Conference Gems

Just returned from the Emerald City Writers Conference in Seattle. Three days and two nights of chocolate, conversations about writing, hotel food, and missing my dogs and okay...my husband, too.

Writers' gatherings are always a little overwhelming, but I generally take away something great. Two things stuck out for me this year:

1) I can sing Karaoke. Who knew? And that tipsy guy from the bar was a great back-up singer. Another nugget of wisdom -- avoid photographers when you're wearing a blue fuzzy cowboy hat.

2) The Chick Lit heroine is very heroic. Just as heroic as any hobbit. I gleaned this fact from Eileen Rendahl's workshop on the Chick Lit heroine's journey. She took the basic structure most writer are familiar with (a la Christopher Vogler) and applied it to a genre where often, the quest/journey is an internal one. I'm totally posting her handout beside my computer this week to help keep me on track. And I need to buy her new book -- she rocks.

Also, got thinking about Feng Shui this weekend. (A character in Eileen's debut/Rita nominated book Do Me, Do My Roots arranged furniture in a fit of Feng Shui.) So when I got home, I moved my lucky bamboo plant into the Southeast corner of my desk and created a "water feature" (okay, it's a crystal bowl with rocks and sparkles in it) on the North side. Supposedly, this is going to help with my career. Hey it couldn't hurt.

But then again, I could just get to writing my good book. :)