Books and Panels and Awards, Oh My!

It seems strange to spend more time on the aquarium than the rest of the conference, but so much of the conference is, well, in addition to the great panels, the in between times.  After all, as is true in cons of all shapes and sizes, you are surrounded by people who love this thing you love too.  They love talking about books and thinking about books and acquiring books.  The people in front of me in the shipping line had two boxes (and okay, they might also run a review blog, I'm not sure what your point is, really).  And the elevators and lunch tables and lobbies and bars are surrounded by people who have taken time out of their schedule to be hear and talk and think about books and the writing of them. 
So, panel highlights - I mentioned the PRO panel with Dorien Kelly - it also included Courtney Milan and the two talked about the business of being a writer.  I moderated Jeannie Lin and Shawntelle Madison's panel on incorporating culture which was wonderful and gave me lots to chew on.  There was a PRO panel on publicity.  There were keynote and award luncheon speeches that made me cry (dammit).  Lisa Gardner gave a great workshop on romantic suspense.  I was interviewed briefly about pitching for Swedish television.  (No, I have no other details.  And really, I just like thinking that's out there, somewhere in the ether.) 
I saw lots of people I'd met before and met lots more.  I rubbed up against two new Golden Heart winners.  Although I firmly believe that as I told quite a few people, the finaling is really, really cool.  Winning is cool too (I imagine) but the finaling is still a really select crowd. 
I talked to fiber folk, threatened to start a fiber workshop at a future RWA, and told one writer about ravelry.  (I won't name names just in case her next book is late for some reason I'm sure I know nothing about.)  I had sushi, and tuna tartare, and possibly quite a few dirty Arnold Palmers.  I met a bunch of first timers, some of whom had listed their place of origin as being in the DC area so hope to see them at a future WRW meeting. 
I went to the Autography signing where I told many, many people, that as an early ebook adopter this makes me so happy.  (I now have six signed ebooks.  See, I was restrained.)  My visions for what could be done with this technology from virtual giveaways to virtual signings following video chats are pretty big. 
I made not worthy motions at anyone wearing a board of directors ribbon.  And I expressed thanks and sympathy at the lovely RWA staffer who, among other things, manages the awards program.  (The announcement about the awards changes for 2014 is amazing, but let's all  send nice vibes to the people who have to deal with the shipping logistics of that.) 
I threatened to take a screen cap of my phone because on Saturday my agenda included going to the Nora Roberts party.  (The champagne was lovely. And everyone looked shiny and sparkly and there were many great shoes.) 
Lovely people, mermaids many of them, saved me seats and led me to dinner and generally took great care of me.  I escaped one afternoon for pool and hot tub time, just so my brain could finish processing all the fun I'd been having. 
And on my way back to the airport I ran into a fellow cherry again, and then in the airport I saw a Rita winner, and once through security (and wow, it took me forty five minutes to get my bag checked and me to the gate between the number of kiosks that were out, the low number of attendants at the desk, and the pace of the security line).  Once at my gate met another WRW member trying to fly standby (I hope she made the next flight, mine was chock full).  Saw more people I knew and even spotted a lifetime achievement award winner reading on my plane. 
I got back and napped, and read, and paid important attention to the cat. And thought about next year, when we get to do it all over again. 
 

Last Week - And Then There Were Books

Wednesday was the first day I had to be somewhere at a specific time.  The YARWA chapter had some YA things planned so we gathered and paneled and chatted about things YA.  I also had the chance to go up and introduce myself to Katie McGarry as her stalker.  (Yes, I do this. Later I tried to convince her to just give me a whole box of books and let me be her DC area book evangelist. She was not convinced this was the best method of distribution.)  Margie Lawson was there, and because she knows her audience she used some great examples from Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits and Romily Bernard's Find Me.  (I am now the lucky winner of one of the signed ARC's Romily kindly provided.  I might have hugged it and carried it home on the plane with me.) 
And after that, was the Literacy signing.  I opted for picture taking and chatting rather than book buying, only because I already had a bag full of books and the conference had not even started.  Some of the authors actually had books that were not otherwise out yet, so in addition to getting them signed and helping raise money for literacy, there were not even out yet books.  (I know.  I think this demonstrates restraint and we shall all keep this in mind when I speak of the box of books I shipped home, or the other book I bought after reading up on the Rita nominees.) 
So - some authors I snuck up on and photographed include:
Jude Devereaux.  Later Dorien Kelly would tell the story of being introduced to romance novels through the gateway book that was Knight in Shining Armor.  I might have shared that book with quite a few friends in high school and some sighs and squees. 

Two Kaye's for the price of one!  Laura Kaye and Robin Kaye.  (I told Robin Kaye I was her stalker too, even though we've met before.  I really think that proves my point.) 

Maureen McGowan with a stack of books. (For now.)

Rita finalist Tracy Brogan.

Ally Carter. (See how restrained I was there. It happens.)

Sarra Cannon. I have some more of her stuff to read too.

And Huntley Fitzpatrick with her new book.

At a later event, I captured Sherry Thomas signing her upcoming YA book.

And here's Emily McKay signing now Rita winning The Farm.

