Left alone with giant cockroaches in Atlanta

The conference is over, most of the 2200 (!!!) RWA people have left, only I've been left behind and am forced to face the giant cockroaches on my own (though, the one we found underneath Kris Alice's suitcase was dead) (lucky us!). Boohooo! The day after a conference is always terribly anti-climactic, and when Kris Alice, my roomie, left for the airport about an hour ago I nearly started bawling on her shoulder. I had an absolutely fantabulous conference this year and will post some more about it as soon as I'm a) back home, b) less sleepy, and c) in possession of a German keyboard again! And I'll soon have some fantabulous news to share with you, too! So please keep your fingers crossed that I'm not eaten up by the cockroaches tonight!

The Last of Sandy

Cosmetics packed, kitties fed, bathroom cleaned, dishes done, Sandy finished (she also just realized that she's forgotten to print out directions how to get to party on Tuesday evening -- aaaargh! *head on table*)

Still need to do litter trays. :-/

~*~

On this cheerful note, I leave you all alone for a week or more. I'm sure I'll be all excited by tomorrow morning, but right now, I'm just horribly tired. So, good night, everybody. Stay safe!

RWA Countdown -- Sunday: Almost There!

After packing most of my stuff yesterday, I spent this morning beautifying myself:

• dyed my hair (not in any funky colour, just darkened my own a bit)
• after drying hair, realized I didn't like the look of my bangs (not really bang, but more of a slightly shorter front), thus cut my hair (and I'm not talking about having it cut here!)
• after cutting the front, I set out to improve the back => cut more hair. Surprisingly, it doesn't even look all that bad! (That just shows you I've got an adventurous streak after all! Ha!)
• painted toenails (unfortunately, toenails still look crap -- they're a hopeless case)

Now I need to experiment with the cold wax strips for a bit and paint my fingernails afterwards. Still need to do the print outs, clean the bathroom and do the dishes (or else my Mum will keel over when she enters the kitchen ...)

AND I realized I can use my cell phone in the US. Ain't that cool?


Update #1 (2 p.m.)
Look of toenails greatly improved with different nail polish. Toenails fine, but scraped my knee. Goodbye sophistication!

Update #2 (3 p.m.)
Yes! Can use cell phone in US!!! Yipee! In addition, I've just finished putting together the booklet with all my snippets of BETRAYAL, so I can work on the novella while travelling. :O)

Update #3 (10 p.m.)
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! My WM player is throwing a fit and refused to sync my John Denver songs to the MP3 player. Booohooo! Had to use my other 'puter with an old WM player. Couldn't create folders. What the heck. Music is finall on the stupid player. BUT bathroom is still uncleaned, dishes still undone, litter trays equally uncleaned. -- And I'm turning mad.

Wanna stay at home!!!

(And now I'm listening to Christmas songs ...)

(Told you I'm slowly turning as mad as a March Hare!)

Nearly Done!

Yay! I've almost finished packing:

• the "big" suitcase is done (it's not all that big, really) (I'm so good!);
• brandnew wallet is filled with dollars (the old one looked ratty, which is not at all the look I'm aiming for) (I'm aiming for "cool & sophisticated", of course) (bwahahaha -- whom am I kidding?);
• shopper stuffed with calendar, small RWA programme, Betrayal notebook, passport (gosh, what am I going to do if they tell me it's the wrong passport and I need one of these brandnew, terribly expensive, comes-with-strange-picture passport after all???) (it's not as if I hadn't looked it up on the internet AND phoned my airline about it) (oh yes, I asked my poor friend Kris about it, too) (at this point, I'd like you all to stop and fall silent for a Minute of Pity for Kris: she's going to be my roomie in Atlanta), book to read on plane (Veronica Stallwood, Oxford Fall), pain killers (in case I get a headache), chewing gum to help prevent travel sickness (actually, it's the chewing gum that makes me sick), assortment of pens

But I still need to:

• print out workshop script
• print out short bio for moderator to read at the beginning of my workshop
• print out hotel info and registration confirmation
• print out info how to find to party on Tuesday evening
• pack my cosmetics
• put the razor and scissors into the big luggage
• pack my hand luggage
• feed cats
• clean litter tray
• clean bathroom ('cause it looks horrid and will cause my poor Mum to drop dead when she does the litter tray next week) (so, 'cause I love my Mum, I'll have to clean the bathroom) (or at least, make it look as if it had been cleaned!)

