Friday five...post-vacation and RWA...

Long time no chat. I actually started this Friday Five before we left for RWA and family vacation in Denver, but then life happened and I never got it finished. Eeeps!

So, here we are again.

Take 2 on getting this posted.

When I found out that RWA was going to be in Denver this year, I really wanted to go. I have two series set in the area...The Found series and all the books written by KB Jacobs. 

But it's a lot of money to go to these conferences and it's rare for us to even take a family vacation because again...money. So, I asked Ben if we'd like to combine the two and make this a family trip. 

So, we left at 3:00 in the morning for the 13 hour drive to Denver from Texas on Tuesday. That night Ben and Kat stayed with me in the conference hotel, but the next day Jacob arrived from Davis-Monthan AFB, Az and the three of them moved into our rental house and left me at the hotel. Then I rejoined them a few days later on Sunday to finish out the family vacation.

EVERYBODY had a fabulous time!!

Denver-RWA edition...

This is only the second time I've made it to an RWA convention and once again, I was blown away by just the sheer amount of enthusiasm and knowledge that comes out of the conference.

After four days filled with classes and author signings, I'm buzzing with ideas and plans. Now, I just need to get them all down on paper before I forget them.

I'm actively working to work smarter, not harder. I work hard enough already with my 60 hour work weeks. But I have so many areas to improve and concentrate on. Those changes behind the scenes are happening slowly, but surely. 

I'll be posting more information on that soon.

^^^one of the things that happens at RWA are the publisher book signings. In the above photo, I'm waiting in line for the Harlequin signing. The amazing thing about these signings, is first of all...you get to meet all the amazing authors. Second, all the books are FREE! Yep, almost all those books you see in the top photo are both signed and were free. I did buy 13 of them at the literacy signing, BUT all that money went to Denver literacy, so it was like donating PLUS I got books for doing it.

Win/win!

Denver- Family vacation edition...

I'll admit, I liked having my family in the same town as me, but doing their own thing. During the time I was at RWA, I got messages from all three of them, keeping me updated about their activities. For an introvert like me, it was kind of awesome. When I was too exhausted to do anything else, I could go back to my quiet hotel room and decompress and catch up with all them via messaging and emailing one another photos.

But it was even better to then get to join them on Sunday.

I will probably always regret not buying this hat. It was too fun. If only I wrote steampunk...then I would have had the perfect excuse, but I loved it on all of us!

When we finally got together, we managed to hit quite a few tourist spots over the next three days...

*16th Street Mall

*Hard Rock Cafe Denver (just because we were hungry)

*Papyrus (Kat and I were in heaven)

*Union Station

*Meininger's (fountain pens and art supplies...the whole family was excited)

*Manitou Springs

*Cave of the Winds

*Manitou Castle

*cliff dwellings

*Denver Botanic Gardens

And just because I can...I love these people...

^^^Cave of the Winds before the tornados, hail and flash flooding.^^^

^^^Manitou Castle^^^

^^^Kat and Ben enjoying the shade at the Denver Botanic Gardens.^^^

 Other random vacation photos...

They make friends everywhere.

^^^top left: mobile coffee shop; top right: Tattered Cover (so disappointing for romance...3 shelves only...individual shelves, not bookcases); bottom left: gorgeous sculpture; bottom right: how many bags does one person need to go to RWA? A LOT!

The afternoon we went to Manitou Springs was crazy. Luckily, we saved the Cave of the Winds for our last activity of the day. Just as we were scheduled to head into the cave, they issued a tornado warning, but we were inside a cave...so safe. 

But then the hail and flash flooding came. The photos that look like snow are the remnants of the hail an hour and a half later. Down in town, they had 18" of hail on the ground and had to evacuate part of the town (where we'd eaten lunch just a couple of hours before) because of crazy flash flooding. 

It was a good trip!

Ooh...

Kat found this trailer and I have to say I'm really excited for this movie coming August 3rd.

And note...this came out as a series of books first. We may just have to pick those up this summer. 

It reminds me of my book series, Through the Veil, with the kids and the way they evolve (although, I'm sure the stories are nothing alike, but on the surface, I can see some similarities). 

I've thought seriously about writing that series from the point when the Veil fell and all the characters were children. It would be a young adult tie-in that goes back in time from when the adult series takes place.

I seriously loved that series, but no one read it, so I've had to pseudo-abandon it. I hate that because I love the characters and stories. I'd LOVE to find a way to start it back up again...hmm.

As I'm writing a YA book right now, I'm loving this idea more and more. It would be a way to maybe revive the series (I still have 5 books to write in the adult series and I still fully intend to write them, but since it's one that loses money, I can only do that when I have some money coming in from other books...which isn't now.)

But the good news is... I'm really liking writing the YA book I'm currently writing.
(It's called Firefly Magic). 

It's fun to step into the YA mind.

So, anyway, I got a little off-track in this section...just to say, I'm really looking forward to this movie. LOL.

****

I hope you're having a great summer!!
Hopefully, I'm gonna get more regular about posting on here from now on... ;)
I have big plans coming...
smiles,
Christi