Yeah, I'm that kind of crazy.
Let's start with the Lori Foster Reader Author Get-Together. My first night there I was a day early because this was my first time at Lori Foster and I had no idea what to expect. When I made my travel arrangements, I thought it was like the RT convention where I had to be there early enough to register. What I didn't know was that the Lori Foster con has you register late afternoon, early evening on Friday, so I wound up spending a little more time in my room than I planned. I totally should have gone to the lobby to see if anyone else was as early as I was but I chose not to, mostly because I was still hurting from the flight, getting my rental car, getting my scooter in the rental car, figuring out how to turn off the emergency brake in the rental car, and feeling like an idiot.
(I mean, who doesn't know how to turn off the emergency brake?)
The good news is I was nice and relaxed by the time I actually went to the con. I had a wonderful time chatting with Leah Christiansen and her husband; Kathy Andrico (the photography lady for the con, who took a lovely picture of me at the book signing); and Bridget Locke, aspiring writer and all-around nice person. We even wound up hitting the bar for drinks until midnight, something I never do. The whole vibe of the con is completely relaxed, more like a family reunion than anything else. I had a great time, and I will definitely do it again.
A couple of pictures from the con:
This is Drea Becraft, who could only stay for a brief time before heading off to a wedding. It was great seeing her even if she couldn't stay for long.
These are all the authors who were still available for the group photo by the end of the con. I'm off in the left-hand corner peeking around the chair. Getting to where the photo was being taken was tricky in my scooter and I almost didn't make it. When it came time to do the pictures for the individual publishers, I made sure I was out of the scooter and front row. I'll update later once I have those pictures.
I get home from the Lori Foster con, pleasantly tired, and walked straight into chaos. You see, this is the part where I prove to you that I'm an insane woman. My husband was finishing packing for us to leave the next morning to go to Disney World. so it was time to do laundry, make sure all the toiletries were packed, make sure all of my batteries and chargers for my scooter were ready to go (I need to take three to make it all work), etc. Honestly, Dusty did most of the work, but I did just enough to feel really tired by the end of the night.
So was off to Disney World and our timeshare was gorgeous. We bought into Bay Lake Towers, and I have to say I'm glad that we did. We loved our stay in the Contemporary last year, but it just isn't something we can afford to do all the time. However, we go to Disney World every other year to visit Dusty's family, so buying into the timeshare made sense for us.
One of the things I forgot about Florida was what it does to my hair. I have naturally wavy hair, and when I'm at home it looks like this:
Not too bad, but a little on the frizzy side. In Florida, it looks like this:
A couple of pictures from the con:
This is Drea Becraft, who could only stay for a brief time before heading off to a wedding. It was great seeing her even if she couldn't stay for long.
This is me at the book signing, with my cover flats and the two posters I decided to bring. I wasn't certain if people would like them, but from the reaction I got to them I may have more done. Are there any particular covers of mine you'd like to get in poster size?
These are all the authors who were still available for the group photo by the end of the con. I'm off in the left-hand corner peeking around the chair. Getting to where the photo was being taken was tricky in my scooter and I almost didn't make it. When it came time to do the pictures for the individual publishers, I made sure I was out of the scooter and front row. I'll update later once I have those pictures.
I get home from the Lori Foster con, pleasantly tired, and walked straight into chaos. You see, this is the part where I prove to you that I'm an insane woman. My husband was finishing packing for us to leave the next morning to go to Disney World. so it was time to do laundry, make sure all the toiletries were packed, make sure all of my batteries and chargers for my scooter were ready to go (I need to take three to make it all work), etc. Honestly, Dusty did most of the work, but I did just enough to feel really tired by the end of the night.
So was off to Disney World and our timeshare was gorgeous. We bought into Bay Lake Towers, and I have to say I'm glad that we did. We loved our stay in the Contemporary last year, but it just isn't something we can afford to do all the time. However, we go to Disney World every other year to visit Dusty's family, so buying into the timeshare made sense for us.
One of the things I forgot about Florida was what it does to my hair. I have naturally wavy hair, and when I'm at home it looks like this:
Not too bad, but a little on the frizzy side. In Florida, it looks like this:
Yeah. That's attractive. Luckily I own lots and of lots of hats.
This year I was smart. I stayed off the roller coasters, but nothing could get me off Test Track. I'm not nearly as broken as I thought it would be, but I'm still hurting a bit. It was great seeing Dusty's family again, and the children had a blast.
We're back home now, and the only other travel plans I have are for the Authors After Dark conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August. That one seems to be a little bit more like the RT con, but like the Foster con, it will be my first time there so I'll have to see.
By the way, Dusty and I noticed something this morning. Our children are home from school until late August.
That was the way Dusty reacted when he remembered. I'm not going to show you the picture of how I reacted. Some things might just break the inter-webs.
Edit: Sorry for any typos. I'm still using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and it's interesting AutoCorrect. I thought I caught them all, until Dusty started to read it and pointed some out. Let me know if there are more and I'll fix them. I've read it through four times and haven't seen any, but sometimes you can't see the trees for the forest.
Oh look! New picture(s)!
The Carina Press authors! That white cowboy hat of Leah Braemel's was hard to miss. Have I mentioned she's a terrible stalker?
