Monday, October 23, 2006

Coming Up For Air

Hey y'all. Sorry it's been a while. I'm still writing, still VOLUPTUOUS, and still trying to grow in the former area and shrink in the latter. But things have been hectic lately. I'm a volunteer for the South Carolina Writer's Workshop, and we just had our annual conference this weekend in Myrtle Beach. Actually, to be accurate, I'm on the board of directors, and this year, my assigned task was door prizes and auction items.

Now, if you think about it--and I have, trust me, given this a great deal of thought--it is moronic to sell things to raise money to help support the organization while simultaneously giving stuff away. But we do it. Every year. And by golly, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right. So this year we gave away a ton of stuff. And we sold a ton of stuff. And I'm exhausted.

Writer's conferences are a fantastic way to invest in your development as a writer. I've been to a few over the last several years, and it's incredible how much you soak up, especially from the social events. Just being around a bunch of literary types gets your creative engine all revved up. And it's amazing how generous successful authors, editors and agents are when dealing with crowds of writers who just have one quick question that takes 20 minutes.

Anyway, the conference was a success, and this week I'm traveling with Jim. We're in some corner of Alabama that I was previously unfamiliar with, about an hour outside of Birmingham. I plan to catch up on sleep, writing, and reading.

I'll catch up on Jazzercise next week. Hopefully I'll still be able to fit in my clothes by then. I've been stress eating a lot. Yeah, I know, Diane...There's no way I'll catch up now.

But we had a lot of door prizes.

Peace, out...

3 comments:

elysabeth said...

glad to hear you are still around. Have missed your amusing posts about jazzercise - enjoy the mini vacation (travel with husband is vacation to me - since you are not traveling for your job - lol - good opportunity to catch up on reading and writing).

speaking of writing, how's Low Country Boil coming? Any nibbles or bites yet? - I can't wait to see you in print either - E :)

Susan M. Boyer said...

Thanks, Elysabeth. It's nice to be missed! Lowcountry Boil is undergoing a nip and tuck, and then I'm going to start querying in earnest. I've changed my point of view on which character's point of view I want a couple of chapters to be told from. Once I get it exactly like I want it, I'm ready with my list of agents that I think would be a good fit. Right now, one agent has a partial, we've exchanged a few emails, but I haven't heard anything from her in a while. The changes I'm making are consistent with the advice she's given me so far. Thanks for asking!

Peace, out...

Susan

Anonymous said...

I was in Myrtle Beach too....if we had SEEN YOU IN A MONTH we could have caught up while we were both there. AND maybe I could have gotten some of those cool prizes! SHEESH! See you next week -- be prepared for a beatin'

By the way, PT starts Monday. :-)