Strength, Knowledge, Power

And so the excitement starts building yet again...

The 2009 RWA National Conference is at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C. from July 15 through July 18.

The fee is set at $425 for member early registration and $475 for member late registration. Non-member fee is $500 early registration and $550 late registration.

Thursday Keynote Speaker: Linda Howard
Friday Awards Luncheon Speaker: Eloisa James
Librarians’ Day Luncheon Speaker: Stella Cameron
Awards Ceremony Emcee: Anne Stuart

We're Safe!

Logging in from Singapore's Changi airport. Twenty-nine hours after we left Seattle, here we are. And no, seven hours later, we're not headed into Mumbai, the site of these horrific attacks.

Are you a goal-blocking goalie or a goal-getting goalie?

As the year comes to a close and the days gets shorter and colder (and wetter here in the Pacific Northwest), my thoughts turn naturally to brighter things like the coming holidays, new beginnings, the new year, and goals and schedules.

A part of the making of new goals is a reflection of goals for the closing year. I had two main ones: writing and friendships.

On the writing side, I finished one story and started a new one. I joined Eastside RWA chapter, attended the National conference, started this blog, and have write-meets with Lacey Kaye every weekend. I couldn't attended the regional conference due to a mix-up in registration and have unfortunately not been able to update this blog on a bi-weekly or even a weekly basis. This is one of my goals for the new year. Consistency, consistency, consistency, health bedamned.

In terms of books, this translates to finish and revise both books, enter a couple contests, put PRO application through, and pitch, query, pitch, query, pitch, query.

The same goes with friendships. I have made amazing friendships over the course of my haunting blogs and boards for the past three years. I can never say "thank you" enough times or with enough gravitas that is their due. My friends have enriched my life beyond all measure. Life's definitely a far better place to be because of them.

This year, as my writing and health issues crept up, regularity (posting, not the other, hah) has been a problem. My correspondence has suffered. I have too many stops on the web, so many friends, so many interesting places. Greediness is my downfall, because I have less time than I did last year. Better to be concentrated and consistent, than flitting and flirty.

Here is my now prioritized and shortened list of places to stop on the 'Net... Twitter, Facebook, livejournal, Hotmail, Weather, riskyregencies, romancebandits, Candice Hern board, Berkley Jove Authors forums, Eloisa James & Julia Quinn board, waxcreative, rebelsofromance, titlepage.tv, romancenovel.tv, wordwenches, historyhoydens, Elizabeth Boyle, Jo Bourne, Jane Porter, manuscriptmavens, aplacefororiginals, vauxhallvixens, romancevagabonds, Tessa Dare, singlecitychick, Kelli Estes, Beau Monde email loop, WritingRegency email loop, Eastside RWA email loop.

As you laugh, joke, cook, and shop for the holidays, are you thinking of the new year to come and what it holds for you?
How many web stops do you have every day?
Do you have correspondence goals? Travel ones? Writing ones?

Travel, yo!

Travel plans changed all of a sudden last night. No, no, nothing alarming. It's all good. Hubby discovered more time off on his work schedule. So, in less than ten days, we're off on our annual pilgrimage to the other end of the earth visiting every relative in Hubby's bushy family tree.

Doctor to visit, holidays cards to write, gifts to buy and mail, thousand and one things to cross off list....Watch Keira work herself into a tizzy. (I think the school teacher is the most stressed out of everyone involved. She has to prepare the homework kit. Heh.)

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, Happpy Kwanza, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Yule, Merry Solstice, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Oh, and try to have a smashing New Year's Eve, too, if you can, and do eat my share of the turkey, too.

See you in the new year...

Love in Romancebloglandia

The wonderful writers of the blog First Edition: A Place For Originals were kind enough to present me the I Love Your Blog! Award. A big thank you to historical romance writer Kelly Krysten, YA writer Mary Danielson, and historical suspense writer Stephanie Janulis.

Being a recipient of this award doesn't mean I can rest on my laurels. I have a job to do by following these five rules...

1) Add the logo of the award to my blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to me
3) Name at least seven other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on my blog
5) Leave a message on their blogs

Without much further ado, here are my winners...

1. Risky Regencies — In the short lifespan on blogland, the Riskies are the oldest continuously running group author blog with a very loyal fanbase. The six of them write about their stories, their unusual characters, the history of the Regency, and everything from daily life to the fantastical (such as, Austen Trek).

2. Romance Bandits — The Banditas are the funniest group of writers of young-adult, the sweet, the suspensy, and the hottie. Amongst them, they've held every job imaginable, suffered every rejection letter possible, and have succeeded in laughing and writing every single day.

3. Rebels of Romance — If you ever want to learn how to network and market and promote your books, these two edgy, fashionable gals are it. Passion is their middle name and shyness is not a word in their repertoire. Their blog's a breath of fresh air.

4. History Hoydens —As readers of historicals know, we usually see the tip of the tip of the research iceberg behind the stories, which is as it should be. However here, these experts give us a glimpse into the meticulous collection of detail that goes behind every scene, every nuance of every story.

5. Wax Creative — This blog is a look-see behind the scenes of the most prominent website design company for small businesses, freelancers, and the self-employed. Marrying an extremely creative side with a pragmatic core, the Wax team wins first by their generosity and friendliness and then ensures loyalty with their professionalism.

6. Elizabeth Boyle — If you've ever heard Elizabeth's delighted laughter then you know what I'm saying here. Her books and her personna are both hilarious and lighthearted. Always ready with a quip and a helping hand, Elizabeth is one of Seattle's foremost authors. She knits. She cooks. She does many, many things exceedingly well.

7. Barbara Vey — The Babs always has something fun and interesting to say, whether it's her blog or on Twitter or on one of the other social networks. She is one of the most connected professional of the publishing world. She even had drive-by videos of the events around her while waiting out a hurricane in an airport with hundreds of other people.

8. Vauxhall Vixens — They bonded first at Eloisa James and Julia Quinn's message board as The Bon Bons and then again over Avon's e-book chapter-by-chapter contest. Wonderful writers and fabulous people, they love vixenating about the historical hotties and haughties.

Hack. Hack. Wheeze. Technicolor Yawn. The Runs.

Life has been terribly exciting the past three weeks. Such incidents always start with a special germy gift from school. Ms. Wee succumbs and bears up marvelously and without complaint, but the maternal heart is a gooey marshmallow under that brave suffering look.

All that cuddling, leads to my getting it, and getting it bad. Starts out innocuously enough, moves to another facial orifice, returns here, presses in there, then meanders down to the chest and proceeds to sit there and get heavier and heavier. Then cometh the fevers. And they overstayed their welcome by fourteen days.

All that marital cuddling means, Hubby turn comes, too. Hack, hack, snore, snore, snuffle. I can't remember the last time, I had a full night's sleep.

Two visits to the doctor, two emergency hospitals runs later, we each have our stash and join the pill-popping populace of the evergreen, ever-dreary, every-dripping Pacific Northwest.

If you've wondered how come Keira's scarce in Romancelandia, here's the reason why.