Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Like a bad penny, I am back.

First, let me tell you, Mayhem in the Midlands was AWESOME! I learned so much from the panels I attended. Some were funny (sorry, but with titles like "Vampires have feelings too: making fantasy characters work in a realistic world" how could they not be?) and some were just plain informative (like "Central Casting: Where do characters come from?"). I took probably fifteen or twenty pages of notes in the two days.

I met some *real* authors, too. Karen Hall and Lori G. Armstrong don't count since they're both in my writers group here. William Kent Krueger I met a few weeks ago. (Side note: He won major points with B for the simple fact that this famous author remembered him. B thinks -- as do I -- that Mr. Krueger is a great guy, so you should all buy his books just because of his niceness!) I did meet Margaret Maron, Nancy Pickard, Betty Webb, Lee Killough, Craig Johnson and a host of others. I also had a fascinating conversation with Libby Fischer Hellmann Sunday morning.

One of the highlights, though, has to be meeting Honora Finkelstein and Susan Smily. Never heard of them? That's OK. This writing team has four books out: The Chef Who Died Sauteing, The Lawyer Who Died Trying, and a cookbook to go with each. They write the same type of stuff I do. AND (now, this is the important part of my story!) said they would like to read my manuscript and forward it to their agent and publisher when it's ready! *Doing the happy dance here! I think I can hear Steph screaming for joy, too!*

All of this good news didn't put a damper on my weigh in this morning, where I gained back exactly what I had lost last week. Oh well! Easy come, easy go doesn't exactly fit here, but you get the idea.

Now I must go finish the manuscript!!

8 comments:

Stephanie said...

YES! You can definitely hear me screaming and dancing along with you. That is WONDERFUL! I want details. Lots and lots of details (and a manuscript to read when it's done!) I'm thrilled for you. I knew that you could do it. :) You're going to take them by storm!

And as far as weigh in goes, I skipped yesterday because I was plum tired after the holiday weekend. Now, if it helps give me a day or two extra then that's just the sacrifice I'll have to make... lol

JenBin said...

Thanks, hon. I knew you'd be excited!

For the weigh in, I'm not upset. Well, bummed because I gained it ALL back, but that's life. It's hard to eat well when you are eating out for every meal. Even if I did try to make good choices, ya know?

Kathy in WA said...

Wow! This is incredibly exciting. I am so happy for you. My mil is an author and is constantly working on her stories as well as dealing with publishers and illustrators (she mainly writes children's books).

Congratulations and welcome home.

Duckabush Blog

Stephanie said...

Yep - I'm with you on the weight. I'm hoping to stay the same, but I see a gain in my future. lol But, I look at it this way... I didn't feel deprived at our cookout, and I had a week where we didn't eat at home except at the cookout, so all in all I'm not walking around upset with myself or getting irate with the "program." It's all good. :)

JenBin said...

Thanks, Kathy!

JenBin said...

Way to go, Steph! Not being deprived is a good thing, too!

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Oh good! I checked in to see about your trip. Sounds wonderful!

Excited to hear about the authors wanting to forward your manuscript.

JenBin said...

Thanks, De'Etta! I think knowing that published authors wanted to read my stuff did more for my confidence than anything else could have!