The RWA National Conference is early this year…June 28-July 1st. This year will be my third year attending the conference, so I thought I’d throw out some tips. Of course, if you’re like me, the first question you have is…WHAT DO I BRING TO WEAR?

Yeah. There are tons of pitching and networking opportunities (see later posts), but hey, if you’re naked, you probably won’t want to pitch. Or network.

RWA has FAQ’s on its website and states that “business casual” is the norm. I think this is a good start—but what exactly is business casual? I’ve worked in a large law firm, a small law firm, and a local college. Business casual is slightly different in all three.

First and foremost, be comfortable. Based on the last two years, for the first couple days, you will see:

• 40% Dress slacks and pretty blouses
• 40% Skirts-long and knee length – lots of flowing flowers
• 15% Nice Capri’s with pretty shirts
• 2.5% Full suits
• 2.5% Jeans

Then, as the week moves forward, you’ll see more Capri’s and jeans during the day. I’m one of the Capri and jean gals. By the last day, unless I have meetings, I wear jeans. (But I’m definitely in the minority). Last year I had meetings…so I wore a skirt on Saturday. Also, if you’re pitching, you dress up more that day. Skirts or nice pants are fine. To be honest, when I pitched, I wore very nice Capri’s with a pretty blouse, and I felt fine.

[For men:  Slacks and nice shirts during the days]

At night there are publisher parties (you need an invite), chapter parties (FF&P’s is a good one, as is KOD’s Death by Chocolate party and of course the Chicklit party rocks)—and I wear a cocktail dress. There will be some people in nice pant suits, but most will be wearing simple cocktail dresses.

[For men:  Slacks, nice shirt, and sports jacket.]

Then, on the last night there’s the 2011 RITA & Golden Heart Awards Ceremony. This is the fanciest night of the conference. You’ll see short cocktail dresses, long cocktail dresses, even formal dresses with boas. Wear what works for you. If you want to go all out—go for it! You won’t be the only one.

[For men:  Suits, slacks w/sports jacket, or even a tux.]

Keep in mind that hotel conference sites often splurge on the AC. Have a sweater or cardigan with you at all times…just in case. I froze my butt off at the Washington DC conference—even though it was JULY in DC. But in Orlando, I was fine. So, like a Boy Scout or vampire hunter, be prepared.

In the next post on Tuesday, I’ll cover what to bring besides clothing as well as how to prepare for those awesome workshops beforehand. See you then. 🙂

Online pirates are really ticking me off.  Hey…it’s STEALING.  Really.  It is.  Don’t download someone’s book without buying it.  If Karma kicks in, what SHOULD happen to online pirates:

1)      The second he/she downloads a pirated copy of a book, a huge, one-eyed pirate should cover the screen, flip the jerk the bird…and fry the hard drive.

2)   In addition, all electrical appliances should explode in the pirate’s house.

3)   Huge, bulbous, gigantic hemorrhoids should attack the pirate…making it so he can never sit and read again.  Huge.

4)   The most embarrassing website the pirate has ever visited should send instant emails to his mother, grandmother, and first grade teacher with pictures and full details of the schmuck’s online surfing.

5)    The pirate’s worse picture in existence, anywhere in cyberspace, should be blown up and sent to every contact he has ever made.

6)   His picture, phone number, and email address should be advertised in every ‘for sex’ magazine and website in the world.

7)    A picture of the pirate with a threatening message toward the President should be sent to every Navy Seal and Green Beret team on active duty.  And those retired.

8)   A computer generated virus should explode the individual keys on his computer and dye his fingers neon green for life.

9)   His computer should create a toxic gas that creates scales to cover his entire body.  Heck.  Let’s make them boils instead.

10)     Remember those hemorrhoids from #3 above?  They should burst.

Sergej Khakimullin
Shutterstock

My name is Izzy and I interview book characters.  Many people say I’m a character, myself.  *Snort*.  That’s nice of them.  I’m hoping Rebecca lets me interview a bunch of her characters–I can’t wait to be in the same room with all of the Kayrs brothers.  MEOW.

So, I had so much fun interviewing Talen last week, I thought I’d try to get Cara to sit down with me.  Cara is a plant biologist, single mother, and wife of vampire Talen.  We met at a new coffee shop in town…as I’ve been banned from the one where I met Talen.  TOTALLY his fault.  Cara was five minutes early, and is quite pretty.  For some reason, I expected her to be scientifically nerdy, but she has curly brown hair and huge blue eyes.

ME:  So.  Congratulations on your recent marriage.

CARA:  Thank you.  It was quite the whirlwind…but I think things have calmed down a bit.  I mean, we’re still searching for a cure to the virus that attacks vampire mates, and I’m still sick…but the treatments are going well so far.

Okay.  I was happy to have an interviewee who actually talks.  Talen was difficult, to say the least.

ME:  I interviewed your husband a week ago—

CARA:  Yeah, sorry about that.  I heard Talen attacked some guy going for a cell phone.  (She snorted.)  Being the head of Realm security makes him twitchy, to say the least.

ME:  I was a bit surprised you agreed to meet for an interview. 

Okay…I was surprised Talen agreed.  But there didn’t seem to be a smooth way to say that.  Well, until Cara threw back her head and laughed.

Cara:  I didn’t tell Talen I was coming.

Oh crap.  Something told me to get a move on there.

