Category Archives: travel

California, Here I Come

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658252_blogJuly/August has really been putting me through the wringer. The Real Life job has been ramping up and I’ve been resorting to junk food to get through my day. I need someone to wag their finger at me and tell me that nachos are not a delicious, nutritious meal to be had twice a week. 🙁

The same thing needs to be said about cookies.

Things are about to become more hectic as I have to start hopping on planes again. California in two weeks  to meet with some “minions”. Mwahahaha…. And then Mid-September, another trip to California for my sister’s wedding festivities. Ugh, and then Boston in November. For Little Sis’ second wedding — spoiled brat. 🙂

I’ve planned a sleepover in Napa at the Napa Inn – voted the most romantic inn in California – for me and Little Sis. I’m supposed to be handling the bridal shower activities and providing her some R & R before the big event, which means I need to be the calm one. Calm blue ocean….Calm blue ocean.

I’m looking forward to Napa. For some reason, I think nachos will be a little harder to come by. Maybe seeing sunshine and having fresh produce nearby will help me detox finally.

Jetsetting Lifestyle – NOT

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I had to fly from the conference in D.C. directly to Vegas. On the surface it sounds glamorous, but I want nothing more than to be home right now. I feel like I’ll never sleep again and my feet hurt like heck from running around in cute shoes. By the last day of RWA, I decided my conference bunny days were over and it was flip flop time.

eileendreyer1Everyone is doing conference wrap-ups. I wish I had enough time to focus enough to get my thoughts together. Not to mention grabbing pictures from everyone! So excuse this mish-mosh of a conference vignette. Please know it’s a good representation of what’s in my head right now. Hey, take a gander at the stage setup for the RITA/GH® awards. It really is like the Academy Awards of romance!

jadeleeandjeannielinsmHighlight of my conference? The moment that really made it hit home for me was telling Jade Lee about my sale. Jade is one of my favorite authors and an inspiration to me. I even brought my copy of The Concubine with me to get signed. (I’m wearing a Jade Lee tiger T-shirt now as I type!) A couple of friends got me a picture with her after the awards ceremony.

Aftermath of conference: I can’t catch up with the e-mails. There’s a flood of congratulations, info about loops I need to join, conference gushing. I definitely need to get this under control!

StatCounter: A pox upon you Lisa and Laura! I signed up for StatCounter a couple of weeks ago and it’s like crack, soma and substance-D all rolled into one. This is probably no big deal to anyone who’s been blogging for a while, but as of Saturday, I seem to have gone international! I know exactly why. It’s largely because of fellow Harlequin author Michelle Styles and links on e-harlequin. Apparently, many authors of unusual historicals were cheering for me when I gave my acceptance speech about selling a historical romance set in China.

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I need to print out the next chapters of The Dragon and the Pearl so badly. I told my agent it would be done in two weeks. That was before I knew how crazy things would get and that I’d have to go to Vegas to handle some paperwork.

Am I going to gamble in Vegas? Probably not. No girl can be that lucky all at once.