So soo sorry I've been silent as of late. I had a death in the family and have had another family member in the hospital for the past nine weeks, sadly.
But, as the saying goes, "the show must go on" and I'm ready to reenter the bloggerverse.
First, a thanks to my co-bloggers, Nona and Danica for holding down the fort here at the Diva's Pad. I've been reading the posts, even though I'm not commenting much. :-)
Now... onto some interesting stuff... A view behind the curtain of a single author's life...
The Post-Conference Blues!
I used to call it the Post-Rez blues (post-residency) when I was still a grad student and going down to Seton Hill College/University for a week-long flurry of writing, learning, and absorbing the writing community. Since I graduated, I was able to go back this June for the In Your Write Mind conference, which was, of course, amazing.
So I finally arrive at the hotel, after a very long 7 hour drive (after having worked for a few hours) and it was like coming home. The writing life is sometimes so solitary that authors forget to answer the phone, leave the house, eat, sleep, or do any of those normal human things! It's kind of scary actually. So when we get the chance to go to a conference, or a write-in, or anything else where we can be social and with our own brand of crazy, we jump at the chance.
Two wonderful ladies from my local RWA chapter, Kara Leigh Miller and Nicole LaFleur, joined me for the conference, and we had a blast!
Here we are at the Princess Bride themed ball. :-)
I taught a panel on the Three Act Structure plotting method, and that went really well. I attended several workshops that were fantastic on world building, undergarments through the ages, revision, and all kinds of things. We call Seton Hill "Hogwarts for Writers" because there's a certain kind of magic that flows from the walls, and permeates the air, the ground of campus, everything.
I mean, can you see the resemblance?
So, after four days of this amazingness, you can imagine what it's like coming back to reality. It sucks, big time. Every time I leave a conference, it's a gut-wrenching kind of deal. Inevitably, there are some tears when goodbyes are said, as well as some laughs, and promises to keep in touch.
At the same time, though, I know I wouldn't survive if conferences were more than a few days long! Being in that writer bubble, in that place where the real world ceases to exist and you don't watch any news, read a newspaper, or even check your email diligently, is amazing, but it's also exhausting. For a closet introvert like myself, conferences where you're always surrounded by people (no matter how awesome said people are or how close you are) are exhausting! It's like the most basic form of overstimulation (not that erotic romance authors believe in such a thing). But in real life, there's no way I would survive a conference that was longer than 5 days, 6 at the very most. I just don't like people that much... or maybe it's that I just have spent too many years alone inside my own head that I need that time to survive.
But I wouldn't trade my weeks in writer heaven for anything in the world. Finding a community, a family like that is something few people ever find, and while I can only tolerate small doses of the crazy, I cherish it.
So there you are folks, a sneak peek inside this author's closeted introversion. :-)
Promise to be back soon with more,
~Rach
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