Category Archives: miscellaneous

Guide to Style: Shopping for Conference

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shopping_bagsI’m supposed to go shopping today for the RWA conference along with some chaptermates. I find conference very intimidating. First of all, I have to shop for it. That means I don’t have closets full of fabulous outfits to choose from and that makes me feel like I’m already behind the 8 ball.

It’s really daunting to be surrounded by savvy, stylish, beautiful women. And I don’t care what people say about “just be comfortable”. This is a professional, social setting. You wouldn’t go to an interview dressed inappropriately. Plus since I’m up for an award so I have to get a killer dress. It’s like the Academy Awards for romance. People have been talking about their dresses for months! *gulp*

My sense of style can pretty much be summed up in one sentence — “Black goes with everything?” Yes, the question mark is included deliberately.

Is it bad that I’m resorting to Tim Gunn’s 10 Essentials for my shopping list?  Here’s what I’m looking for today:

  1. Basic Black Dress – Need a new one. I wore all my LBDs at last year’s conference.
  2. Trench Coat – Going to pass. This is a summertime event.
  3. Dress Pants – Check! Although the ones I have are a little snug.
  4. Classic Shirt – Need a tailored white shirt
  5. Jeans – Need to get some in time to have them altered for my short legs
  6. Any Occasion Top – Something fun. MUST HAVE COLOR.
  7. Skirt – Check! One of the few things I have covered.
  8. Day Dress – Check! I’ve got several fun ones.
  9. Jacket – Need a nice tailored one, preferably not black, with pockets.
  10. Sweatsuit Alternative – Check! Casual skirt and top for me.

And finally something snazzy that might potentially go on stage…ACK!…fingers crossed.

Who's your favorite author?….and my first interview

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My very first “author” interview is up at Vivienne Westlake’s blog. She writes steamy historical romances. Check it out here.

My Little Sis and I were chatting last night and she surprised me by asking who my favorite author was. I think she knows that I kind of hold that spot for someone as if it were the heavyweight championship and only rarely does the title get handed over.

I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but the answer was still Kurt Vonnegut. I offered up Stephen King as a maybe, but the last thing I’ve read by King was On Writing. I actually haven’t read anything by either of them in a while. So why do they get the title? Why not someone in romance or historical fiction?

I guess if I had to choose only one author, I’d want it to be an author that I can pick up any piece of writing from and know that I’m going to read from start to finish. It has to be someone who’s changed the way I think of the world and has to have done it for years. Each new work I read from them has to provoke something new in me. Ray Bradbury used to have the title for the longest time. Then I read Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle and Breakfast of Champions and decided Kurt was my favorite. He’s nothing at all like what I write or will ever write. Stephen King was always high on the list. No one makes me care about a character like King. Then On Writing just had such a huge effect on me as a writer and a person that he’s definitely a contender.

So who’s your favorite author? Do you think it’s one that others would expect?