Remember last year during Women's Week in PTown - I was shy and didn't talk to anybody for 2 days? Well, I'm still super shy and I just found out I am a moderator for a panel on the very first day!! Good news is that I know most of the members on the panel, now friends of mine. Three of the lovely ladies won Goldies last week! The topic is Chatty Cathy (weird that they would pick me as the moderator) and the importance of dialogue in a story. I suck at dialogue so I will learn a lot! Very excited! I will start practicing now. Oh, and I am also doing 3 readings! Busy week for this girl!

I love to photobomb. I don't know why really. Maybe because it takes people so long to take a photo. As a photographer, timing really is important and every second counts. Plus I get to have fun with strangers (and friends) without them even knowing it. At GCLS I photobombed quite a few people, as well as an entire group of writers. Like ALL signed writers within a single publication. I'm not going to say who, but I just happened to be walking by and they just happened to be taking forever. Timing people. It's all about timing.

What a fantastic first GCLS con! Always great to see my friends again and meet beautiful new ones. I actually did a reading, served on a panel and attended classes. I paid more attention at the Con than I did my senior year of college. I was overcome with emotions as I watched my friends win Goldies. I cried for 3 hours straight. I love being a part of a literary society! I love all of my sisters and the support we give one another.

Since it's going to be Africa hot in NOLA, I picked up a lot of lightweight dry weave shirts to wear down there. I don't know what the dress protocol is ... I'm thinking as long as I dress accordingly at the awards show, I should be good to go, right?!?! And a sweater. I hear the hotels are about 20 degrees. The last few days have been crazy hot here so I guess I've had practice. Now I'm getting excited. Still haven't mapped out my schedule or my panel presentation, but I hope to get something accomplished on the airplane ride Tuesday.

Today we had our second Fund Raiser to help pay Molly's medical bills and made $400. Yippee!! Tomorrow we will only open until noon - just trying to get rid of the larger items. If we get $200 I will be happy. Another $2900 bill coming up but I have three months to save up for it. What's a good fundraiser? Do people sell T-shirts with book covers on them? Any suggestions out there?

When I first started writing, I was always nervous to write a sex scene. Not because I was embarrassed, but because I wanted to make sure the scene was believable. My editor shredded my first scene saying it just was too long. Now I have shorter, more intense scenes in my books. Book 3 is great. I love my sex scenes! Some people prefer the fade to black sexual encounters. Don't read my books then because the more I write, the more descriptive they become. I love sex and everything about it. Describing it is almost (not quite) as fun. I get to relive sex scenes over and over when I write them. My problem is coming up with words. Saying the same words over and over does get boring, but some words out there are just not sexy to me. The worst thing when reading a sex scene is finding words you dislike to say or use. A complete turn off to me. I want the experience to be sensual and erotic, not harsh. I want my readers to be so engrossed in the scene that they are just as turned on as the characters.

So I quit the thrift store. Turned the reins of their ebay store over to someone else. I am now completely self-employed. Yikes! This way I can write whenever I want and run my own ebay store whenever I want. Kind of scary. Good news is that I will be home all the time for Molly while she heals. She is doing well and is starting to walk on the leg she had surgery on. She's playing more and seems to be in better spirits. Phew! One leg down, one leg to go!

NOW I'm starting to get excited about the trip! I haven't packed or anything, but I did pull up the schedule. I was overwhelmed and quickly clicked off of it, but it's a start. I even decided to create an outline for my panel discussion. I just hope I don't get picked to go first. I need the bar to be set high so that I know how in depth I need to be to keep the audience's attention. There's the whole ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod when I have to present, but hopefully by then, I will have more friends and fans there supporting me.

Today I reached my goal that I set for the weekend. 5,000 words. And good, useable words, too. My story is progressing nicely! AND some of it written during FIFA. At least I witnessed 4 of the 5 USA goals. I've managed to add a little drama to it to give it a nice kick.