Cinderella At the Ball - My First RWA Conference Experience

Last week I attended the Romance Writers of America annual convention. I hadn’t planned to go. But when three weeks before the conference  I suddenly found myself with a publisher who wanted to wine & dine me while there, I decided I was awesome  to attend.

A well-attended Harlequin workshop

Hey, especially since it was in Atlanta, my old high school stomping grounds.  Plus, my parental units are in Georgia = free babysitting.

There were about 2500 people (I’ll admit, mostly women) in attendance. The different types of romance writers present ran the absolute gamut: from sweet, inspirational romances to the type of stuff I cannot even think about without blushing.

We came together to celebrate and learn and meet and commiserate.  And I must say, it was wonderful.

Here was a group of women who understood almost every issue I have that involves writing. Joys such as: writing while children are screaming for dinner, the challenges of your “writing space” being the living room couch, and writing a sex scene when you know your mom is going to read it.

Everybody understood my problems and I understood theirs. I walked into a sisterhood I never knew I needed. But I know now.

My SOLD! Ribbon

It was my first RWA conference, although I didn’t wear the little
ribbon they gave me for my name tag that said so (btw, I don't wear a
t-shirt saying “I’m a tourist!!!” when I go to a new city either). But I did proudly sport my SOLD! ribbon indicating that I had sold my first book.

I was able to attend workshops about Surviving You First Book Deal, Boosting Energy & Beating Stress (more vegetables? Gross), Developing an Online Presence (wait, you want me to use social media MORE than I do now? Is that possible?), and Ergonomics for Writers (You mean sitting hunched over a computer for twelve hours in a row is not good for me?).

Plus there were workshops on self-publishing (which was, by far, the best attended workshops), pitches, plots, dialogue, research, serial killers, forensics, queries, steampunk and dozens of other topics. I didn’t make it to any of those, sadly.

Heather Long, Delores Fossen, Bab Han

Although the RWA convention itself was great, the really fabulous part for me was going there as Harlequin Author. I’ll never get tired of saying it… “Janie Crouch, author.”

Well, almost author. Soon. You know, in April 2014. But that little not-quite-published-yet detail didn’t matter to Harlequin. They brought me in like one of the family.

I got to go to parties and receptions and lunches and dinners, even a pajama party – all paid for by my publisher. Author-only stuff, like the famous (amongst writers) Harlequin soiree this year held at the Ritz Carlton.  I must admit, I felt important. Appreciated. Like Cinderella at the ball, except there were no pumpkins at midnight.

I was able to meet my delightful editor face-to-face and am looking forward to having a long and fruitful relationship with her. She’s tiny and fun. I'm sorry I don't have pictures us.

Nora Roberts& stalker on the dance floor

Plus, I got to see Nora Roberts (arguably the biggest name in contemporary romance) dancing to It’s Raining Men at the Harlequin Author party! I had to keep my distance due to an earlier... er,... stalking event, but we still did a "walk-by photo shoot". That woman can dance!

More importantly (yes, even more important than Nora Roberts dancing), I met the wonderful ladies of the Intrigue line. All of them highly successful authors, yet they still took me – someone they had never met and never read – and treated me like one of their own.  We laughed and sang and took crazy pictures and chatted for hours. They offered invaluable advice, and I’m thankful. I hope to be friends with these ladies for years to come.

Intrigue Authors - a true sisterhood

...or something. :-)

I left RWA counting my blessings: To have a book finished and new one in the works. To have a publishing contract. To have a husband and family who support me in all my neuroses.  And to have new friends who understand exactly where I am and where I'm trying to get. 

Cinderella at the ball, indeed. And no pumpkins in sight.

Sunday Showdown: AFI vs IMDb (#36-33)

It’s the Sunday Movie Showdown, The American Film Institute’s (AFI) Top 100 vs. the Internet Movie Databases’ (IMDb) Top 100.  We’re making our way down into the top 1/3 – trying to get this wrapped up by Summer’s end.

This week, four showdowns again:

#36 The Bridge on the River Kwai vs. Citizen Kane

#35 Annie Hall vs. Leon: The Professional

#34 Snow White and the Seven Dwarves vs. Forrest Gump

#33 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest vs. Dr. Strangelove

Just for the heck of it, let’s go in order.  #36: Bridge vs. Citizen Kane. Don’t waste my time. Bridge is a great movie and I liked it well enough in #79 to give it a win against The Wild Bunch. But against Citizen Kane?  No.  So this is a win for IMDb. But I have to be honest, the fact that Kane is so far down on the IMDb list makes me highly suspect of the entire top third.

#35. Annie Hall vs. Leon: The Professional.  This one wasn’t hard for me either. I have very fond memories  of The Professional, although some people don’t care for it. I loved the precocious Natalie Portman as a 12-year-old would-be hit man.  Then proceeded to wish she would take out Woody Allen and Diane Keaton’s characters in Anne Hall. I know Annie Hall is widely considered to be Woody Allen’s best work. All that means for me is that I’m never going to be a fan of Woody Allen.

#34: Snow White vs. Forrest Gump. This one gave me trouble. I enjoy Forrest Gump for the same reason I dislike it – the sentimentality. It makes me makes me laugh (“Yes sir, Drill Sergeant!”), it makes me cry (I wish I could throw those rocks at the house with you, Jenny!) and roll my eyes (no towel looks like that smiley face after wiping off mud!).

And for as much as I love the scene where Forrest and Jenny find each other again in the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, I remember very clearly screaming out in rage – to whatever Hollywood gods there be –  when Forrest Gump won best picture over both Pulp Fiction and Shawshank Redemption in 1994.   

The truth is: I like it. I watch Forrest every couple of years because it’s easy to watch and makes me feel good.

