Part 4 - OR How Much Longer Can She Blog About This Trip?

The third day of the trip I did not have any major malfunctions.  (R. Lee Ermy wasn't there, either.  Okay, I'll wait for you to think that one through.  I'll give the younger ones a clue.  R. Lee Ermy is an actor who plays a lot of drill sergeants.)

The hotel did not blow up.  The other shoes I had did not break.  I did not get food poisoning.  I was crossing all of my fingers and toes.  (Which made it hard to walk.)

This was in the restaurant looking down at me
as I ate.  I was reminded of the Scooby Doo
episode where Captain Cutler ran
around in a glow in the dark diving suit.
Scooby Doo was no where to be found.
(Get it?  Sing the song in your head.)
What does this have to do with the blog?
Not much, but I'm on a roll and my
brain won't stop my fingers typing.

I had a morning session on Maintaining and Sustaining Authentic and Appropriate Voice Throughout a Piece.  This was more work than I had previously anticipated.  For one thing, some people were expecting me to talk about the author's voice versus the character's voice.  Also I challenged them to do something they wouldn't normally do.  There were quite a number of people in the class who did not want to write in another person's perspective.  In fact, they wanted to argue about it.  One of the biggest things I wanted to argue about was when another author or fellow presenter said, "Write what you know."  I do not agree with this, but I learned something about how to refute this.  I say, "Find out all you can about something you don't know and then write about it."  I do it all the time.  And my naysayers just said, "We know," in a nasty way.  Do I get it right?  Not all the time, but it's a learning curve.

I also did a session with Alma Katsu, who is much perkier than I am.  You can tell by the picture.

It was pointed out that I look like I'm about to pull out a bazooka
and shoot the person taking the picture.  Totally not true.
I would have used a tank.  But only a really cool tank.

There was also a woman's panel session, where I got to sit between two skinny women and I'm pretty sure I looked like a giant blue blob.  Hey, I stood out.

Maybe I need to check with other panelists next time on clothing choice.

Then I ran out and got some presents for Cressy and HIM, the man to whom I'm married.  Cressy requested a sea shell because she knew I was at Virginia Beach.  Unfortunately the gift shop at the hotel did not sell sea shells by the sea shore.  (I couldn't help myself.  It just popped out.  It was karma.)  So I walked to the beach and found a tourist shop.  I was wearing my tennis shoes because they didn't have a massive failure.  I bought pretty sea shells.

Later that evening I got to go to a party!  Yea, party!  The nice people who picked me up at the airport had a party at their house and the conference people arranged for rides for those people who needed them.  (Me!)  We went to the wrong house at first.  (I'm glad they didn't answer the door because it turned out that they weren't invited to the party.)  Then we got to the good place, with all of the wonderful food and wine.  (They had beer, too, but that didn't interest me.  Somewhere HIM just went, "What?")  As a matter of fact, I want to say something about something the nice lady served.  There was a plate of homemade biscuits next to a plate of Virginia ham (I think) and this was next to a cup of melted butter with a brush.  So you split your biscuit in half, butter it and put some ham on it.  OMG, my veins just coagulated.  So yummy.

And what a cool house they have.  I told my daughter about it and what my daughter was most impressed about was the spiral staircase.  (Apparently her parents are ignoramuses for not buying a house with a spiral staircase.  What were we thinking?)

Unfortunately I had to leave early because I caught the early flight the next day.  I was so pooped that I only took one picture.  This was the escalator into hell at Atlanta International Airport.  Who knew you could make an escalator that long?

Look.  If you peer closely enough you
can see little hellish demon imps.
Look closer.
 

See.  You just had to look closer.
And also wait for me to play with
my bamboo pad.

Anyway, the flights were on time.  Everything went well.  Delta did good.  No one threw up.  There was a First Sergeant sitting next to me on the flight from Atlanta to Huntsville who looked very uncomfortable.  The poor man was about six foot five inches and he did not fit into his seat.  (Good thing it was a short flight.)

I got copious hugs from both daughter and husband and all was well again.

Back to writing Bubba 4.  (Name to be announced very soon!)

Sigh.