Duchess of Evil

Today is my last "free" day until we leave for WW, then we come back Sunday, have another "free" day Monday, and fly out for two weeks of blistering heat (aka TX) Tuesday.  So you probably won't see much of me here for a bit.  Though I am taking The Precious (aka laptop) with me both places, so you never know.  You might see just as much of me as always. 

But on the likely chance you won't, catch y'all on the flip side. 

kistha - is there a chance you could e-mail me a cell # or the like, and I shall send you the same, so we can maybe touch base Thursday on things like when we'll arrive and what your (probably crazy) schedule may be like?

I'm debating how much/what beading stuff to bring.  My tools and wire, for sure, and a couple beads for wire demo purposes (unless shadawyn no longer needs me to bring them?)  Obviously a couple of my projects.  I doubt I'll have time to actually do any real beading, if last year's WW is any indication.  But since I just got my very first set of artisan crafted lampwork beads in the mail, I am sooooooo anxious to make something with them.  Maybe I can squeeze in a bracelet tonight...

I think the impending TX trip and the stress of packing and leaving home for pretty much two and a half weeks has made me much more calm about pitching this weekend.  Because way back when I registered and signed up to pitch, I was all butterflies about it, but now that it's here, even though I'm no more prepared than back then, I'm feeling surreally calm about the whole thing.  I'm going to pitch for the first time, it could go well or nightmarishly bad.  Ah, well. 

This is what back-to-back vacationing can do.  Aren't vacations supposed to be relaxing?  Why does this so not feel relaxing! 

*deep breath*

It's just I still have so much to do.  I have to clean my house, make my Mom a copy of the house key, buy extra cat/dog food and kitty litter, buy my Mom and Mom-in-law thank-you somethings for taking care of our pets, PACK for WW, PACK for TX, oh, and buy a new swimwuit for TX, mail Mark's paintball gun to TX...I am not overwhelmed, I am not panicking, I am calm and fine. 

Oh, and I'm getting my hair done this afternoon.  I can't put it off, no.  My roots are too long already, and I simply cannot face going on vacation and looking at a half inch to an inch of ugly roots the whole time.  I am not vain, it's just one of my pet peeves.

ETA: Our hotel room comes equipped w/high speed internet (which we must pay extra for) and Starbuck's coffee (which is free).  Dude, coffee!  Ok, so to my coffee snob sensabilities, Bux is not the best, but it's a lot better than no coffee at all, which I think could possibly kill me.

Hey, does anyone know if ethernet cables can come with a splitter?  The internet access doesn't say wireless, so one assumes we'll be plugging in, and it would be nice if we could both be online at the same time...

June 22-25th, 2006. Those are the dates for Writer's Weekend in Seattle next year. Some of you may remember my post about WW 2005. If not, go and read it.

I know many of you are writers. Many of you are excellent writers, who already write your own pro!fic in addition to fanfic. You know who you are. You should be attending this conference! If you've never written pro!fic (technical term for your own original work) but want to, sign up for NaNoWriMo in November and then sign up for this conference. Seriously. I've done a lot of writing workshops, and while I was at WW this year, I talked to people that have attended workshops and conferences all over the country. This is one of the best because:

1. It's smaller than most.

2. More affordable than most.

3. Has tons of professionals in the industry who attend every year and are more than willing to dispense advice, host panels, offer insights, and allow you to make contacts with people in the field of publishing. You can pitch that NaNoWriMo novel from last year to an actual agent or editor.

4. All genres are represented. SF/F, Romance, Mystery, etc, etc. They even talk about fanfic and how it relates to being/getting published.

