I play a dangerous game–I am attending the RWA National Conference today, and I am wearing shoes with a heel. Will I be hobbling by the end of the night? Or looking fresh, fabulous and fantastic?

I am hedging my bets by bringing a pair of flats, too, just in case. But I have worn these shoes all day before, and I hope they do not prove traitor.

(These are, indeed, the shoes in question).

So this month is the RWA National Conference, which I’ll be attending, and also doing a workshop (with Liz Maverick). She and I’ll be discussing Social Media, so yay. We know tons more about it this year than last, and last year was fun. I felt knowledgeable and stuff!

I haven’t been writing, but have been pondering new projects and counting WW points so I will hopefully not be as much of a house as I’ve morphed into. Maybe I’ll be less a Florida room, or something. I refuse to buy new clothes. Refuse.

I’m enjoying the nice weather, and the fun Frampton boys, and even survived a weekend visiting my mom (!). Wait–have I become an adult?!? No. I’m likely just tired.

Anyhoo, I do feel kinda (read: VERY) lame at not posting more often here, but I do post a lot of stuff at the day job, HeroesandHeartbreakers.com. I complain less about my personal life there, thank goodness.

This is one of my new favorite songs:

(Yes, those are enormous bear heads).

After vehemently refusing to go to Disney while in Orlando last week, I–went to Disney. It wasn’t awful! I’d thought I’d have a miserable time, but I promised my Disney partner, Liz Maverick, that I wouldn’t ruin her visit with my anti-Mickey venom (and you shoulda seen the older lady’s face at the Disney hotel when I said, in a hushed mutter, that I hated Mickey).

I also promised Liz I would let her take goofy (not Goofy) pictures of me. To wit:

The first day back, filled with laundry and freelance. But meanwhile–here is a picture of me and my RWA roommate, Carolyn Jewel, at the RITA Awards (the Oscars of romance writing; Carolyn was nominated TWICE!):

So the Son is off having Adventures, leaving his sad, lonely parents back in Brooklyn. Which means that his sad, lonely parents don’t have the care and responsibility for the Son.

Party time!

We’ve been having Date Night every night since he left, except for one night when we saw our respective friends. We’ve gone to the same chi-chi tequila bar TWICE, had wine and cheese while watching Mad Men, went on a bike ride TOGETHER, went to the movies (!) and saw Inception, slept late, took naps and went shopping.

A good, if exhausting, time has been had by us.

And tomorrow I head to Florida for the Romance Writers Of America’s annual conference, and will be presenting a workshop with Liz Maverick on social networking. See? Like this here? I am networking, socially.

Will post when I can, but my life hasn’t been worth me saying anything about anyway, so likely will not be posting a lot.

Whoa, I’ve been away from here for longer than I’ve ever been. So, what’s been going on?

Hm.

–the Frampies went on vacation to California; we saw Big Sur, good food, lovely relatives and many, many forms of aquatic life at the Monterey Aquarium (pic of 11 y.o. and cousins, above).

–we got an iPad, which I used to write on while Scott was hogging the Mac. FTW! I wrote over 1,000 words. Am taking said iPad to RWA’s National Conference, which I go to next week.

–Sleeping has been crazy problematic for me since returning home. Insomnia every night, exhaustion every day. Fun!

–My husband likes to take lovely pictures of picturesque landscapes, while I like to take pictures of people.

–I have been a week without diet Coke. No reason, just thought I’d try.

–This summer is flying by. And THANK GOD we put in central air-conditioning.

–Have I mentioned I’m so tired? Yeah. But, you’ll all be glad to hear, still preserving my inimitable sense of humor, which is to say, thinking ‘Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what I wanted to happen’ when something horrible happens. Joy.

–We all love ramen. It is the 11 Year-Old’s favorite food.

–

Tomorrow is the day I post at the Riskies, but thanks to the wonder of time-stamping, that post is already done! So hie on over there on Friday, anytime after 9am EST–it’s http://riskyregencies.blogspot.com/, if you forgot–and see what I wrote. If you want.

In other news, let’s see: The overwhelming malaise is lifted, somewhat, and I’ve been writing most every day, although never more than 500 words at a time. Still and all, it’s progress.

I am heading out to Nashville for this year’s RWA National. Woot! By then, I want to:

a) finish this ms. Only 60K words more to go (30K done)

b) lose at least five pounds and

c) write three chapters of the crazysexycool urban fantasy paranormal I’ve got in my head.

And if I put it down here, and check in with myself, I might be able to do it*.

So there. And for reward? No MI-5/other Netflix historical hotties movies for me unless I write. Good goal, right?

*Or if Daniel Craig threatened to shoot me with his big gun. Rowr!

While not precisely rising out of the fire–more like a coupla used matches and a candle nub–I did have a recent setback, but have come out of it determined to see my goals through.

Which is to say, I’ve registered to attend RWA’s National Conference in Washington, DC this July. Once again, I will be sharing a room with the Faux Critique Partner, Carolyn Jewel, who actually seems not to mind my vagaries (which always makes me wonder if there is a specifaries, too).

So, of course, I gotta get my writing butt in gear and get some words done by then so’s I can justify my writerly existence.

But, over all, YAY!

When talking about my looming trepidation regarding coming out to San Francisco for the Conference, the Alpha Dog gave me a really awesome piece of wisdom: If you have one good thing come out of Conference, it’s all worth it. The rest is just a bonus.

Well, the one good thing  just happened: I was on my way out the door to have breakfast with NYT-bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries (who thinks I’m a hysterically funny smartass), and she stopped to say to someone who just happened to be a very high-powered editor at a very high-powered publishing house. Said editor met me, took note of my name, that my agent was sending my stuff out next week, and she said she really likes my agency and likes working with them.

So even if said editor ends up hating my work, she might take an extra bit of time to review it since she met me, and Sabrina talked about how talented I am.

Cool, huh?

Yay! I am here in San Francisco, it’s not nearly as cold as I’d been led to believe (chilly! sweaters! long sleeves! the word was), and today is the Beau Monde Conference, at which I am presenting a workshop with fellow Risky Amanda  McCabe and Andrea Pickens.  Needless to say, I am ill-prepared.

I got word from my agent just before I left that she will be sending my work out to editors when I return, which is very exciting. And the Spouse made a point of saying we had to find time for me to write, so that was just lovely. Getting that kind of partner affirmation is a balm to my frenetic soul, which wonders if I am doing the right thing by devoting energy and passion to writing. But I am. I know it. It’s just making that commitment to myself that is difficult.

I am rooming with Carolyn Jewel, who got an awesome haircut and has some cool new clothes to match. Right now she’s behind me doing revisions on her next book, so I feel as though I am In The Presence of Greatness.

Carolyn and I just saw an incredible workshop on pistols, rifles, muskets and such from the 1500s through 1900. Since my proposed next hero is based on Rifleman Richard Sharpe, it was very, very useful. And I’m reading a Sharpe–Sharpe’s Trafalgar–so that just serves to reinforce my image of my hero, Jack (props to the Delightful Phone Friend for Jack’s name).

Anyhoo, I am off to see more workshops, present a portion of one, and try not to freak out because I’m being confronted by SO MANY PEOPLE. I know I live in New York City, and all, but it’s not like I say hi to all of them during the course of my normal day, so this experience is stressful for me.