ME:  I’d like to discuss the virus created by Kurjans to attack vampire mates and bring them back to human genetics.

Cara:  Yes, it’s quite interesting, genetically speaking.  What the virus does is—

At this point, the door slammed open.  I knew.  I knew without turning around who stood in the doorway.  But you know what I did anyway?  Yep.  I turned my head.  In fact, the entire coffee shop turned in unison to see a six and a half feet, packed hard, pissed-off vampire staring at Cara with golden eyes shot through with metallic green.

ME:  Ug.

A portly gentleman near the doorway dropped his coffee, splashing up his khaki pants.  He shoved his glasses up his nose, backing carefully away.  For the first time I noticed two hulking men on either side of the door.  Vampires?  Ah.  Cara had brought some protection.  Smart woman.

Cara:  Well, isn’t this sweet.  Talen showed up for the interview.

Holy freaking crap.  Sweet???  My heart pretty much stopped beating as he stalked toward us and stopped next to Cara.

Talen:  Hello, mate.  Forget to tell me something?

I should mention here that Cara rolled her eyes. 

Cara:  Now Talen, come on.  Didn’t you read that goodreads review of FATED by that twenty-year old living across the world?  She was quite upset you don’t use my name more…that you call me ‘mate’.   Like you can’t remember my name.

Talen:  I don’t give a holy fu—, er heck, what that woman thinks, mate.  For the record, not only do I know your name, I usually know exactly where you are.  Unlike today.

Cara:  I brought backup.  Your brother, Jase, is by the door.

We all looked.  Jase is hot.  I know, how unprofessional.  But hey, he’s seriously hot—thick brown hair, copper colored eyes—body tight and ripped.  And when Talen sent him a deadly look, I swear Jase flipped him the bird.  It was vampire quick, but I caught it. 

Then things got interesting.  Talen sighed and dropped into the chair next to Cara, his hand reaching for hers.  No wonder Cara wasn’t afraid of the soldier.  He was kinda…sweet.

TALEN:  Okay – let’s get this over with so I can beat the crap out of my younger brother.

CARA:  Leave Jase alone.  He’s going off by himself to fight the demons soon…and something tells me things are going to get tough.  Really tough.

ME:  Uh, well…about Jase.  Does he have a mate?

TALEN:  No.

CARA:  Maybe.  Rebecca has someone in mind for him…I think the woman may make an appearance in HUNTED.  Well, if Rebecca’s critique partner, Sayde Grace, has her way.  Sayde is convinced this woman would be perfect for Jase.

Then, well…remember the guy with the spilled coffee?  Turned out he was a shifter…a bad one…and he made a move on Jase. Jase took him down rather easily, and the guy’s three companions jumped in.  As did Talen.

Tables went flying, coffee drenched the floor, and let’s just say that the windows shattered from bodies flying through.  There’s another darn coffee shop I won’t get to visit again.

Talk to you soon!

As a kid, I loved the Wizard of Oz.  Good was good, evil was evil…and good won.  Bright lines, easy decisions and a happy ending for everyone who deserved it.

And then I saw Wicked.

My dad bought us all tickets and we went en masse to watch it this weekend.  First, let me say that if you haven’t seen Wicked…for the love of Pete, go see it.  The musical is truly spectacular.  If you’re a writer…call the box office right now.

Wicked stays true to the Wizard of Oz, but switches the point of view to the Wicked Witch of the West.  How did she become wicked?  How bad was she…really?  The gray area is highlighted, and believe me, there’s no bright line between good and evil. 

Here is the official description from the website:

Wicked is the untold story of the witches of Oz.  Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the Land of Oz.  One, born with emerald-green skin, is smart, fiery and misunderstood.  The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular.  Wicked tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

The acting is wonderful, the music beautiful…but it’s the story that will capture you.  The possibilities, the layering and the subtext.  Things are never quite what they seem: not in the beginning, in the middle or even the end.  Especially the end.  🙂

So, I’ve been judging some contests this year, and I keep noticing a trend: contrived conflict. I’ve written an example:

June hurried into the store and stopped short. There he was. Mason Jar, the man she’d loved since he rescued her dog when they were in the sixth grade. Now she had a killer after her, and the hero-turned-cop stood staring at her with his dark grey eyes. She stared back. “Mason. Why are you here?”

He cleared his throat, muscles bunching when he stood. “I saw the police report you filed about a stalker. I want to help.”

She straightened her shoulders. The guy had gone off to the army and left her to finish her last year of high school alone. Too late to help. “I don’t need your help.”

What the heck? If I have a psycho stalker after me and a big, strong, police man who has always been a good guy wants to help… I’D SAY YES. Not NO just because the plot needs a conflict. There has to be a HUGE reason she says no…not just that he left for the army.

I think this logic lapse is in line with the TSTL scenario (too stupid to live). This is when the heroine tugs up her slingback straps and runs into the forest by herself because she thinks the murderer went that-a-way. Wonderful action in a late night slasher movie…not so much in a novel.

Or she hears footsteps behind her in the rough part of town and continues into the dark alley because her car is just a block away and she forgot her receipts. If I hear footsteps, I’m running into the nearest store screaming for help and not the nearest alley of death. Logic.

Sure, books need conflict. But the conflict has to flow naturally from the characters and the situations at hand. Stop and ask yourself: If I were in that situation…what would I really do?