5. You meet all kinds of fascinating people, and the casual atmosphere really lends itself to chatting with them during downtime. I had a two hour conversation with the lovely Rosemary Laurey, a vampire romance author from England who also spent 20 years as a teacher. She gave me advice for Mark, as he was just going into the teaching field, and chatted about her various projects and published works. It was very fun. :) We got to hang out with Jim and Shannon Butcher, (he writes the Dresden books) and they were the funnest, most down to earth people. Next year I plan to quiz Shannon about what James Marsters was like - she got to meet him when they attended Whedonverse and Comic-Con!) I also sat down with Sherrilyn Kenyon a couple of times and heard all about her gargoyle-laden house in New Orleans (which I sincerely hope is weathering Katrina ok.)

6. You'll get to meet me! (Ok, well, maybe that's not like a huge incentive or anything, it would be awesome to meet some of you IRL!)

Ok. So now that I've reminded you of all the great stuff at WW, I bet you're wondering just how much this will cost, right? Well, the good news is Karen, the lovely and amazing woman who organizes this every year, takes payments via paypal, and keeps track of how much you've paid (you should keep track, too), so you can budget out your registration fee.

I don't think she's decided exactly what the cost will be this year, as the hotel they've contracted is bigger and better than last year's, and thus costing more money. The tentative prices she's talked about, and very subject to change, are:

Either $250 or $285 per person if paid by December 31st. (I've seen both prices mentioned, and don't know if a decision has been reached regarding which one.) You can pay this in increments, say, either $63 or $71 (depending on which price they decide on) paypal payments each month for September, October, November, and December. Again, this may change, but I know they were really hoping to keep the cost below $300 for pre-registration.

After December 31st, they're talking about charging either $325, or $350 for registration. The conference is in June, so this, while ultimately costing more, could mean smaller, more affordable payments until you're paid up: $40/month from September to May pays for the more expensive $350 price tag.

Keep in mind that I'm pretty sure Karen loses money on this every year. She wants to keep it affordable for people, so more people will come, so we can keep holding the conference and enticing folks like TOR books editors to come and attend.

So, that covers your actual conference fee. The hotel cost we already know. It's going to be at the Bellavue Sheraton, a very nice hotel in Seattle. I believe they're giving a room discount for attendees, making the cost $97 per night. For ease of calculating expenses, I'd call it and even $100. You want to arrive on Thursday (there are panels and workshops that evening), stay Thurs night, Friday night, and Saturday night, and check out by something like noon on Sunday. So, $300 for hotel stay. If you start saving now, that's $35 a month put aside to pay for your hotel. Not bad, huh?

And did I forget to mention that 90% of your food is covered by your conference fee? Yes, they provide food for most of the meals, though if you want to attend the special Saturday night banquet, it's an extra $10-15. Mark and I did spend on our own food, because of his blood sugar issues. But most people should be fine.

Now we're looking at travel. If you're lucky enough to live within driving distance, gas will be your only expense. If not, you're looking at flying, and getting from the airport to the hotel. Karen usually finds a shuttle service to give a discount. Flights, which may drop in price closer to the dates, are more reasonable than I expected:

From the farthest point in the US, Florida, I found round trip flights from $295, taxes included. I'm sure the price varies greatly from city to city, and I'm also sure lots of various "air specials" will be likely to pop up between now and June.

So all together this sounds like a lot of money. If you average it out you're looking at roughly $900 for conference, food, hotel, and transportation (unless you live close enough to drive). However, you can pay for $600 of that by putting aside roughly $70 a month between now and May. (Unless you register early, which will mean less money in the long run, but more for the next three months.)

(To give you an idea of what a good deal this really is, a similar weekend writer's conference, which shall remain nameless because I don't want to risk offending anyone with comparisons, costs $610! And that doesn't include any meals or lodging.)

And let me tell you, it is so worth the money! If you're serious about your writing, you should consider it. More than that, you should find a way to make it happen.

Karen might have more complete details on the actual cost of regisration. You can e-mail her if you're interested at writersweekend@hotmail.com. She is in the middle of moving right now, so be patient if she takes awhile to reply.

Also, I have no affiliation with organizing this event, nor do I receive any benefits for getting people to sign up. I just firmly belive this to be an awesome opportunity for anyone who has aspirations of professional writing.