Last Week at the Georgia Aquarium

So, as you might suspect, last week I was in Atlanta for RWA Nationals.  I arrived a tiny bit early so I could see more of Atlanta than it's airport and hotels and subway.  (Particularly given that's kind of what my last trip to Atlanta looked like.) Being someone who particularly loves aquariums (I am judgy about them too) I had noted that the conference hotel was quite close to the aquarium and considered that a sign. 
I arrived in Atlanta Monday. Knowing, as I did, I decided Monday, after a post-travel sit and knit in the hotel room, that I should hit a particular restaurant I had on my list now, given the week was likely to get away from me.  So, making use of my new Breeze card I headed up a few stops and wandered around the Midtown area before arriving at the Spence.  There I had a delicious dinner (including, as I had mentioned on twitter the discovery of how wonderfully salted Hawaiian Bread and cocnut butter meld together.  (The rest of dinner was equally as lovely too.)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9297948205/" title="Bread and Wine at the Spence by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3820/9297948205_34fd46d84d.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="Bread and Wine at the Spence"></a>
I walked back to the hotel, having discovered the Midtown and Downtown stops were really quite close together.  (There is something to be said for tall buildings that poke up into the sky helping to orient you.)
The next day, after making the sad determination that the hotel's shop sold cofftea, I went to the aquarium.  With admission one got a dolphin show and then could add on a behind the scenes tour.  Overall I loved the aquarium.  If I had to do it again, I might skip the dolphin show, although the dolphins are not on display otherwise, so you do have to see the show to see them.  (There was no photography during the show for the safety of everyone.  And, I imagine, so we could see the show and not everyone's outstretched camera.)  I like dolphins quite a bit, but found the show overly plotted for my tastes, but perhaps that made it more interesting to small children.
The exhibits were great.  I was there at feeding time for some of the tanks so got to see some divers in their too. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9303845454/" title="Georgia Aquarium 1 by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5498/9303845454_140f351706.jpg" width="282" height="500" alt="Georgia Aquarium 1"></a>
They have a large amount of tiger sharks and rays in their collection and there were tunnels and steps to allow you to view them.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9303857456/" title="Tiger Shark and friends by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7281/9303857456_a129ea48d7.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="Tiger Shark and friends"></a>
There were also smaller tanks with things like these sea dragons that somebody said was ugly.  (I like you, sea dragons.)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9303889944/" title="Dragonfish 2 by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3671/9303889944_1eb716cea6.jpg" width="282" height="500" alt="Dragonfish 2"></a>
They had a frog exhibit and a small fresh water exhibit.  On the behind the scenes tour we learned that there's an aquarium in Tennesee with a larger fresh water exhibit.  Also, apparently the gators in the fresh water exhibit got a little bored and now they have gates to contain the gators to certain areas. 
We also got to take a look at the salt water tank from above. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9301115193/" title="The Top of the Deep Water Tank by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7331/9301115193_b26330eac6.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="The Top of the Deep Water Tank"></a>
It's about the size of a football field.  And we got some time to really watch the rays and tiger sharks from the top.  They are teenage tiger sharks so will get bigger, which is impressive because I could not get this guy in one frame as it was. 
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/93599710@N00/9301129583/" title="Too Big for One Shot by mememe20016, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5452/9301129583_8d48c77e89.jpg" width="500" height="282" alt="Too Big for One Shot"></a>
Afterwords I walked over to a Southern tea room where I had a wonderful lunch before heading back to the hotel for some sit in the AC time. 
Dinner was a modern Mexican restaurant near the hotel. 

The Weekly Map

I read somewhere (I have forgotten where) that Tuesday is the most productive day of the week.  Now certainly, especially lacking my source, I have no idea how productivity was measured, but there's something that feels very true about this.  (Except for those six months where I had six conference calls on Tuesday.  Unless we count telling everyone about my progress as productivity.) 
So, I am noticing a thing in my weeks.  Monday I head into the week ready to start again, check things, get going, and probably work late.  Usually around five thirty or so, my desire to work late has been overtaken by my fierce desire to take a nap, get a snack, go for a walk, or really do anything else.  (Sometimes I overcome this, but we are talking in generalities.) 
Tuesday, I go, go, go.  I send many emails.  I check on things.  Wednesday people have started to respond to all my Monday Tuesday stuff and I recap and check in, and remember that Monday or Tuesday I promised something or other and have not even looked at that even though it's right here on the post it in front of me.  In other words, Wednesday I start to freak out.  Thursday I wake up already running through my list, not quite sure how it's Thursday already, how did that happen?  And I start to wrangle my in box and take control of the to do list.  And Friday, by Friday I have found some zen.  I will accomplish what I can accomplish and the rest will happen when it happens. 
When I switched to this role I met with my mentor on Fridays and she said I was always very calm and I told her that was partly because by Friday I had just moved past some (not all) of the stress and felt a little more aware of what had happened, needed to happen, and was just going to happen later. 
So, as I break this week from my normal routine I am reminded, that in addition to the time away from the day job environment, and time to see other things and other people, there is enormous usefulness in simply changing up the pattern of one's week.

Three Interesting Things

1.  The answer to why they will continue to inspect your toiletries at airports may be here, with this attempt at smuggling.
2. When my book club discussed Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, several more gamer folk mentioned they found that the lack of girl specific backlash was, well, possibly a sign that it was told from a male POV.  Now, sure, it takes place in the future, so some things may have improved.  As an example of where we are with this now, many, many people linked to this account of a guy logging in under his girlfriend's ID and being immediately given grief.  Doesn't much improve when he demonstrates his gamer chops. 
3. So mice are cute in theory but less cute when non-pet mice attempt to share your living space.  However, tossing said mouse into a pile of burning leaves may lead to loss of house.  So maybe stick to traps.  Or cats.