On the road...again?
At long last, things seem to be settling down. Don't get me wrong -- I know how lame it is to complain about being "too busy" over the summer when that too busy-ness was because I was travelling. A lot.
2008 was my Year to Travel. When I started writing, my kids were small (heck, one wasn't even born yet!) and while I wanted to go to the RWA National Conference and other fun conferences, I simply couldn't manage it. As the stay-home parent, I'd have had to find someone to take care of the kids during the hours my husband was working. Oh, and to nurse the kids. Sometimes I think it would have been easier to find someone to do that than take care of them the rest of the time!
For years I was able to make it, sporadically, to the NJRW Put Your Heart in a Book conference. It was within driving distance, over the weekend, and had its share of editors, agents and great lectures. One year I went, VASTLY HUGELY pregnant with my son...
...Mercy, mercy me. Lookit that picture. That's how I went to the NJRW conference. I think I gave birth in the car on the way home.
Anyway -- that was all I managed to do. Then one year my local RWA chapter, CPRW, decided to start an annual retreat! I was on the planning committee, so I made it that first year and then not again for the next four. Kid stuff, mostly my daughter's birthday which happens to fall on that weekend every year.
I always thought about how when I "made it" as an author I'd be going to all these conferences and conventions, and how I might like to even talk at some of them. Never mind my fear and loathing of public speaking, I had this grand idea I'd have something worth saying.
Well, I don't know if I have anything worth saying, but I have managed to start attending more "work" events. Since my work doesn't have any set events, I get to pick and choose, and I have found I still weigh what's worthwhile for my time and money. I don't need the same things I needed way back then (not the least of them a huge, tentlike dress.)
I thought I travelled a lot last year, going to RT and the Book Expo America. Wow! Two writing trips! Little did I know that 2008 would be the year I spent in transit.
March -- NYC for the NINC conference (Novelist's Inc)
April -- Pittsburg for Romantic Times Convention
May -- CPRW weekend writing retreat
June -- Lori Foster's Reader/Writer Get Together
July -- Beach (...filling the creative well, you know!)
August -- Cross-country research trip out to Yellowstone and points West
And I've been asked if I'm going to go to the NJRW conference in October. I'm thinking...not this year!
I'm tired. I like sleeping in my own bed. And yet when I look back on all the trips I took, each one was entirely worth the time spent and the cost. Every place I go, I come back with ideas and details to help enrich my writing. Or at least I get to spend time with friends I never get to see otherwise, and that's worthwhile, too! And then there's the networking...
It just occurred to me that the mythical time when I would have "made it" and be traveling all over as a working writer...is here. Wow. Next goal?
Having other people pay for the trips! :)
M
Oh, that is a worthy goal!
I think I'll borrow that as the reason I haven't taken any writing trips yet, except for two drives up to the Toronto offices. *G* Looking at your travel schedule makes me exhausted. I would love a schedule like that if it were all fun travel, but I often wonder about the writers who do get big enough to have to go on publisher-paid book signing tours and all of that, how fun it is, or if it gets wearing. I would think a little of both. I'd love to find out. Like my husband often says of the lottery, give me a chance to see if that much money would make me miserable. LOL
But until I'm at least earning enough with my writing to support a travel habit like that, it would be too much for me. Though next year I hope to make it to PASIC and Nationals, but only Nationals is definite. I have to make at least one, and have decided to go to those that are drivable, so one next year, and then NYC in 2011. PASIC is also in NYC, but I just love that group and want to go.
Sam
Sam, it was exhausting and
Sam, it was exhausting and while the trips were all worth it, I don't want to go anywhere for a looooong time. I mean, I don't even want to go to the coffee shop. But I have to, today, because I have to go to the post office. And since I live a million miles from anywhere, I like to combine trips. Once I'm out, I stay out for awhile. ;)
I love NYC and the NINC conference only worked out because my family ended up coming along -- they did their thing while I did mine, and that worked out better than I expected. And I love taking the train. Next year National is within driving distance, so I'm thinking it might be my first one.
M
I want to go more places.
I want to go more places. Living in the middle of nowhere does that to a person, you know. We actually drive to Reno at least twice a month and spend a few days in a hotel just to be near amenities. But my kids are grown. I hardly traveled at all when they were little because of the care taking thing. Maybe that's why I like traveling so much now. The only problem is the amount of money the kennel wants for two dogs. Ouch. But I'm will to pay for days away :)
I'm a homebody, I'll admit
I'm a homebody, I'll admit it. I have a thing about my own bed and my internet. :) and not sharing a bathroom. But I like to go places, too, so it's a tossup.
Ooh!
That IS an excellent next goal! Congrats on getting to this point as a writer and mom ;) As exhausting as all this travel is, it all sounds really good for you as a writer and person :)
I could still be a writer
I could still be a writer without the travel. It's just a perk. :)
M
Travelling is exhausting!!
I don't know how you do it!
We go, yearly, to Burbank to visit all the relatives. We stay at my FIL's house and we drive his spare car. So, aside from our airline tickets, most of it is paid for.
And it's still exhausting. The first couple of days are fun but then I want to eat my own food and sleep in my own bed.
I can't even imagine what it's like to do all that without your family around for support.
It certainly shows your commitment for what you do!
ani
Ani, Ani, Ani...I travel to
Ani, Ani, Ani...I travel to get AWAY from the family...LOL!
M
LOL!
OK, that I can get behind ;)
Definitely a worthy goal
That's why I'm always jealous of the people who have travelogue or travel/food shows - such as "Giada's Weekend Getaways" and Rachel Ray's "$40 A Day" which has morphed to something else now. If only I got paid to travel to fun places, do cool things and eat delicious food.
Someday...
That sounds good to me!
That sounds good to me!
OMG
Look at that smile on your face!! You don't even look strained. And your back is so straight! LOL I wasn't even half that big with any of my kids and I was miserable from month one on. You must be one tough cookie. :P Or I'm just a really big wimp. Or both. LOL
And welcome home. Glad you made it through your travels safe and sound. :P
Sassa-- I gave birth to two
Sassa-- I gave birth to two over 9 pound kids WITHOUT AN EPIDURAL.
Oh, and in that picture? I was still a few weeks from delivery. I was huge. It was amazing.
You rock!
Well, I hope you already knew that Megan, but seriously, OVER 9 pounds!? WOW! I didn't have an epidural either, but my kids were shrimps in comparison! And as Sassa said, you look super in the photo! I don't recall being nearly as chipper so late in the game ;)
Bwah! Thanks, Fedora. I look
Bwah! Thanks, Fedora. I look at that photo and think...wow. That was me. Wow!
Mostly I think, thank God I never have to do that again, EVERRRRRR!
M
Amen, sister!
We get asked all the time if we're having another, and although I used to get twinges of "hmm...they ARE so cute!" now I can just swiftly answer "nope, all done! But I'll hold yours for a little while if you'd like!"