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.

Mama Mary and Scarlet are in Washington DC at the Romance Writers of America National conference. Mama Mary is in the sitting area beside the elevators so she can get online free to do this blog for you.

Mama Mary and Scarlet pose in front of the Marriott, the conference hotel.










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Scarlet says hi!
Where does she think she's going?

Well, it’s finally arrived! Summer's here and not a day too soon for all the teachers at my school. Where does the time go? It seems like barely a couple months ago we were starting a new school year and now, it’s finished, over, done!

Now, to the question that is of greatest importance: what to do with the free time afforded me by the end of the school year. I plan to do several things this summer. Three are really big ones, but the most import is to complete my current wip. For those who don’t know that's writer lingo for work in progress.

I’m setting goals, making plans and lists and hoping for the best. My goal is to have my current wip completed before RWA’s National Conference in July. My plan to accomplish this includes meeting regularly with my critique partner, going to Starbuck’s several times during the week to write, but most of all, applying butt to chair and working. My list looks something like this:
Fly to Spain, cruise the Mediterranean (for real, I leave early today. If I’m absent from the fuzzies for a few days, you’ll know why!)
Return home, upload pictures of trip to the Pink Fuzzy Slipper Writers blog.
Apply butt to chair and write.
Go to Starbucks and write (It helps to stir my creativity to get away from the usual all by myself where I can wear my “writer’s persona” --family just doesn’t get this one.)
Set schedule to meet with Critique Partner. (I’m one of the luckiest people in the world when it comes to my partner. ( MM is the greatest.)
Apply butt to chair and write.
Attend National with completed manuscript to pitch.
Apply butt to chair and write.
Clean the deck and sit outside to write.
That's about it, I’ll hope for the best outcome. What about you? How do you plan to attack the lazy hazy crazy days of summer?