One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish

Wednesday evening


Guess where the Playfriends went today?

After cramming more luggage into a Suburban than should be allowed, we drove to Atlanta in unbelievable time, got checked into our connecting hotel rooms, unpacked, nearly sliced off the Problem Child’s finger, registered for the conference, placed out goodies in the Goody Room, ate a late lunch and then visited the Georgia Aquarium.

There are no words to describe this place. We took bunches of photos so when we’re able, we’ll let the pictures be worth a thousand words. You’ll see that the subject line of this blog is apropos. Oh…and we found Nemo.

After spending quality time with the Mavens (and oohing and aahing over a pair of Manolo Blahniks, admiring one’s new tiara and checking out another’s new party dresses) we had dinner with Juston in the sports bar and SOME of the Playfriends made buttery nipples in the room.

We’ve also done our share of “author watching” and have spotted a few of our favorites. That’s one of the most fun parts of the national conference – playing “Who’s That Writer” and making new friends.

The Playground Monitor has an early call today – volunteering at the registration desk for the first shift, followed by a lunch date galpal Rocki St. Claire. The other Playfriends have already made plans to find the pool and hot tub and some plan to travel to Lenox Square Mall for a little shopping.

All the preliminaries are in place and we’re ready for a conference full of new information and wonderful opportunities.

Stay tuned for further reports.

PM

I’m back with the next report. Today’s been full of volunteering and fun. Working the registration desk is like a “Who’s Who of Romance.” It’s a great opportunity to say hello to so many people and give a little bit back to the organization that promotes the genre we all love so much.

After that I met up with Cindy Gerard, Kristi Gold, Roxanne Rustand and Kylie Brant for lunch. Actually they ate and I just had something to drink because I had a later lunch date with Roxanne St. Claire for lunch. We laughed and ate and laughed some more and I saw the cover for her next book and OHMYGOD it’s fabulous.

I’ve filled in a little more of my calendar for the week – both with workshops and get-togethers with friends. Remember our interview with triple Rita nominee Bronwyn Jameson? I’m having lunch with her on Friday.

Lest you think this is nothing but a schmooze-fest, I DO have quite a few workshops on my agenda and my conference goal is two-fold: to have at least one “lightbulg” moment about writing and to have fun. Oh… and to give back to RWA by volunteering. I’m working lunch set-up tomorrow and moderating a workshop on Friday.

I’ll sign off for now and try to upload a few photos from our trip to the Georgia Aquarium yesterday. Let’s hope this works.

Ciao y’all from the heart of Atlanta.

PM