
Good luck writing Luc with the stripper!
Hal - it's been great. Just forget about that old story and wait until it feels fresh again, then come on back. And working on something new is so refreshing.
Hellion - Treasure Island, huh? Sounds like a stop. :) I'm sure Luc's story will be great, as will A&Es. I think when you're in the middle of something it's hard to see the house as you're laying the bricks.
AH, good analogy, Marnee. I remember that one! Who said that before...I've seen that before...writing a book is like building a house one brick at a time but your nose is pressed to the brick you're laying at the time, so you don't see the progress you've made?
Hal: I too am not-so-secretly in love with Will Ferrell. (Not as much as I love Jack. *shhh* Don't tell Jack, he might get jealous. I mean, he has nothing to worry about...but there is something about Will. I think it's because he makes me laugh.) Terri does not understand this love at all. She doesn't get schoolboy humor.
I can't remember who said it, but it's stuck with me for a while. And it keeps me moving forward when I feel like I'm writing excrement.
Or vomiting.
absolutely. Whatever version of smelly bodily excretion I'm managing at the time.
Haleigh.. no release... just finishing up the current wip :) Don't I wish... lol
Oh and I'm back from the ROM from those non-canadiennes... it's the royal ontario museum. I have forgotten how much I HATE the museum, and toting the four year old around made for serious aggravation. Oh and on those new with old renovations with the ROM I think they look buttass fugly, and I kept walking into the damn jutting out walls... stupidest design EVER--no genius about it.
In answer to your question a million posts ago...i had too many pieces of bread dipped in garlic-infused olive oil with cracked pepper, chicken marsala with mushrooms, fresh green beans, pureed squash, smashed potatoes with shallots and a lemon bar. Yes. I am still thinking about how delicious it all was.And how fat I am.
Hey!!! I haven't read this blog or read my email or read the comments but I wanted to say I'm alive!!! And I'm heading in to the chat with Nora. I'll come back as soon as I can to catch up!
Oh, and I just got us a future guest blogger during lunch. Michelle Marcos. Go check her out!
Maggie - that sounds awesome! Can I come next time?
Tiff - 4 year old in a museum does sound like slow torture. I'm glad you had a, well, nevermind.... LOL!!
Ter - *waving madly* Hi hi hi!! How's it going? Did you talk to Nora? What the heck, this had no details!!
*giant sigh* I'm finally sitting down in my room, I've read through the 70 emails and I'm working on the blog for tomorrow. This is a great blog, Marn.
Congrats, Hal! WTG!!!!
Yay! for the new release for J.K.!!!! The Immortals are sweeping the nation!!!
Bummer on the ROM visit, Tiff, but at least it's over.
JR Ward said the brick thing and I passed it around over here.
The chat with Nora was awesome and I'll talk more about it in tomorrow.
PS: I miss everyone!!!
Post a Comment