By the time you read this post -- provided Blogger lets me schedule it! -- I'll be in Brisbane, where I'm attending the Romance Writers of Australia (RomAus) conference. It's my first ever overseas writers' conference, and the first time I've ever travelled overseas on my own. (Well, I did fly overseas back in 1997 to meet up with my husband in Sydney, but I had our then one-year-old daughter with me, AND I was pregnant with our son, so that doesn't count, LOL!)
So this is kind of a big deal for me. If I screw up, I'm on my own. And to make it even more stressful, I'm flying out at a sparrow's fart (as we say in New Zealand) i.e. reeeeally early in the morning, and flying back in around midnight. So there'll be no-one to drop me off and no-one to pick me up. I'm it.
And then there's the horrors of packing for somewhere much warmer and realizing you haven't got any suitable summer footwear--those killer high-heeled sandals are not gonna be comfortable if I have to wear them all day. Do I feel a Brisbane shopping expedition in my future? I'm thinking, oh yeah!
Anyway, the horrors of all the getting-ready-to-go aside, I'm looking forward as all heck to this. First and foremost is the social side -- the opportunity to meet some fellow tweeters and RomAus loopies. Gawd, I hope I don't get an attack of the shys (yes, it does happen!).
There's the e-list dinner tomorrow night -- I hear a rumor about karaoke. Yikes! It'll be a helluva ice-breaker, regardless ;-)
Oooh! And let's not forget the Arabian Nights cocktails party. (Sorry guys, I'm leaving the sparkly harem pants at home. A little too see-through for my liking -- another 500 or so gym sessions needed before those get aired in public. And did I mention they are just so very sparkly?
Saturday morning there's a breakfast for all us SFFP types, a chance to yawn, comiserate on the lack of sleep, and eat -- sounds like a damn fine way to start a day to me, LOL. And that evening there's the awards dinner, where I get to kick back and watch other people try not to fall off the stage or trip down (or up!) the stairs as they collect their awards. (I'll get my turn at the RWNZ awards dinner the next weekend, so I'm hoping the "make a dork of yourself in public" gods are on strike about then.)
So all in all, it's looking set to be a great conference...provided my 4am alarm goes off, and I actually hear the alarm and don't sleep through it, and my car doesn't break down on the way to the airport, so I make my flight!
Catch y'all next week!
:-)
Maree
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