Inspiring envy...

I just realized that the title of this post might be a bit misleading.  The Oxford English Dictionary says that envy is "a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck".  This is completely not directed at anyone in particular; this post is all about my weird little musings, because I have a feeling I'm not the only one who's going through something like this.

And in case you're confused, I don't mean that this is a tutorial on how to create envy or make people envious. Quite the contrary. I mean that envy can be inspiring if thought about a little differently.

Specifically, with these great gals!

In 2011, I had my first opportunity to go to a writer's convention. It was RWA Nationals, and it was in NYC, where it'll be again in 2015. For the first time, I'd had the chance to be with high numbers of other people with little voices in their heads telling them things that they just had to write down. The camaraderie of being with other writers--some who I'd met online and never thought I'd meet in person, and others I was just lucky enough to meet, period--was wonderful. They were supportive, and interested, and curious, and, for the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged somewhere.

Anyone want to get me one that grows $100s?

I should also say that has been my only real opportunity to go to one due to the ridiculous cost of flying halfway around the world.

So, for the past three-plus years, I've had to watch vicariously through social media as my writer friends have enjoyed going to the RWA conferences or the RT Booklovers Convention, or various others, having a ball and posting pics, and getting to talk about the people who live in their heads to their hearts' content.

I want to make it clear that I'm not envious of anyone in particular; it's this general sad feeling of being left out. And while even when we live back in the states I'm sure I won't be able to hit all of these up, it'll be nice to have the chance to.

But just in case you didn't think I was being enough of a Debbie Downer or was done throwing myself a little pity party, there's more to this green-eyed monster.  Part of the conferences is getting to talk about the books everyone has published, and I'm not quiiiite there yet as an author.  Am I proud of my fellow writers?  You bet your ass I am!  Do I love talking about their books?  Abso-frickin-lutely!  And I'm going to be genuinely happy and promote them and help as much as I can, because there's that camaraderie I mentioned above--it's tough enough to write a book and promote it on your own--even with the help of a publisher if you've gone that route--so it takes a village. Apparently a village of people who hear voices in their heads, but that's not the point. This has nothing to do with other writers specifically--this weirdness is all me.

But all is not lost...here's where the inspiring bit comes in.  The next time I go to a conference, I want it to be as a published author. For instance, I don't want to go to RWA 2015 (if I do actually go...hopefully!), four years after my initial one, still at the same stage I was in 2011. Will it be okay if I'm not published by then, or if I'm in the process of querying/negotiating, or self-pubbing something? Yes, but to be honest, I'll be disappointed in myself if I don't have something of my own to show for it.  Something I can point people to on Amazon or wherever to say, "I wrote this." I'm using my experience-envy to inspire myself to kick my own butt and achieve my dream. Because, though some people write solely for themselves, my dream is to make stories for others to enjoy as well.

There's a psychological component to goal-sharing--that if you make it public, it'll serve as motivation. I did that successfully last year with NaNoWriMo (I shared my daily word output and total word count on my FB page), and I'm hoping this will be as effective.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and please, if you have a moment, leave me some words of encouragement below in the comments, because I think I might need them.

xoxo Sarah

Parties and Cheesecake! Om nom nom... RWA Conference Pt. 4

Back to the conference!

In between workshops and (possibly) breaking delicate body parts, there was everything else.  

And this constituted a lot of socializing, eating, drinking, and dressing up.  Yeah.  It was awesome.  

Let me clarify...

"Partaaaay!"

Being my first RWA nationals conference and Shelley's second, we wanted to check out a lot of what was offered.  And since neither of us are published (preferring the title "PREpublished" instead of "UNpublished" because of the more positive connotations), there were certain things that we naturally wouldn't get invited to, but might possibly attend in the future.  Example: one of the publishers held a black-and-white ball at the Waldorf Astoria.  Yeah, that place in the picture.  I'm still jealous, and it's been nearly a month.  If we published with that particular publisher, then we'd be invited.  

The same goes for belonging to other chapters or specialty chapters of the RWA.  Example: the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal (FF&P) chapter held a party where the party-goers wore super-hero (or super-heroine) costumes.  Passionate Ink held one where a lot of dominatrix gear was worn.  I'm not sure what it was for, but it made for some interesting people-watching, I'll tell you that.  

Not too many looked like Angelina, but who cared!  It looked like a fun party!

So, we attended events that were open to all, such as a fun PJ party that Harlequin was throwing one night.  Sadly, neither of us brought PJ's we wanted to wear out of the room, so we just wore regular clothes.  It was a fun night, and we met a lot of wonderful people!  

