Okay, I’ve had a wee bit of a nap, gotten a few must-do-immediately tasks crossed off my To Do list, & am ready to chat about my weekend at the Washington (D.C.) Romance Writers’ Retreat.

This is, hands down, one of my favorite conferences of the year. Maybe because it’s not so much a conference as a weekend getaway. Yes, there are agents & editors in attendance. Yes, there are workshops. But the tone of the event is so relaxed, I don’t feel as though I have to pack my very best clothes or be ever on the alert for situations where I could open mouth & insert foot. Although, there was one small foot-in-mouth situation over the weekend. I was relating a recent conversation I’d had with my editor to a friend & remarked that “people can be so darn touchy about the Nazis,” but I promise you it was completely innocent & not nearly as horrific as it sounds. I was joking, for God’s sake. (Think funny Nazi references, like in The Producers.) Nevertheless, another woman at the table apparently wasn’t amused & quickly made an excuse to leave. After which, said friend & I decided that was all for the best, anyway, & shared a hearty laugh over people with no apparent sense of humor. My friend–being the loyal & devoted friend that she is–was even a bit offended on my behalf that someone else would be offended by me when she had to know I was only A.) relating a story about something that had happened the previous week & B.) kidding! “She just doesn’t know you well enough,” was BFF’s opinion. And she’s right. My sense of humor is often taken the wrong way, at least until people get to know me a better. I’ve even had people tell me that when they first met me, they were a little put off by my exuberance or offhand remarks…until they realized I was only joking or that buzzing around like the Energizer Bunny is my natural state of being. But you know what they say… To know me is to love me. Or not. LOL

The biggest reason I like this Retreat so much,though, is related to what I said above–it’s one of the only times I get to spend quality time with one of my best friends, who lives about three states away. She almost didn’t make it this year, too, which would have been an absolute nightmare for me! Stealing a line from Will & Grace, we have a running joke that “you’re my new best friend, call me every five minutes!” & that’s about what we’re like when we get together. We sit together for meals, pre-arrange times & locations to meet each other first thing in the mornings, & skip workshops just so we have longer to chat before the end of the weekend. Sometimes we even hie off where others aren’t likely to discover us & intrude. We’re attached at the hip & proud of it, thankyouverymuch. Because whenever we get together, we come up with the most awesome story ideas & career plans, & that’s the sort of energy that doesn’t really happen over the phone or through e-mail or when others are around. And God help anyone who tries to get between us. (Don’t make me bring up Nazis again, cuz I’ll totally do it! )

Unfortunately, this year’s Retreat couldn’t be held at our usual haunt because the hotel is being restored, so we had to meet elsewhere. It was a nice place, don’t get me wrong, but it just wasn’t the same. It was bigger & more spread out, with no central gathering area where folks could sort of run into each other or find someone they were looking for. Always a disappointment at conferences where the main goal is networking, but I did still manage to run into…WARNING: blatant name-dropping about to commence…Nora Roberts, Donna Kauffman, Jennifer Enderlin (Executive Editor at St. Martin’s Press, Tracy Farrell (Executive Editor at Harlequin/HQN), & Victoria Alexander. And I met some new folks, too, which is always nice.

The worst part, though, was that there was no air conditioning the entire weekend! In a huge, updated conference center that had all of the other expected amenities. Ack! Apparently, the power station doesn’t allow them to turn it on until mid-May, but methinks they should take global warming into account & revise that policy, considering it was in the high eighties both Friday & Saturday (it rained Saturday night, which cooled it down for Sunday, thank goodness) & it was 85 degrees in the rooms, with windows that didn’t open! Oh. My. God. The hotel did their best. They provided fans for the rooms & even sent someone to Wal-Mart to buy up more, but they weren’t very big & didn’t really cool things off much until late evening.

In case you haven’t guessed, I don’t handle heat well; I was positively melting. And the excessive temperatures definitely had an impact on the Retreat experience because it made us all cranky & groggy & not want to do much of anything. And the sweating–dear God, the sweating. I remarked at one point that I was wearing a water bra…it hadn’t started out that way, but I was definitely swimming then!

As I mentioned, I didn’t hit many workshops. There were a couple of interesting presentations that everyone attended, but that’s about it. Mostly I just sat, relaxed, & chatted with friends. At one point, a few of us had a fun, intensive brainstorming session to plot out another friend’s next book, & I had an exceptionally yummy Long Island iced tea the first night that made me only a little woozy on an empty stomach.

The Lasik/no contact to deal with thing was fabulous, by the way! I still had to use drops every once in a while, & people sometimes asked what was wrong with my eyes, but otherwise it was amazing to be able to wake up at 6am & be able to see, go about doing my make-up without first fighting with darn lenses & suffering with the inevitable red eye the rest of the day. Or those fun times when a contact just wouldn’t go in easily & then it burned or itched or felt like it had a piece of grit on it. Of course, while applying make-up the very first day, I of course had to stab myself in the eye with my mascara wand…you knew that would happen, right? It was a new mascara, too, with an oddly shaped wand I wasn’t used to, so I think that was part of the problem. I was a little concerned at first, since scratching your cornea isn’t something doctors recommend even before Lasik surgery, but the fuzziness went away after a few seconds & everything seems all right. I was much more careful after that, too, believe me.

Oh, & at the end of the Retreat, I won two baskets in the fundraising raffle. (I only bought $10 worth of tickets this year, too, which is probably the least I’ve ever spent trying to win stuff! LOL) Whoo-hoo. Cat baskets, of course, filled with oodles of awesome kitty-cat stuff. When I won the second one, I came back to the table with my booty & said, “Geez, & I don’t even like cats.” Everyone gasped, eyes going wide. Then why did you buy tickets for them?!? they all wanted to know. Sheesh, some people are so easy!

Then, sadly, it was time to head home. Needless to say, I got exactly zero reading or writing done the entire weekend. Not that I really expected to, although I did drag along two books & my AlphaSmart. I was really hoping to finish Blood Dreams or whip out half a chapter somewhere along the way. Sigh. I live in a state of perpetual optimism, it guess.

The conference has only been over for three days & already I can’t wait until next year. And though I already miss my BFF, too, there is a chance I’ll get to see her in July at the RWA conference. (Fingers crossed & perpetual optimism firmly in place. *g*)

So now it’s back to catching up on To Do items & . Part 2, of course.

(P.S. I haven’t forgotten about the Earth Day Giveaway. I’ll post about that soon–possibly over the weekend?–I promise. )