Road Trip Recap

[lagilman]

Although the turnout was light for the first-ever NJ Writers Conference, the energy and enthusiasm was high, and people really got into the "Blending Genres" workshop, although I may never get the image of a vampire Nazi tooth fairy out of my mind. *shudder* Signed/sold a bunch of books, and did a reading from FLESH AND FIRE that had people coming up to get info on the release date, so yay!

[October 13th, in case y'all haven't been paying attention)

Then Gary and I fled the premises and made our merry way to Atlantic City proper, where I had atypical bad luck -- but was seated next to very cute boys in suits, so the view made up for the cards -- followed by a stroll on the boardwalk,and thence -- at 1am -- to Denny's where I had serious flashbacks to several episodes of my misspent youth. It was, however, a surprisingly clean, well-lit, friendly and people-staffed (as opposed to zombies) Denny's, with nary a Garth Brooks fan in sight (in-joke for otterdance)

This morning I grabbed breakfast and headed out for the Road Trip portion of the weekend -- wending my slow, very relaxed way back north via back roads filled with flea markets, antique fairs, and oceanfront zen, wherein I spent a few hours spent reclaiming a part of my past.

My zen, let me show you it.


And now the mind is clear, the well refilled, and I'm looking forward to a rather, erm, busy week, including having a story shredded by the crit group, doing a video interview @ S&S, and various social whirls....

EtA: cats don't know I'm going away next weekend, too. Slowly getting them ready for the Big Leave...

Comments

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

Hey, your zen looks just like my zen!

Glad it was a good trip.

[lagilman]

Yeah, except there weren't many other people on the beach, which is much of the zen-ness. Can't do walking medication (EtA: medication? snerk. Meditation. More coffee!) when there are children shrieking or loud music playing or beer-drinking yahoos yelling to each other.

(I was really annoyed, actually, that the weather turned warm enough that there were die-hards still sunbathing. I wanted a barren autumn beach damn it! But there were long stretches of empty, too. Just me and the occasional napping fisherdude.)

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

Well, one of the things I love about OBX is that you get an entire area of beach to yourself, most days.... no music or beer etc etc. :)

[girasole.livejournal.com]

That's a gorgeous, evocative photograph.

[lagilman]

Merci. I will have a few others up on the flicker site, um...sometime this week. really. promise. *kermit-flails*

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

I guess I didn't mention that I've pre-ordered "Flesh and Fire" from Barnes & Noble?

[lagilman]

You didn't, and the household felines thank you for enabling MommaTwoLegs to continue feeding them. :-)

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

as long as the felines keep showing up, I guess they could still be fed

[lagilman]

*eyeroll* Okay, will spell the joke out for you, then. Thank you for keeping me employed so I can afford to feed the cats.

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* umm, yeah, got that. sorry to bother you. goodbye now.

[lagilman]

*passes the caffeine*

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

thank you, but I work nights so you should keep yours for waking up in the morning.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

You know, when I read "Gary", I immediately thought taxi driver, then I realized I was confusing fiction with reality and I was confusing you with Caitie. Confusion abounds.

[lagilman]

Gary Frank, fellow writer/editor and one of the bookfair vendors

[garyfrank.livejournal.com]

Speaking of said individual...

Your zen looks much more enticing than the hordes of folk who strolled the Red bank Street Fair. I shared a booth with the Liberty States Fiction Writers and most of the women who stopped by were romance readers and (strangely enough) not horror readers. Nevertheless, the weather was beautiful and a splendid time was had by all.

Very much enjoyed AC and learning card games and the late-night Denny's trip. Thanks for the company.