Shelley and I also enjoyed the Atrium Lounge, where we were often joined by other writers and people we met along the way.  It was a great way to network, and I think I gave out more of my cards this way than through any other socializing I did at the whole conference.  It was great to meet other authors who were letting their hair down after a nice long day of workshops.  Conversations ranged from talking about the workshops we'd attended, to what our books were about, to where we were from and more.  I even had a chance to meet a couple that I'd met on Twitter.  That's kind of a surreal experience, meeting someone you've met only online, but I had a lot of that going on on this trip.  

The luncheons, of which there were two, were good as well.  The food was definitely good for the staff having to feed 2,000+ people, and the speakers were motivating, especially Sherrilyn Kenyon, who is a well-known author of many paranormal and fantasy romance novels.  

Yeah. She's that awesome.

The RITA and Golden Hearts ceremony which was held on the final night (Friday), was pretty interesting.  Normally I can't stand awards ceremonies.  They're boring, and the people who win go on and on and on and no one will shut them up, yadda yadda yadda.  But, I quickly discovered that if you get a bunch of writers in one spot, even if they suck at public speaking, the speeches will be interesting.  Because we're writers, bitches.  We can come up with something appropriate, be it short-and-sweet or funny and amazing at the drop of a hat.  Meg Cabot, the lovely writer of many novels, including The Princess Diaries, and who was wearing glasses at the ceremony and looked uncannily like Tina Fey, was the MC and hilarious.  I officially add her to my growing list of people I want to be when I grow up. 

Additionally, we ate mass quantities of cheesecake at Junior's, which was right across the street from the Marriott Marquis.  I'm surprised I didn't gain a ton of weight on the trip, because the cheesecake was to die for.  

I will end with a picture that will make you run to your refrigerator and sob because this is not in there on a shelf.  

Junior's Devil's Food Cheesecake. The white layer is regular cheesecake and the other parts are regular chocolate cake and thick chocolate frosting.  This was in my tummy.  You're welcome for the jealousy.

xoxo Sarah

I'm a lazy ass...

Well, it's almost been a month, so I figured I'd better put up an album of pictures from the RWA conference.  If anyone is interested, you can check them out on my FaceBook author's page, which can be found under the "Contact Me" section.

Or on the right side of the screen in the side bar.

Or here, because I'm feeling benevolent today.  http://www.facebook.com/sarahallanauthor 

Kindly click "like" when you check out my page, and I just might love you forever!

p.s. I promise that there is a Pt. 4 to my RWA posts...I've been a lazy ass about getting that out, too.  Keep your pants on...it'll be up this week.  I think.

xoxo Sarah

Lions and tigers and workshops, oh my! RWA Conference Pt. 3

First off, it's effing HOT out there.  So hot, in fact, that it required capital letters for me to properly emphasize the hotness.  But, it just makes me more thankful that I'm in here, in my air conditioned house with a fan on full-blast.

Now then.  Workshops.  A huge reason why we went to RWA11 in the first place.  Though some were two hours, most of the workshops ran about an hour each with a 15 minute break (or so) in between to get to your next one or use the bathroom (they actually converted some of the men's restrooms to women's using a high-tech sign...a sheet of paper labeled: "Ladies Room").  In each time slot, anywhere from, oh, seven to twelve workshops were going on at one time, more or less.  So there's no way a reasonable person would be able to get to them all and learn anything, or even half of them and learn anything, without having access to a time turner.  Don't know the reference?  Let's just say I have Harry Potter on the brain.  Look it up.

The Time Turner. The only way to see all of your workshops in person.

Workshops were categorized in the following areas: Career, Publishing, Writer's Life/Muse, Craft, Research, Special, Chat, and Spotlight.  Because we were worried about not getting seats, Shelley and I made first and second choices for each time slot, which worked out extremely well.  We also tried our best to take good notes; we sometimes went to the same ones as our interests were/are similar, but sometimes we'd each go to one and make sure we took down a lot of details for the other.  Copy machines are a wonderful invention.  We were also thrilled that the entire conference (minus the workshops that were not recorded, which were very few) will be available on DVD/CD to buy, which was great.  There isn't really a substitute for being present, because being there allowed you to participate and ask questions, but after hearing other attendees chatting about the awesome workshops they'd been to as well, it will be well worth the buy.

