This summer I had the pleasure of spending a day with the FBI at Quantico. It was easily one of the most exciting things I have ever done. You see, I write romantic suspense and this was right up my alley! We were allowed to go to the firing range and the agents showed us how to shoot. That's right we were allowed to shoot real guns. What type guns you ask? What kind of guns do you think they hauled out for a bunch of romance writers? Nope, your wrong, they knew we were serious about our work and they were proud to show off theirs. We were instructed on the proper way to shoot a Glock, a shotgun, a Tommy Gun and a modern machine gun the numbers of which escapes me at the moment. Holding an actual Tommy Gun and being allowed to shoot it was a thrill! The agent brought these guns out of retirement just so we could shoot them. For a moment I could feel Elliot Ness standing beside me as I held the gun and fired it toward the target. How was I able to experience this amazing day? It was easy, I'm a member of KOD, that's Kiss of Death, RWA's Mystery and Suspense Online chapter and this was a part of their pre-conference tour at RWA National this year! Did you go? Are you a member of KOD? If you aren't gosh, just look what your missing! If you were there, please comment to tell us what you enjoyed most about the pre-conference tour! If you'd like more info on KOD click on the title above, it has a link!

RWA's National Conference was the bomb this year! Scarlet visited the White House and ate a gourmet lunch at the National Mall. The real highlight of the conference for me was KOD"S pre-conference tour. We spent the day with the FBI and got to shoot Glocks, Shotguns, Tommyguns, and HKMP5's! Imagine, Scarlet with a machine gun! The workshops with the FBI were awesome, we learned about all the different types of cases they are involved in. On Tuesday we visited the State Department and the United States Postal Inspectors, both presentations were top-notch and vastly informative. On Wednesday we spent the day with the CIA. Really, the CIA! We had lunch in the CIA cafeteria at Langley, where we had six "Officers" (they don't like to be called agents) sit with us and answer questions! We also learned how to tell whether or not the movie rendition of the great seal in the floor of the CIA headquaters was correct! Most aren't, I'm going to hold on to that little tidbit and use it in my next novel! So many ideas! You should have been there. Of course there was more time for great food as MM and Scarlet enjoyed outdoor dining down the street from the Marriott and just across from the Omni. The Proper Conference was great, but I'll leave it to MM to enlighten you, I was just too excited about the Pre-Conference tours.