Hey y'all!

That's my new southern-ness shining through. :) I'm afraid I'm not very good at it though. Y'all just doesn't come natural for us Pacific Northwesterners, and I'll never be able to say it with the gusto my cousin's hubby from Atlanta can say it. Though I do see the catchability and ease of the phrase and may try to incorporate it now and then, just for fun. So consider yourselves warned. ;)

I know I disappeared after Nationals without a word. Big apologies. Life was hectic after coming home from Dallas, and then we turned around just a couple of days later and took the kids on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to visit with the extended family. What a great vacation! We soaked up the sun, played in the sand and generally just had hang time. The Gremlins loved being able to dive into a warm ocean (here on the OR coast we wear sweatshirts in July!) and spent hours and hours on the sand and in the surf. I took tons of pictures, but all of them are of my kids, and since I don't post pics of my kids online, you'll just have to take my word on the fact the place was gorgeous!

We got home late Friday, and I've been trying to get life back to order around here this past weekend. And tonight DH assembled my new desk. I finally have my own writing space! No more sitting at the table or parking it on the couch (though I'm sure I'll still park it on the couch now and then to write as that's comfy for me....but shhhh...don't tell him that).

So just for fun I thought I'd share the before and after pics with you. When we remodeled our house, we moved the table closer to the kitchen. My "office space" is technically the old dining room, which we've been using as a play room (RE: toy storage space they never use). But now, it's my office. It's not enclosed, the kids can come and go, but actually, for me, since I'm a SAHM, that works well. I can keep an ear out for them, and since I'm close to the kitchen I can wrangle any little hands that think playing in the cupboards is acceptable entertainment. So here's the before pic:

General messiness. Blah.

And here's the new office space:

Clean, simple and not nearly as cluttered. We'll see how long the "clean" desk lasts. LOL. I still need to get a comfy chair, but I can't wait to sit and write. I was going to turn the desk around and face inward (you know, that whole feng shui thing about never having your back to a doorway and all), but I love the view out my window into the park behind our house.

So catch me up on what you've been up to lately. And tell me, where do you do all your writing? If you have your own office, do you actually write there? Or do you find other places to write?

Glad to be back, and I can't wait to dive back into my book!

I'm back from Nationals. I had a blast, and now I'm recovering.

Since I blogged about my Top 10 Conference Moments at Romance Worth Killing For today, I thought I'd do the top 10 things I learned at conference here. So without further adieu...

Top 10 Things I Learned at Nationals

10. If you wear a red dress with white polka dots, your roommates will offer to buy you ears and call you Minnie Mouse. (Nice, huh?)

9. It rains in Texas. A lot. Who knew?

8. Agents who tell you they want to hear elevator pitches really don't want to hear elevator pitches. (And some of them are just down right strange.)

7. I can embarrass myself in any situation.

6. Thanks to a writer friend who shall remain nameless, I now know what a swinger's club is really like. (You know who you are. wink, wink)

5. Writers get really psyched up over the awards ceremony. Even writers who aren't up for any awards. Go figure.

4. The best way to get a bed to yourself when you're sharing a room is to be sick.

3. I talk in my sleep. And I say very strange things.

2. My kids can live without me. My hubby and my mother, however, are a complete different story.

And the number one thing I learned at Nationals...

1. No matter how much your roomies tell you they love you, they will not treat you like the princess you really are. Now, I must ask, what's up with that????

I'd love to hear the top ten things you learned at conference. Or if you didn't go, what you did for fun while I was gone.

That's it. I'm off to Nationals. Will try to update here during the week if internet isn't obscenely expensive. Otherwise you'll get my update next week.

Oh, and while I'm gone, if you are a writer in any way, shape or form, GO READ STEPHANIE TYLER'S POST ABOUT WANTING IT.

That's all I'm going to say. Just go read it.

Ciao!

One Week

Thank you, Lin, for reminding me that Nationals is only a week away. Eeek! While I have been dealing with teeth pulling and swim meets and the terrible twos, I have pushed aside all that other stuff I have to do before I leave next Tuesday for Dallas. Such as...

1) Get my hair done (OMG, it really needs it),
2) Clean the house so it's not a total bomb when I get home,
3) Finalize kids' schedule for Grandma who will be babysitting during the day while the DH is at work,
4) Print out my schedule for the week so I don't miss anything important like oh, say, my meeting with my agent or the GH stuff I'm supposed to attend,
5) Laundry. Everything I own is dirty,
6) Get a pedicure. The toes need it soooo bad. I wouldn't subject others to looking at these things the way they stand now,
7) Figure out how the heck I'm getting to and from the airport,
8) Finish the wip (this is wishful thinking),
9) Pack.

What's on your schedule the next week - whether you're prepping for Nationals or not?