And now I'm feeling a short moment of panic....

Okay, okay, breathe deep ... in and out ... in and out ...

RWA Countdown -- Saturday: Packing Day!

Are we panicking yet?

YEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, I'd like to stay at home. :-/ Gosh, I hate these last few days before a a big journey ...

Buried in Bookmarks

At the moment I'm packing all my promo stuff (and burning those CDs!!!). Now, the big question is: How many bookmarks do I take for the goodies room? How many for the signing? How many for the Beau Monde conference? How many teaser booklets? (And will people like my teaser booklets???)

To make matters worse, I've just been told that I can't bring as much luggage as last year. No longer 60 kilos on transatlantic flights. Boohooo! How unfair is that?

'nother Shoe Crisis Averted in the Afternoon

Waaaaaaaaaah! Can't take the brandnew shoes 'cause I get damp feet in them. Why? Why? It's leather for heaven's sake! Okay, okay, here's Plan B: take normal black sandals to wear in Atlanta if temperature inside hotel permits it. Wear ancient sandals on the plane. (And I mean ancient: approximately 20 years! We're talking about children's shoes here! But they're totally comfortable and look nice in a hippie-ish sort of way when you're wearing jeans.)

Went watch-shopping today since the battery of the old watch died and I forgot to have it replaced. Besides, I thought it was time I went and bought a new watch. Or rather, two: I bought one sleek, black thingy and -- brace yourselves! -- a children's watch! :) It's the perfect summer watch in shades of light green with a few pinkish flowers. Not at all gharish, but really nice. (Of course. Else I wouldn't have bought the thing, right?)

Also got a new notebook to continue working on "Betrayal" while in Atlanta. It's rather small and looks like an old book. Let's hope the Muse is so charmed she graciously stops by for a smooching party!

RWA Countdown -- Friday: Are we panicking yet? Nah, not us!

Finished workshop preps at 2:00 in the morning. Now I feel as if something dropped onto my head. I also have the sneaky suspicion that I'm going to sound like a cheap ad for Rhine tourism. Ah, what the heck, I'll be doing something for our economy, right? *ggg*

Now it's just burning the CDs.

And packing.

And realizing I've forgotten to buy something totally essential to survival. (Sometimes you need to remind yourself that the conference will NOT take place in the middle of some wilderness, but in a hotel that's right next to a shopping centre!)

Procrastinating

Yes, yes, you're absolutely right. It's that time again: the kitties need to be fed, the litter trays cleaned and the hallway cleared of icky hairballs (again *sigh*). Oh yes, and the preps for the workshop need to be finished.

Er ...

Which workshop???

*taps finger thoughtfully against her lips*

Workshop, workshop ... What the heck is that?

:-P

Just kidding. I'll be a good girl this evening and finally finish those preps. Just yesterday I found some really nice new links to old Rhine panoramas and stuff like that. But before I get back to all of that, I thought I'd post the cover pic of that KARL comic I'll give away during the workshop since several people won't have heard of KARL before:

RWA Countdown -- Found Shoes!!!

Yay! I've finally found shoes I can wear on the plane and for walking around Georgia Aquarium on Tuesday. Bought the last few presents today (bookmark calendars) and got the KARL novel I want to use as a give-away in my workshop. Still need to finish the preps for the workshop, though. And burn 50 CDs.

Oh ... and feed the cats, of course. *g*

RWA Countdown -- Wednesday: Major Crisis Just Occurred

Ooops, I've just realized that I don't have any business cards. That's something I always, always forget. Shoot 'n sugar! Wellllll .... I'll give out bookmarks instead. Easy! :)

Will need to go shoe-shopping tomorrow. And gummibears-shopping! Originally, I had planned to take small chocolate bars (my favourite: Rausch Java or Madagaskar! Yum!) as small gifts for friends, but in face of this enormous heat wave I decided to switch to gummibears. Less icky than molten chocolate!!!

