In March, I went to my second California Dreamin’ Writers Conference in Orange County. And I was Absolutely Horrible. I took selfies and–oh man, I can’t even say it–I made people do duck face and I made some even do the dreaded Prom Pose. My duck face looks more like a goldfish face. It’s embarrassing. So of course, I tweeted it. I sat in the front row of each workshop and I live-tweeted like the Teacher’s Pet that I’ve been since the first grade. I met a fellow YARWA-ian D.K. Dailey, while I was live-tweeting Debra Dixon’s Book Camp. I cheered for her when she won the Hooker Contest.
I reconnected with some writers that I met at the Romance Writers of America National Conference last July. This time, I didn’t eat all their food. One even stopped the bus boy, when he tried to take my three desserts, when I was going for a fourth. She remembered how cranky I got when a server took my food in San Diego. She’ll remain nameless, but she’s one of my faves.
I left my i-Pad in the gym and ruined my bathing suit when I stayed too long in the hot tub. I think I was being Punished for tweeting too many selfies. I’m sure my Twitter followers muted me for all of the silly pictures.
I met some amazing writers. Laura Drake said, “You can sit with us” with her RWA crew at breakfast and they gave me sage writerly advice, but didn’t tell me whether “writerly” was actually a word. Overall, I had too much fun and my writing goals were reignited. I got my HEA when someone returned my i-Pad, but my bathing suit still looks like it was tie dyed. Worth it.
Jennifer Farrar 