Friday, April 23, 2010

The Writer's Marathon

On Monday, they ran the Boston Marathon here.

A marathon of a different sort is about to begin--the annual spring running of the authors. It's when we crawl out of our winter writing cocoons and hit the speaking trail. I got a little jump on it last weekend when I popped up to Maine to speak to MERWA.

Tomorrow I'll sneak down to Connecticut for the day to give my My Husband Married a Hooker workshop for Connecticut Fiction Fest. No, it's not what you're thinking, you naughty girl! It's about adding writing hooks. In case you can't make it, I'll post my notes here on the blog one day next week.

All my blog posts have to be set to go for next week because I'll be in Columbus, OH for the Romantic Times Convention and I'm never sure how reliable my internet connection will be when I'm traveling. If I can, I'll still pop by to respond to comments, but I'm only taking my baby computer with me and it's sort of an internet virgin. Since I do all my writing on this little 10 inch gem, I try not to expose it to anything that might gobble up my WIP. (I'm on p. 250 of a manuscript that's due June 1st, so I can't risk losing any of it. Yes, I have some new contracts and I'm so excited about it I'm about to burst, but I'll tell you about all that later. Suffice it to say, for the next 15 months, I'm going to be a very busy girl.)

For those of you who've never been, RT is a wild week. On Monday and Tuesday, I'll be working with the Aspiring Writers Bootcamp with Bobbi Smith and Judi McCoy. I love teaching and the students are all so eager to learn. Then during the main convention, I'll be on a How to Be a Blog Queen panel, signing at the bookfair on Saturday and hanging out with readers and writers at the after-hours parties.

I'm even co-hosting one this year--The Mad Hatter's Tea Party--along with Victoria Alexander, Renee Bernard, Kristina Cook, Genella deGrey, Charlotte Featherstone, Heather Graham, Carrie Lofty, Sally MacKenzie, Donna MacMeans, Amanda McIntyre, and Sharon Page. It'll start on Wednesday night at Midnight! If you're at RT, please try to make this party! Dorchester has sent out 150 copies of Distracting the Duchess for me to give away to readers. I'll be signing as long as they last!

It'll be a fun and exhausting week and I'll be ready to assume the writing position again once I get home late on Sunday week. (For those of you who don't speak Southern, that means Sunday after next.)

Here on my blog next week, we'll have a little mini convention with some special guests and some chances for YOU to win some freebies--Barbara Monajem on Monday, romance legend NYTimes Bestseller Connie Mason on Tuesday, Me on Wednesday since STROKE OF GENIUS is coming up very soon, Glynis Smy on Red Pencil Thursday and on Friday, I'll tell you about my big contract news! Please be sure to pop by the blog next week. I will be responding to comments once I get home from Ohio for sure.

So who's going to RT and who can I count on to keep the blog fires burning?

7 comments:

Maria said...

Unfortunately I can't go to RT but regarding your netbook...if your worried about your WIP...make a backup on a flashdrive as they are cheap and very reliable and that way you don't have to worry about loosing anything because you can leave the flashdrive at home.

Gillian Layne said...

You busy girl! I'll be here at one point or another each day, as long as the internet stays connected. With spring storms, it's always interesting.

I can't wait to hear about the convention, and of course your big news!!

I'm seconding Maria--back up everything, everyday! If nothing else, email the word document to yourself.

Nynke said...

I wish you lots of fun at RT! And like the ladies, I was going to say something about backups, but I won't now ;).
I'll be around next week and will try to help keep the fire burning!

EmilyBryan said...

I go for triple redunancy in the matter of backups. I put it on a little stick (my non-techie word for a flash drive) and I transfer the file to my big computer. So my work is stored in three places.

I've cried over accidentally deleting a single page. Imagine losing a whole manuscript! I so relate to Jo in Little Women when she gets furious with Amy for burning her handwritten manuscript.

EmilyBryan said...

Nynke, my dear, are you covered with ashes and soot? We lived in Denver when Mt. St. Helens erupted and our car was covered with volcanic ash. And it wasn't nearly as big an eruption as the Icelandic one. How are the skies in the Netherlands? I've been thinking of you.

Nynke said...

Aww, Emily, so sweet of you to think of me! But no, I don't think I've seen any ashes - unless you count one slightly more-orange-than-usual sunset and a sprinkling of dust on my bicycle saddle.

It's incredible how dispuptive the flight cancellations have been, though! Lots of people I know were stuck somewhere and couldn't get to work - my mother-in-law had to take a bus back to Oslo (must have taken her over 20 hours) and my best friend couldn't make it back to her home in Texas for almost a week! Everything seems to be getting back to normal now; fingers crossed it'll stay that way.

Nynke said...

Sorry for the typo - 'dispuptive' sounds like a dog problem ;). 'Disruptive' was what I meant!