Shout Out to RT

I just wanted to give a big shout out to all my fellow friends and writers who are attending the RT convention in Ohio this week. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t in the cards for me this year (although, given where I’m at with the book and the revisions, that’s probably a very good thing. Nothing like having a massive deadline hanging over your head to remove any enjoyment from an event.)

But seeing all the Tweets and the Facebook updates really brings back the memories for me. It’s amazing to me to think about last year – RT was my first “real” author event – and I had no idea wtf I was doing. But I met a ton of great people, pitched to my first agents, got to ogle the man candy and danced my ass off every night. And somewhere along the way, I think a mental trigger got switched. Being surrounded by so many people in the same industry – published authors, aspiring authors, PROs, PANs, booksellers, editors, agents – it just drove the point into my head that I *needed* to do this.

I needed to write. I needed to try to get published. I could almost taste how badly I wanted it.

And for some reason, all the mailing lists I was on didn’t quite have the same punch as, say, having drinks with a NYTimes Best Selling author. It’s the dream personified, I suppose. For me it put a human face on the goal. I think a lot of aspiring authors (myself included) tend to put published authors on a pretty tall pedestal, but in reality – they’re just people like everyone else. And suddenly it seemed like less of a pipe dream.

(So for anyone wavering on going to a convention – definitely try to hit one of the bigger ones at some point – they’re eyeopening, in a very good way.)

Right now, though, I’m in between worlds. My book won’t come out until next year, so I don’t have anything to pimp. And as great as the networking as the convention is, with the impending deadline I just can’t do it.

Next year? You can bet I’ll be there with bells on. And faery wings.