I'm not going to go into detail of all the workshops we went to...it would take up waaay too much time.  We attended some about the business of writing...contracts, e-books, and the like, because, as fledgling writers, this wasn't something with which we'd had a lot of experience.  One workshop, which was run by a couple of amazing agents, was particularly fascinating.  Brainstorming was another good one, as it's always a good idea how to work yourself out of writer's block or any tight spot your characters get themselves into.  Two more of my favorites were one on social networking and how to use it to your advantage as both a published and unpublished writer, and a workshop on character's point of view and creating a connection between them and your reader.  The speaker in this one was just so good that I can't wait to listen to that one again!

The Spotlight sessions were also good.  They were informal question and answer sessions about the publishers who were sponsoring the conference, many of which I was interested in.  The three I attended were Samhain, Ellora's Cave, and Pocket.  The latter two, Shelley went with me.  After all, when are you really going to interact with the higher-ups of a publishing company and have them answer the questions you want answers to?  Exactly.  I thought I'd better take advantage, especially because these three are among the 15+ I have on my list to query when the time comes.

That's about it for the workshops!  Next up...everything else.

xoxo Sarah

Thank God it's not a meat locker in here... RWA Conference Pt. 2

We checked into the conference the night before when we arrived, picking up our welcome packets and tote bags and thankfully avoiding the lines to do so the next morning.  We'd also attended a book signing, where all the proceeds went toward a literacy foundation.  I believe over $40,000 was raised, which was amazing.  I also got to meet another author I'd met online, Laura Kaye.  I picked up one of her books for my mother, and had Laura sign it to her.

The hotel was nicely laid out for conferences; several floors were dedicated to conference and meeting rooms, and they were connected by escalators, allowing us to avoid using the ridiculous elevators for the most part.  Also, I was thankful that, unlike most conferences/meetings I've been to in the past, the Marriott seemed to know their stuff when it came to climate control.  Layers were still necessary, but were limited to a light sweater, and I never regretted not bringing my heavy fur coat to wear over long underwear, tank tops, t-shirts, a long-sleeved tee, and a sweatshirt.

"Take a right at the ice burg. The Brainstorming workshop is on the left."

Just kidding. I don't wear fur.

On the first day, there wasn't much to do in the morning (besides inadvertently sleep through the welcome presentation), so we explored and drank coffee.  Shelley had mentioned that quite a few of the Maryland Romance Writers (their RWA chapter) would be there, and she was excited to introduce me.  For a variety of reasons, I don't belong to a local chapter, only the national RWA, though I would like to.  So, I wasn't sure what to expect, and though I knew Shelley would want to hang out with them as well as me, I didn't want to make myself an extra wheel.  But you know what they say...you can never have too many wheels.  Or maybe it's just me who says that.    

Anyway, it was just our luck that, while waiting for the welcome luncheon to begin, we ran into the amazing Sharon Buchbinder, the president of the MDRWA chapter.  She appeared to be a little younger than my parents, and was dressed in layers like Shelley and I were.  When we were introduced and she asked what I write, I responded a little more specifically than I usually do, given that this was a writer's conference.  "Hi, I'm Sarah, and I write contemporary romance and erotica."  She then asked me what my first book was going to be about and my stomach clenched, not sure how she'd take to hearing what my first WIP was about.  "Well," I said nervously, "it's a male/male erotic romance."  Instead of the worst-case-scenario responses I expected, which ranged anywhere from a polite raising-of-the-eyebrows to disgust, Sharon's face broke into a wide, genuine smile, and she congratulated me.  The three of us then chatted about my story and what each of us was writing until the ballroom opened for us to be seated for the lunch.  

"Your story is M/M and has sexytimes? High five!"

As a little side note, writers, particularly romance writers, appear to be some of the most tolerant people I've ever met.  I heard so many different story concepts and pairings while I was at the conference that I would imagine we'd have to be.  So, one thing I'm especially grateful for that I learned at the conference was to revel in your writing.  You write what you want to write, and there will be people who are enthusiastic and supportive of it, no matter what.  This was a big lesson for me, and I'm glad I figured it out. 

I think I'll stop here for today, and talk about the workshops in the next installment!    

xoxo Sarah

Oh, sh*t, I think I broke my toe! RWA Conference Pt. 1

Yep, I know how Neville feels.

I'm baaaack!  I spent the previous week at the lovely Marriott Marquis in New York City for the Romance Writers of America national conference, and I had an amazing time.  So amazing, in fact, that I'm still recovering; by the end of the trip, I felt like I'd been hit by a Petrificus Totalus and was ready to drop like a stone. But, several nights of 5-6 hours of sleep, plus amazing company, alcohol, a ton of walking, and so much information that Hermione Granger would die of jealousy will do that to a person.  So, I've been trying to catch up on some sleep while I figured out how to post about my experience.