Had my very last lesson in this semester today. It dragged along quite horribly, but I just wasn't in the mood for a full-blown nasty temper tantrum because they obviously had not read the stuff I had asked them to read. *roll eyes* Their bad: they missed all the naughty bits of Chaucer's "Miller's Tale"! Tee-hee!

Any volunteers?

Would anybody like to finish my preps for tomorrow's lesson on "The Knight's Tale" & "The Miller's Tale" from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales for me? It's got knights and swords and fights and love and lots of naughty bits, too! Quite cool, in fact. But it's just too hot here to work. Besides, I've been bitten by the conference bug and now feel rather jumpy. A friend of mine bought tickets for the Georgia Aquarium, which is apparently the biggest aquarium in the world, and we will be going there in a week's time. Exciting, isn't it?

Oh, and btw, if you can't come to Atlanta this year, but still would like to experience some of the exciting even if only via armchair-travel, you'll be interested to hear that a new blog went up with summaries of National-related posts in blogosphere: Blogging National

RWA Countdown -- Tuesday: Less than a week!

Okay, this weekend I finally started looking forward to RWA National. Yay! Okay, I still need to finish the preps for my workshop (but what the heck), burn 75 CDs (but what the heck) and hope I'll manage to stuff everything into my suitcase (but what the heck). In a week's time I'll be enjoying the sights and delights of Atlanta, Georgia (well, exactly a week from now I'll probably be having breakfast) -- so, hey, yes, there are plenty of things to look forward to!!!!

BETRAYAL Update

Started to work properly on BETRAYAL again. (Well, if I want to start the reading at the beginning of August, I had better start writing now, right?) My heroine is walking along the banks of the Main and is having impure thoughts about her employer's secretary.

Georgina remembered how he had looked earlier today -- deliciously hot and
tussled --, remembered the pang of heat that had exploded in her stomach.

Smiling, she touched her lips.

For all his gentleness, there was still heat there, the promise of
beautiful passion. She had seen it in the flare of his eyes, in the strength of
his fingers that had craddled hers while he pressed his lips into her
palm.

Outrageously, skin to skin.

Her smiled turned dreamy.

At the tingles that had shot up her arm, she had not been able to prevent a
gasp, half a moan, really. He had let go of her hand, but his gaze had still
held fast to hers. His lips had curved into a lazy smile, making her think of
how his mouth would feel on other parts of her body -- her neck, her breasts,
the soft flesh of her belly ...


PS: Note how I changed her name from Georgiana to Georgina. And no Ginnying at the moment, either!

One Week ' till Atlanta ...

... and I still have neither finished the preps for my workshop, nor all the promo stuff. In addition, Audacity, my audio-file-editing programme has started to act up and sent several parts of the recording of BETRAYAL into the bytes-&-bits-nirwana. Argh! Argh! Argh! Luckily I've already exported a wav-file of the recording, so now I can work with that thing. Well, sort of.

Oh, which reminds me: I wanted to check with the airline whether the flight has been rescheduled or not. I'll be soooo happy when I finally sit in that stupid plane next week. Or even better: when I'll have safely arrived at the airport in Atlanta.

Nay, make that "when I'll be sitting in my room in the hotel"! Because that'll mean nothing went wrong with the booking and we've really got a room...

Shopping for RWA

Went shopping. For most of the day today. Ran around the Main-Taunus-Zentrum (a really huge, big shopping centre near Frankfurt) like a headless chicken and felt ready to collapse at the end. Now my bedroom looks as if several plastic bags filled clothes have exploded in the room. Please, someone lend me magical powers to tidy that room in the space of the seconds!

Shadows of RWA National

Today I created 72 CD covers. Cut them. Wrote appropriate titles on them. Realized colour scheme was not that good. (BIG CRISIS!) Reshuffled covers, cut some more, wrote appropriate titles on them & finally stuffed them into CD pockets.

Bookmarks have finally arrived, yet without the glossy finished I ordered. Am seriously p.o. Grrr.

Promo CD for BETRAYAL came out just fine and my artistery on the pianoforte doesn't even sound as bad as I feared it would. So yay!

