Just think Armadillo

Well, I'm back from the New Jersey conference. Had a great time. Saw old friends and met lots of new friends. Managed to make it through the bookfair without breaking my budget but it was hard not to just buy everything.

But before I blog about the conference, I have to send Happy Birthday wishes to ex-sweetie pie. It was his birthday yesterday but I was too tired when I got home from the conference to call him in LA. Now back to our regularly scheduled blog!

I was a little nervous when the cab driver dropped me off at the back of the hotel instead of at the entrance, which I didn't discover until after I'd gotten out of the cab. I thought it was a bad omen of how the weekend was going to go. However, things went a bit more smoothly inside.

The hotel was a lot smaller than the hotel the conference was in last year. Plus, they didn't have enough staff for the weekend. We crammed in so tight at the luncheon, I was almost sitting in the lap of the woman next to me. The food was the typical conference food, meaning barely edible. My pasta at lunch was overcooked, but it looked better than the chicken with the mashed potatoes made from a mix.

The food in the hotel restaurants was way overpriced for the quality of the meals. I had the tomato soup Friday night which I swear was Campbells, and the crabcakes definitely were frozen and not homemade. For $12, they could afford to make the crabcakes from scratch. In the hotel bar, the waitress was also bartending as well as taking orders. It was so bad, that last night we left the hotel in the pouring rain to go have dinner at Ruby Tuesdays!

I didn't make it to the workshops on Friday, instead I spent the afternoon schmoozing in the hotel bar with friends. I did make it to the workshops on Saturday. Took a really cool workshop with an attorney who works for Homeland Security here in New York. She basically went through several movies and pointed out where Hollywood went wrong. Very informative and amusing.

An agent that I've submitted to in the past complimented me on my blog, and I introduced myself to another agent who has my partial. I felt really good about the conversation and I'm glad that I plucked up the courage to speak to her.

The highlight of the conference turned out to be Lisa Kleypas, the luncheon speaker. I haven't read Lisa since the mid-nineties, but now I think I may have to start reading her again. She was adorable and funny. Even though you could tell that she'd given the speech before, it was also clear that she still meant every word.

The most compelling part of her speech was when she talked about armadillos.

Apparently they're quite the problem in West Texas. According to Lisa, you can't kill them by shooting them, because the bullets bounce off the armor, you can't poison them, the only way to kill them is by hitting them with your car. They just come back to your yard and dig for worms and grubs. They're resilient but ugly little creatures.

Lisa suggested that writers be like the Armadillos. When you've just gotten another rejection letter, think armadillo, when you get a bad review, think armadillo, when another writer gets a two book contract with a $50,000 advance, think armadillo, when your best friend gets published and you don't, think armadillo. If a hurricane comes and sweeps away your house and your 14 year old cat, think armadillo.

Her talk was so moving, that my entire table was practically weeping. I immediately wanted to run out and buy armadillo pins covered in Swarovski crystals, or have T-shirts made that said "Just think Armadillo!"

So the next time that you think things are as bad as they can get, remember, Just think Armadillo!