Dishin' It Out

 The Montana RWA writer’s conference was FABULOUS!  INCREDIBLE!  OUTSTANDING!  FUN!  A BLAST!  You know me… I always have fun.  Friday night I had a lovely dinner out with Kat & Larry Martin.  If you’ve never read either Kat or Larry – you are missing something special.  Check them out …. http://www.katbooks.com/ 

     I should have put my jacket back on for this picture! 

My presentation went great.  At first I thought…dang they are all staring at me … and either they are truly interested in what I’m saying and are engaged … or they are the after lunch crowd and fighting falling asleep!!  Giggle

   After my talk… they went around the room to introduce ourselves …share what we write…etc.  Almost every one of them made a comment how my talk affected them!  That was the most rewarding feeling ever.

    After the conference we had a book signing.  We were lined up… six of us.  A lady who was a patron at the Hot Springs asked, “Who was the author that was salsa dancing all night?”  The authors all looked over at me and I slightly raised my hand and said, Uh, that would be me.” Then she asked, “Well who was the author going down the water slide…screaming like a Banshee, and nearly drowned.  When she came to the surface everyone in the pool yelled and clapped?”  The authors all looked over at me and I slightly raised my hand and said, Uh, that would be me, too.”  The woman said, “Well, you sound like a lot of fun, I’m going to buy your book!!  And she bought each of them!  Giggle.

      A young man wanted to meet the 22 year old aspiring author (Sarah) that I brought with me.  Nice young lady…gorgeous and has it ‘going on’.  So he yells… after overhearing me say, “I nearly drowned.”  “I wasn’t giving you mouth-to-mouth!”  I said, “Be careful, I’ll kill you off in one of my books.”  He said, “Oh, I saw there were a bunch of writers here.”  We chatted, then he said, “I’ll buff up like Fabio so you can put me on the cover.”  I said, “Oh, don’t do that.  You’re better looking than he ever thought of being.”  So he yells, “I would give her mouth-to-mouth after all!”  We all laughed.  I caught on soon… he was interested in Sarah…using me to do it.  That’s okay.  Nice guy. Gooooood looking…. from a local town and works 16 hours a day.  Hmmmm…good looking …not lazy!  Uh huh!!

      So he asked Sarah if he could buy her a drink and she said yes.  So we went to our room… changed and met him at the bar. He loved to dance… they were so cute gitter-bugging… he asked me to dance a big-band song … loved it!  WE all danced until 1:00am… we got two ‘sister’ having their ‘sisters week together’ out on the dance floor.  Later found out they were readers…came to the signing and bought both my books!  I kept referring to them as the ‘older ladies’ until I found out they were younger than me!!  SO not funny!!

      The MT RWA group put together such a great conference and they’re doing it again next year!  They had a banquet Saturday night… what fun.  Awarded fun prizes like halos, wands… and for a few of us… a pink feather boa…well… I put it around me and seductively started singing …”When he walked in the room… I could see he were a man of distinction, a real big spender, hey, big spender!  Spend a little time with me!”  And when I got to the “Hey big spender,” BJ put her back to me and joined in.   Everyone was clapping and laughing!  What a hoot.  I told the group at my table… “If they call me up there one more time to make a fool of myself…I’m not going.”  Sure enough… they had a ‘presenter’s gift’… and called my name.  Everyone at the table offered to go up and take it for me!!

      Needless to say…what a blast!!  Fun … and inspirational.  BJ Daniels was fabulous.  http://www.bjdaniels.com/  She writes and talks by the seat of her pants.  Doesn’t have anything written down … she just goes with the flow.  Funny… hilarious woman!  Another gal spoke on the process of writing…. She is an editor and knows what she’s talking about.

     I made a donation basket with Atonement, Atonement mouse, hand-made dream catcher, necklace and bracelet, key chain, tote bag and candle wax cubes.  There were four baskets… and it earned over $150 for a fund to help writers come to conferences like this …and wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise because of finances.  Really nice.

     Hmmmm did I miss anything??  Did I mention I had a great time . . . There you have it…. A native man came up and started chatting with me… I told him I was part Chippewa Cree… we talked and he brought his wife up.  We talked and then she told me she was Chippewa Cree also.  She bought both my books – I jotted in the book … ‘we share the Chippewa Cree spirit’…and saw her smiling and sharing it with her hubby - then later they came back and asked if she could have a picture taken with me!!  Awwww that was so sweet!  This was the hi-light of my conference.  I hope she enjoys reading my books.  J