Sorry about the Harry Potter references.  I'm just chomping at the bit for July 15th.

Anyway...

I'll be honest.  The conference was so busy that when I got home, I wasn't really sure where to start when it came to reviewing what went on.  Where to begin?  Should I start from day one and go through the whole thing, day by day?  Should I break it down into categories, like food, workshops, people I met, etc?  But then my inner Tina Fey rolled her eyes at me, and I figured I'd just wing it.

I'll post in a few parts, namely because my attention span rivals that of a toddler who's been given an espresso at the moment, so hang with me.

Last Monday, I was getting ready to fly to Baltimore to meet my lovely critique partner, Shelley, for the first time.  Wait, let me back up a little.  Before I even left, I was so overcome with excitement that I somehow managed to kick a door frame with my poor left foot, leading me to have some fascinating rainbow-colored bruises for the whole week.  For a good chunk of it (the week, not the foot), I was convinced that my poor little toe was broken, but because I can put weight on it, I think I just sprained it badly.  Still, I was pretty gimpy for most of the conference.  Anywho, meeting Shelley could have gone a couple of ways and been super awkward since, despite knowing each other since 2009, we'd never met in person.  What if we weren't compatible?  What if she was a serial killer and I willingly put myself in her path?  What if I annoyed the crap out of her and she couldn't wait to ship me back home on the first plane out?  But, Shelley and her amazing sister, Jen, were very sweet and wonderful hosts (hostesses? That's a lot of "Ss"...), and I'm so glad I did it.  I stayed over at their house on Monday night, and on Tuesday, Shelley and I drove up to Trenton to take the train into NYC.

New York Marriott Marquis

Everything went as planned; no problems or bumps in the way, minus some weird blockage of I-95, which only led us to take a detour of a very pretty, very scenic route.  So, in the late afternoon, we checked into this place.  The Marriott Marquis is right on Broadway in the Theater District, and extremely close to Times Square, so we were right in the thick of things.  It was too bad that we didn't get a chance to get out of the hotel much while at the conference, but next time, I think I will try to stay a few days before and/or after to enjoy the location where the conference is held.  After all, exploring different parts of the country is half the fun!

I'll pick up in the next post with more awesomeness!

xoxo Sarah

T minus 2 days...

In the midst of all the crap I've had to do with organizing our move - which, both fortunately and unfortunately, might be getting more complicated - I've neglected this poor blog.

In between living a life where my iPhone should probably be renamed to earPhone it's up there so much (sorry for the terrible joke, my brain is fried), I've been organizing my trip to the RWA 2011 conference which takes place in New York City.  I'm leaving on Monday, flying to meet my lovely critique partner, Shelley, and then we will take the train into NYC.

This is me right now  ----------->

Why?

Because I've never met Shelley in person.  And I've never been to a writer's conference.  And I haven't been to NYC since I was in college.  Needless to say, I'm all sorts of excited right about now.

As a writer who doesn't quite have a finished product ready to query yet, I know I'll learn a lot from going to the conference.  I've decided to make a short list of goals so that I will be able to keep things in perspective, because I'm sure the sheer amount of information will make my head want to explode.  

So, first of all, my goal is to make friends.  WHAT?  Yeah, you heard right.  Friends.  You know, people with whom you share common interests...perhaps like writing?  I'm going to be nice to everyone.  Even if someone near me is very quiet, they're probably not snobby or stuck-up.  They're likely just shy.

That brings me to another goal: I'm not going to over-do it.

Great, now I see you looking at me like this and asking, "But, Sarah, you just said you wanted to get as much out of the conference as possible!  How can you do that if you're taking an afternoon nap?"

Well, let me put it this way.  If I don't have an afternoon nap or some downtime, I'll go crazy or fall asleep in a workshop and drool on an agent.  I don't think agents like being drooled on, though that would make one hell of a conversation starter.  Let me clarify.  I'm an introvert.  Let me clarify even further: an introvert, according to my psychology classes I took over six years ago, isn't someone who would rather hide in a corner or not interact with others, but someone who gets and takes most of their energy from INSIDE themselves.  They simply process a lot of things internally, and being in big groups and around lots of people can be incredibly draining.  It's not that I won't enjoy myself; I won't be anywhere near having a panic attack in the middle of a workshop, and as an author, I'm actually looking forward to a time when I get to do book signings or group discussions, but if I don't have that private time to recharge my batteries, I get grouchy and exhausted.  And because I know you're curious, extroverts are people who get their energy from outside...as in, other people.  They feed off of that energy, and thrive on it.  However, I'd be hard-pressed to say that there are a ton of extrovert authors given the amount of time we spend dwelling in our own heads.

