Up, Up, and Away! - Kara Isaac

This time in two weeks I will be winging my way to Orlando to attend the RWA (Romance Writers' of America) annual conference.  I've never attended an RWA conference before an am super excited and a little overwhelmed at the idea of being in the same place as 2000 other romance writers!

While this is my first RWA conference, I have attended about five ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conferences over the last eight years. I thought it might be useful to share some of the tips I've picked up during my travels:

With Lucy Thompson, Valerie Comer and Catherine West at the ACFW Conference

• Also leave a buffer for jet lag: a few years ago I naively thought that I would be "fine" to arrive at my US destination late at night and go straight into the conference Early Bird session the next morning. Bad, bad, terrible idea. Despite the twenty odd hours of travelling I was bright eyed and bushy tailed well into the small hours of the morning which meant that by the time the second hour of the session ticked over I could barely keep my eyes open let alone learn anything. Ever since then I've always budgeted on an extra night at the hotel to give myself a day to recover from the travel. 
• Get the official stuff done early: This year I have a new passport which meant I had to re-apply for my visa waiver to enter the US. You can apply for it up to 48 hours before departure and previously it has been approved immediately. This time I decided to do it early so I had it ticked off the to-do list and am very thankful that I did as it wasn't approved immediately and instead is "authorisation pending" with an expected three day turnaround. Leaving it to the last minute would have resulted in huge stress and possibly not having it sorted by the time I was due to depart!
• Plan for breaks: If you're a writer, attending a writers' conference is one of the most exciting things on your calendar. Anticipated workshops, catching up with old friends, making new ones, networking opportunities, the list goes on. However, unless you are an extreme extrovert there will be a point where it will all get too much. I always plan my schedule so that if I need to go and hide on my hotel room for some quiet time I have flagged when the best time for that is. Be it missing a meal, skipping a workshop that I can access later, or saying no to an optional event.
• Get some small notes: Banks seem to have an affinity for handing out $100 and $50 bills when it comes to changing money but it certainly doesn't make you popular if you want to pay for a $2 drink or, worse, have someone waiting for a tip and you have no change or small bills to give them! 
• Look of ways to serve:  Not only is it a great way to meet other people but all of these conferences are only possible due to the efforts of many many volunteers. From registration, to putting books on tables, to timing appointments. There are opportunities for almost every schedule. 

What about you? What are you conference tips (writers or otherwise!) 

Kara Isaac lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She is the author of Close to You, a RITA Award Double Finalist, and Can't Help Falling, an RT Review Top Pick. Her latest book Then There Was You released on June 22. When she's not chasing three adorable but spirited little people, she spends her time writing horribly bad first drafts and wishing you could get Double Stuf Oreos in New Zealand. She loves to connect on her website, on Facebook at Kara Isaac - Author and Twitter @KaraIsaac   

Happy Birthday?

On 15^th October, ICFW turned six. Hard to believe we’ve been going for so long already. Happy birthday everyone—it’s been an awesome ride!

Just over six weeks ago, I turned the double five in Dallas, Texas, far away from home. No husband, no children, no grandchildren—absolutely no family to wish me, and kiss me, and spoil me rotten. I wasn’t even connected to them via cyberspace.

The day started off in the presence of nearly five hundred authors. That morning was Zone Breakfast and I was seated at a table of ten other writers from around the world—my Beyond the Borders ACFW Zone 11 sisters. They hailed from Australia, Canada, Brazil (and I think one or two other countries I can’t remember) and they sang “Happy Birthday” to me before our meal was served. It was at this breakfast that I got to meet our very own, Lisa Harris, for the fist time, even though we both live in the southern part of Africa.

Zone Breakfast - Beyond the Borders, Zone 11

Lisa Harris and me.

The first official day of the 15^th American Christian Fiction Writers conference, the hours passed by in a flurry of workshops, and agent and editor pitches. Bill Myers, the keynote speaker was brilliant—entertaining, funny...most of all, SOOO encouraging. But as usual, I struggled through worship. I find it hard to sing these days without the tears flowing. So most of the time, I just kept quiet and enjoyed the praise and worship in silence.

Some of my closest and dearest writing friends insisted on treating me for dinner that evening. As we’d all flown in, and the conference was held at the Hyatt Hotel at Dallas Forthworth Airport, leaving the hotel was not feasible. But the hotel had a great steakhouse—an expensive steakhouse—where we all ate anything but steak. Although I was being treated by my friends, I could not justify them paying what I perceived being the price of half an ox back home for one steak (it was impossible to turn off the forex calculator that kept multiplying each dollar by fourteen to get a rand amount). Salad and soup with Judith, Narelle and Heidi was great though, and they’d arranged a tasty birthday dessert that we shared. It was fun! Joined later by my other crit partner, Janet, we relaxed after dinner in the lounge area that buzzed with authors, agents and editors.

Birthday dinner with Narelle Atkins (another ICFW icon)

Special writing friends, Heidi McCahan and Judith Robl
celebrate my birthday with me

The day, however, was bittersweet. Although my friends made me feel so special, I could not ignore the fact that this particular birthday sat right in the middle of two very sad milestones. The day before my birthday, my mom had been gone for two months. The day after my birthday would be a month since my dad joined her in heaven. This was the first birthday where there’d be no birthday phone call from them, the first where they would not wish me for the day—not because I was on the other side of the world, but because they were on the other side of life.

Turning 55 is a birthday I’ll never forget...because of the unusualness of the day, but mostly because of the sadness September 18th brought.

Happy birthday to me? Yes. And no.

Have you ever celebrated something that was sweet and at the same time, bitter?

MARION UECKERMANN's passion for writing was sparked when she moved to Ireland with her family. Her love of travel has influenced her contemporary inspirational romances set in novel places. She now lives in South Africa in an empty nest with her husband and their crazy black Scottie, Wally.

Visit Marion at her website: www.marionueckermann.com