Snow White on the other hand? Yawn. I don’t like animated movies as a general rule. I didn’t like her singing voice. I honestly like the Snow White ride at Disney World better than the movie itself.  The story is kind of, you know... childish. 

But, I can appreciate Snow White for what it is: the world’s first full length animated movie, the first one in Technicolor, one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all time (adjusting for inflation).  Before Snow White, there was no such thing as an animated feature; Snow White changed cinema forever.

So even though I personally enjoy Forrest Gump more, I will give my vote to Snow White because of its cinematic significance.

Nurse Ratched

#33: Crazy vs. Crazy. Just pick one. Okay, I’ll go with Crazy. In this case I mean One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I’ve stated before how I just don’t get Dr. Strangelove.  Well, Cuckoo runs a close second in that department. But I could at least appreciate the acting in Cuckoo. Jack Nicholson was superb, but  it was Louise Fletcher’s Nurse Ratched that really haunted me. She goes down in list of top movie villains of all time. Both Nicholson and and Fletcher's Oscars were well-deserved.   

So, two to AFI this week and two to IMDb, making the overall score AFI – 40, IMDb – 30.

	AFI’s Top 100	IMDb’s Top 100 (as of 1/1/12)
	40	30
#11	City Lights (1931)	LoTR: Return of the King (2003)
#19	On the Waterfront (1954)	LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
#31	The Maltese Falcon (1941)	LoTR: The Two Towers(2002)
#33	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)	Dr. Strangelove (1964)
#34	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)	Forrest Gump (1994)
#35	Annie Hall (1977)	Leon: The Professional (1994)
#36	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)	Citizen Kane (1941)
#37	The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)	Apocalypse Now (1979)
#38	The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)	North By Northwest (1959)
#39	Dr. Strangelove (1964)	American Beauty (1999)
#40	The Sound of Music (1965)	American History X (1998)
#41	King Kong (1933)	Taxi Driver (1976)
#42	Bonnie and Clyde (1967)	Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
#43	Midnight Cowboy (1969)	Saving Private Ryan (1998)
#44	The Philadelphia Story (1940)	Vertigo (1958)
#45	Shane (1953)	Amelie (2001)
#46	It Happened One Night (1934)	Alien (1979)
#47	A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)	Wall E (2008)
#48	Rear Window (1954)	Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
#49	Intolerance (1916)	The Shining (1980)
#50	LoTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)	Spirited Away (2001)
#51	West Side Story (1961)	Paths of Glory (1957)
#52	Taxi Driver (1976)	A Clockwork Orange (1971)
#53	The Deer Hunter (1978)	Double Indemnity (1944)
#54	M*A*S*H* (1970)	To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
#55	North by Northwest (1959)	The Pianist (2002)
#56	Jaws (1975)	The Lives of Others (2006)
#57	Rocky (1976)	The Departed (2006)
#58	The Gold Rush (1925)	Memento (2000)
#59	Nashville (1975)	City Lights (1931)
#60	Duck Soup (1933)	Aliens (1986)
#61	Sullivan's Travels (1941)	Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)
#62	American Graffiti (1973)	Requiem for a Dream (2000)
#63	Cabaret (1972)	Das Boot (1981)
#64	Network (1976)	The Third Man (1949)
#65	The African Queen (1951)	L.A. Confidential (1997)
#66	Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)	Reservoir Dogs (1992)
#67	Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)	Chinatown (1974)
#68	Unforgiven (1992)	The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948)
#69	Tootsie (1982)	Modern Times (1936)
#70	A Clockwork Orange (1971)	Life is Beautiful (1997)
#71	Saving Private Ryan (1998)	Monty Python & the Holy Grail (1975)
#72	The Shawshank Redemption (1994)	Back to the Future (1985)
#73	Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid (1969)	The Prestige (2006)
#74	Silence of the Lambs (1991)	Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
#75	In the Heat of the Night (1967)	Raging Bull (1980)
#76	Forrest Gump (1994)	Cinema Paradiso (1988)
#77	All the President’s Men  (1976)	Singing In the Rain (1952)
#78	Modern Times (1936)	Some Like it Hot (1959)
#79	The Wild Bunch (1969)	The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
#80	The Apartment (1960)	Rashomon (1950)
#81	Spartacus (1960)	All About Eve (1950)
#82	Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)	Amadeus (1984)
#83	Titanic (1997)	Once Upon A Time in America (1984)
#84	Easy Rider (1969)	The Green Mile (1999)
#85	A Night at the Opera (1935)	Full Metal Jacket (1987)
#86	Platoon (1986)	2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
#87	12 Angry Men (1957)	Inglorious Basterds (2009)
#88	Bringing Up Baby (1938)	The Great Dictator (1940)
#89	Sixth Sense (1999)	Braveheart (1995)
#90	Swing Time (1936)	The Bicycle Thief (1948)
#91	Sophie’s Choice (1982)	The Apartment (1960)
#92	Up (2009)	Goodfellas (1990)
#93	The French Connection (1971)	Downfall (2004)
#94	Pulp Fiction (1994)	Gran Torino (2008)
#95	The Last Picture Show (1971)	Metropolis (1927)
#96	Do The Right Thing (1989)	The Sting (1973)
#97	Blade Runner (1982)	Gladiator (2000)
#98	Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)	The Maltese Falcon (1941)
#99	Toy Story (1995)	Unforgiven (1992)
#100	Ben Hur (1959)	The Elephant Man (1980)

  

Next week, a little out of order, since I'm out of town and won't have time to watch many movies (so I'll be mostly comparing couples that have already made it onto the list once) : #30 - Apocalypse Now vs. Memento; #25 - To Kill a Mockingbird vs. The Usual Suspects; #22 - Some Like It Hot vs. Raiders of the Lost Ark; #21 - Chinatown vs. Once Upon a Time in the West.