I also have a goal to learn something new about writing.  At least one thing; maybe it will be about the business aspects, or characterization, or querying...I have no idea.  But I'm excited to find out.

Ideally, I'd also like to meet an agent or editor, strike up a nice conversation and have them fall in love with my stories, but my expectations are realistic.  I'd be happy just to meet one at this point.

Another goal: To give out a lot of business cards.  I had some great ones made up for the conference, and I can't wait to give my first ones out.  It's a great way to get your name out there to someone who's interested.  If I get one from other people, I will write where I met them on it, like, "elevator," or something similar, so that I'll remember them.  You never know who you might meet.

So, that's about it for now.  Hopefully, I will get some of my sanity back when this whole move thing is said and done, but for now, I will enjoy putting my "badass writer" hat on for a week.

I will definitely fill you in how it went, that's for sure!

xoxo Sarah

Crappy timing and learning...

Whoops.  I guess the Friday before Memorial Day weekend was the worst time ever to make a new post.  Frankly, I understand.  I'd rather be on the beach or out with the family than stuck at the computer reading blogs, too.  Ironically, I was going to schedule it for this past Monday, but that would probably have been just as bad.  I'll blame that terrible decision on the reverse jet lag from my trip.  Go read it if you have a chance, then come back here.  Don't worry, I'll wait.

I just got back from visiting my husband in Albuquerque (he's out there for training...less than two months to go, hopefully!), and I figured that the long weekend would be perfect for a visit.  What a great city!  And the dry heat...yeah.  I could get used to that.

Anyway, I'm back in the armpit that is Arkansas (feels like 95 degrees out, with 60% humidity and climbing).  "Real life" has kept me busy lately, posing things to consider like, "To rent out our house or not rent out our house, that is the question," and, "When is a good time to have the movers come and essentially make me homeless?"

So, it was a welcome distraction to find this little gem on Twitter today.  The timing was apt, because, as I've mentioned, I'm going to the RWA 2011 conference in New York City at the end of the month, and I'd love to be able to (nicely) corner an agent without making them fear for their life.  I'm a visual learner, too, so watching this video helped me a lot.

Yeah, some of the skits are exaggerated, but that's the idea.  I can easily see myself spewing word vomit all over some poor, trapped agent or editor, so methinks I need to step up my game.

I will be ready, I will be ready...

Thoughts on elevator pitches?  Have you had to use one?  How did it go?  If not, do you have one ready, just in case?

xoxo Sarah

"R" is for RWA

RWA, for those of you who don't know, is the Romance Writers of America.  It's a professional organization which can be found at http://www.rwa.org/ and boasts over 10,000 members, including myself.  The RWA has local chapters in major cities where groups of writers meet, and there are even specialized chapters like Passionate Ink (I've mentioned them before...they're the chapter for erotic romance writers), Gothic Romance Writers, Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal, and Hearts through History, just to name a few.

Their mission is to help the professional interests of romance writers by assisting with networking and advocacy.  As with any profession, I think it's beneficial to have a professional organization to help you with whatever you're doing.

What I'm super excited about is going to their conference in New York City at the end of June and early July.  I'll be meeting the lovely Shelley, my critique partner, there, and we'll be exploring all that the writing world has to offer.  We've had a great time going over the massive list of workshops, which include classes about anything and everything relating to writing.  Whether it has to do with research, the craft and process of writing itself, how to get published, or a writer's life, they have it.

Some of the workshop titles include:
Hips Don't Lie: Body Language between the Sexes
My Agent Can't Give that Away!  
But Can I Still Feed My Kids: or, When Can I Quit the Day Job? 
The Dynamic Duo: How to Create a Winning Author/Agent Partnership 
and 
Rejection: Making “No” Work for You.


This will be my first conference and experience in the "real" writing world, and I am looking forward to meeting some awesome people.  


If you're interested in going, I know that you have to be an RWA member first, but check out their website for more information.  I have a feeling this will be the best thing that's happened to my writing career so far!  

Me, in my fantasy, with the earnings from my first book. Don't judge.

Now, if I can only meet someone famous in an elevator, pitch the amazing book I've been slaving over, and walk away with a multi-million dollar contract.  


Hey, I can dream, though, right?  


I know I will have more posts relating to the conference as the clock ticks down.  Are any of you going?  Have you been to a writer's conference before?  Thoughts?   


xoxo Sarah