Thursday, July 29, 2010
Alcohol units: 4
Social gaffes: Probably 1 or 2, as usual when I am in a more formal social situation.
Ego boosts: 1 (amazing dinner for Pocket authors).
7:00 a.m. Wake up refreshed, relaxed, not in need of a wake-up call. Ready to face the day! But there's no rush. The first event is lunch at 12: 15 with Nora Roberts. Enjoy a leisurely morning with Julie, who makes us coffee and shares her granola bars (what a sweet roommate!), and a call home to check in on husband and kids. It's my daughter's birthday, and I want to make sure she gets cake. Birthdays mean must have cake. After a pleasant morning, with a view of the sun shining over the Tower of Terror out my window, I shower, dress, and get ready to hit the workshops.
11:15 p.m. Julie and I head for the lobby and meet up with dear friend and fabulous author, the legendary Virginia Henley. Virginia is gorgeous, decked out in bright colors, as she always is, and she thinks I've lost weight. I do love Virginia Henley. Virginia and I catch up while Julie heads to Barnes and Noble to check out the Nook. I've been telling Julie about my Kindle, and she is torn between e-reading devices. Julie takes so long looking at the Nook that Virginia and I browse around the Barnes and Noble conference bookshop. No sign of Jane Slayre (hmph) but we find Virginia's anthology, Lords of Desire.
12:00 p.m. It's close to lunch time. We finally wrench Julie away from the Nook display and head for lunch. We end up at a table with delightful women, like Regina Jeffers. Regina and I have just met, but we realize we have something in common: we both write with long-dead well-respected women. Regina writes paranormals that play on Jane Austen's works. I've written with Charlotte Bronte. She tells me about a panel she was a guest on at the Smithsonian with Seth-Grahame Smith and Ben Winters. Ben signed a copy of Android Karenina for me, so I am a fan. Very cool! So glad I got to meet Regina.
Nora's lunch speech is fabulous, hits all the right notes for me. She talks about her dearest friends, women she met while attending RWA conferences, and I think of my dearest friends, and I miss Kathleen Givens so much. I wish Julia London had been able to attend. But I'm thankful for all my friends, for Dee, Julie K, Kathleen O'Reilly, Jacquie, Virginia, Julie O, and so many more. The friends I have made at RWA conferences give me incredible support and make my life so much richer. They're not just my conference friends or my writing friends. They're my circle, my community, the people I count on day after day even though we all live far away from each other. Thank goodness for email and cheers to RWA! So glad I joined and met all these great people, and meet new ones all the time. If you write, go to conferences. Join writing groups. Network! You won't be sorry.
The meal at lunch is not so bad. Chicken, yes, but not quite the rubber chicken we usually get at conferences. It's baked with a crumb crust and juicy, not dry, served with crisp veggies. I only have a few bites of the dessert pie. Too much good food so far at WDW.
2:00 p.m. After lunch, I attend my first workshop. Lou Aronica opens the PAN (published authors network) sessions with a talk on The State of the Industry, and it's what I expect. Good news and bad news, with an emphasis on the growth of the digital market and what it means for us, the authors. I learn a lot from Lou's talk and he leaves me with much to consider.
4:30 p.m. I meet a friend for coffee at Picabu, the Dolphin's 24 hour buffeteria. Lisa Mondello. Lisa and I met at our local chapter RWA in 1998, the year we'd both sold our first books. We've kept in touch through the years and it's great to catch up. Lisa has brought a friend, CJ Eernise Chase, another familiar face from the New England Chapter of RWA. Networking. So important, and so rewarding.
5 p.m. Unfortunately, I have to dash off to get ready for my very special publisher dinner. Pocket Books is taking their authors out to dinner, and I'm very excited. Can't wait!
6:30 p.m. Meet in the lobby of the Swan for transport to Epcot's The Living Seas, the location for the evening's festivities. I talk to Karen Hawkins and meet Molly Harper at last. So excited to meet Molly! We share an agent, Stephany Evans at FinePrint Literary Management, and an editor, Jennifer Heddle, and we've guested on each other's blogs. Then we all get on the bus to take us to the Living Seas.
Be still my Disney Geek Heart! We're taken in through the back way, an employee-only area. Ladies and gentleman, the backside of World Showcase! And Test Track. And somehow we end up behind the Land Pavilion and then, ta-daa, The Living Seas (Now also known as the Seas with Nemo and Friends, but we won't be seeing Nemo today). In back of the Living Seas. An area I never thought I would see. My excited reaction to the view of warehouses and back streets surprises some of my fellow authors. Don't they understand? People usually don't get to see this side of WDW! Before we're allowed off the bus, we have to have our bags searched. We'll be entering the park. It's procedure. Cool!
After the search, we're given the go-ahead to leave the bus. Escorts are waiting to bring us into the park through a door behind the Living Seas Pavilion. We walk in, by the seagulls (Mine, Mine, Mine). A kid asks his mom who we are and why we're all dressed up (there are about 20 of us in cocktail attire). I say we're on a special mission to ride Test Track. The mom does not laugh. Oh well. We go in through a side door to a banquet facility in the Living Seas. Sweet!
We're in a reception room surrounded by the tanks, fantastic view. Sea turtles, fish-- four divers! They come to the window by turns and wave and make gestures at our food and drink. There's pita with hummus. Champagne. Neat little name tags with our book covers. And after a second bus load of authors arrive, dinner!
We're seated at tables with an aquarium view. There's Sonoma goat cheese ravioli with sun-dried tomato nectar, shiitake mushrooms, and basil. Salad with candied pecans, apple, blue cheese, and dried cranberry vinaigrette, a palate cleanser of fruity ice. For dinner, service is family style. A platter of oak-fired Tanglewood chicken breasts with fregola pasta, applewood smoked bacon, almonds, sultanas, arugula, and sherry chicken au jus. Slow-roasted Atlantic salmon with herb gnocchi, wild mushrooms, and mustard-chive cream. Sliced oak-grilled beef tenderloin with roasted fingerling potatoes, caramelized onions, and teriyaki barbecue sauce. Wow, decadence! Red wine or white? I'm torn, and choose red.
Dinner is a little hurried, due to timing issues. We have a private viewing area set up for dessert at IllumiNations and we need to get us all out there in time for the 9 p.m. show. Escorts with light-sabre like red posts lead us through the crowds, from the Living Seas to the International Gateway gift shop. The area behind the shop is roped off, for our use only. We draw stares, of course, all those vacationing families wondering who we are and why we're getting special treatment. And there's an amazing dessert bar and an open bar. I feel like royalty! A new Disney princess.
I sample a few desserts and a drink. I'm in awe, as usual. The fireworks, staging, soundtrack, lighting, and flames of IllumiNations always leave me breathless. We all watch and ooh and ahhh. And as soon as it ends, we're led back to the waiting bus, this time around the back of the old Odyssey restaurant. I'm still in a daze of happiness as we take off for the ride back to the Dolphin. A Disney Geek's dream come true. Thank you, Pocket Books!
2 comments:
What an experience!!!! What a wonderful day you had!
We were originally scheduled for dinner at the California Grill, and I was excited about that, too. But I do that every trip. This was due to some kind of mix-up and Disney really made it special. Such a unique experience! I'll never forget it.
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