Even did some clothes-shopping on Tuesday! Bought a new outfit for the cocktail party I've been invited to. And some seriously low-cut tee-shirts. Hehe.

:O)

Guest Blog

I blogged about romance and fairy tales at www.teachmetonight.blogspot.com -- and manfully (or should that be womanfully?) refrained from palavering about the fairy tale references in THE LILY BRAND. *g* I'm so good.

Mixed up Tunes

They're playing a funny game over at The Mystic Castle :

a) choose a song

b) go to Babel Fish and translate the lyrics from English to German,

c) German to French,

d) French to English,

e) and then people have to guess which song it is. :O)

Soooo, what do you think of this:

They fill in top my directions like one night in the forest, like the
mountains in spring, a manner in the rain, a storm in the desert, as you fill, with a somnolent blue ocean, come in top my directions still fill me.

Latest Ikea Adventures

Decided I needed another Billy shelf with doors in my library and more shelves in my home office. Thus dragged some old shelves from library into home office (ta-da!) and went to Ikea on Saturday -- surprisingly few people did the same (good for me!) -- to buy new shelves for the library. Plus doors. Managed to drop a door onto my foot (it ... uhm ... hurt) (like hell, in fact). Luckily, also managed to stuff all the shelves and doors into my car (despite hurting foot). Drove home. Just after I had arrived home, it started to rain (the cats-and-dogs variety of rain). Splendid. Foot still hurt. Cats needed feeding (and had been sick in the hallway) (what's new?). Too tired to put shelves together that evening. Instead, put shelves together this morning. Realized I don't need half an hour after all to put a Billy shelf together. I need 11 minutes! Yay!

Still, putting shelves together and putting the books back in, took much longer than I thought. Of course, had to watch the celebration of the German football team in Berlin at high noon. :) But by now, the shelves in the library are all standing and are filled with books. Yay! Yay! Yay!

Uhm ....

Of course, I still haven't managed to start with the preps for my Beau Monde workshop.

OR to continue working on BETRAYAL.

Lalala ....

The egg's hatched!

Have you seen what has become of my egg? Scroll down and have a look at the bottom of the sidebar!

BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not of the human variety, though, but fish babies. Our kois have gone forth and have multiplied. Well, they've eaten up most of it afterwards, but so far at least three little fishlies have survived. Today I saw one of them -- sooooooo cute!

Yet in a pond fraud with dangers (among those their doting, or rather, not so doting parents), it's not very likely that any of the fish-babies will reach adolescence, let alone adulthood. :-/

Apart from fish-watching, I also wrote an article for HOWL, our departmental student magazine, today: "Romancing the Web". It's all about readers' message boards, blogging and podcasting. As you can see, I'm quite determined to get my students hooked on romance. :-)

Hare & Hounds

I've found an online version of Hare & Hounds, the popular 19th-century board game:

Hare & Hounds

Hints to find the "Hidden Pages" on the new website

So far, all links to the Hidden Pages have been hidden behind pictures. And there's usually some sort of logical connection between the page on which the link appears and the Hidden Page itself. Thus, the links to the excerpts of HIGHLAND LOVE, which is, not surprisingly *g* set in Scotland, can be found on a page that has something to do with Scotland.

In addition, look out for pics in unlikely places. :)

Hope that helps!

Hints to find the "Hidden Pages" on the new website

So far, all links to the Hidden Pages have been hidden behind pictures. And there's usually some sort of logical connection between the page on which the link appears and the Hidden Page itself. Thus, the links to the excerpts of HIGHLAND LOVE, which is, not surprisingly *g* set in Scotland, can be found on a page that has something to do with Scotland.

In addition, look out for pics in unlikely places. :)

Hope that helps!

Yay!

The new website is now online!!!

Apart from several new pages, e.g. The Lily Brand around the World, there's also a brandnew feature: the hidden pages. You can access them only if you find the hidden links. So far, there are eight of them, e.g. "Fun Facts about Sandra" (I'm sure you always wanted to know how long it takes me to put an Ikea Billy-shelf together! *g*) and several excerpts from HIGHLAND LOVE, my first novel in English.

I hope you'll enjoy browsing through the new site. Please let me know if there are any problems or mistakes with the new design.