The Top Ten Reasons Why I Love Conferences

Here it is Monday already, and I'm getting ready to start thinking about what to take to Bethesda, Maryland this weekend for my very first Malice Domestic conference. This is a mystery conference--particularly cozies--that has as many readers attending as authors. I have to be on my best behavior--yeah, right!! Pardon the messed up blog. Blogger is acting weird and won't let me fix it. Anyway, I remembered an old blog I had done when I was getting ready for RWA Nationals a few years back, so I decided to pull it out and dust it off. I'll add some new stuff just to see if you're paying attention. Here goes--The top ten reasons why I love conferences. 10. I love being around authors who get that I am excited because I figured out how to kill off my evil sister-in-law with a character whose name is uncannily similar to hers. It tickles me to death when I even get hints on how to make the death a slow one! 9. OMG! The workshops are incredible. Okay, so the last few conferences I attended I only made a few of them. The ones I did make were really good, though. And at Malice, I'm on a panel, so there's at least one I'll make! 8. Freebies. I adore them. I love the free books we get and I get orgasmic in the Goody Room. (What can I say? I'm a cheap date!!)Not sure if Malice will be so giving!!! 7. Putting faces with names for the editors and agents and big time authors. Some of them look nothing like I pictured. That goes for the not so big ones, too. Case in point - the elderly woman resembling my grandmother who overheard me say I didn't like some of the words used in erotica and proceeded to inform me she was an erotica author. Seriously??? I have the utmost respect for any author, including genres I don't write, but seriously?? And this year, I am meeting Faith, my Berkley editor for the first time. It will be nice to finally meet her. And I'll reconnect with Terri, my new Midnight Ink editor. She's always fun to be around. I'll also get to meet a lot of INKERS who are going to the conference. 6. Which brings me to this next one. I love asking people what they write because I am always surprised. If I imagined you writing inspirational, you tell me you write vampire erotica. 5. I love meeting up with peeps and meeting new ones. I am such a people person (refer to an earlier blog titled "Mother do you have to talk to everyone??) As I mentioned, the Midnight Inkers are coming out in full force, so it will be nice to meet them. Plus, I'll put faces to a lot of cozy authors from the loops I'm on. 4. Crashing the Harlequin party. This is also an RWA National tradition that I doubt will be the same at Malice. Oh boy, was this fun, though.Those category people know how to par-tee!! 3. Being able to tell from the ribbons a lot about an author. This year I get my pink first sale ribbon as well as my PAN one. Woo hoo! The mystery writers don't give a rat's patootie about ribbons!! You're somebody if you're up for an Agatha. Crap! I'm a nobody!! 2. Laughing until my face feels like it will crumble. Writers are hysterical. It's like we use the conference time to act like our characters instead of the librarians, nurses, and lawyers we really are. And the NUMBER ONE reason why I love conferences is the Bar. You can always find old friends as well as new ones hanging out there. This year, I plan on doing tequila shooters to celebrate my sale. Oh yeah, I can't forget Kari's sale to Berkley, too. Sheesh! Anita sold this year too. Oh dear God, I forgot Rochelle's. We did do shooters that year. I brought a Texas sized bottle of margarita salt (which will definitely come to Maryland with me)and nine of us bellied up to the bar and tossed one back. This year we are celebrating both Rochelle's and Kari's nominations for best first book, Joni's (my CP)sale, my sales to both Berkley and Midnight Ink, and anything else we can think of that deserves a shooter. Chime in here and tell me what you like about conferences. And if you see me at Malice, come up and introduce yourself. I might even buy you a drink, especially if you catch me after all those shooters. Hell, I might as well do one with you, too. We'll celebrate that we're writers and most importantly that we left hubbies and kids at home. Someone is going to cook for us. Someone is cleaning our rooms. And kinda like Katie Perry, I'm sleeping with a girl--and I'll probably like it!! Party on.