ACFW moments: the good, the bad, and the ugly

I wrote a post yesterday, but Blogger ate it. So, instead of a cohesive and intelligent report from the ACFW conference, I'll round up some random memories in no particular order. Which might be more interesting anyway.

An encouraging moment: As I walked down the hall, I overheard a young man mention P.G. Wodehouse as a favorite author. Yeah! I've loved Wodehouse since I was a kid. It's nice to know some people still read the oldies-but-goodies.

A mind-boggling moment: When I started to comprehend Mary DeMuth's words about writing as a calling. This whole crazy journey is a gift, like Moses' journey with God's children was a gift and a calling. It wasn't something God would take away from him. It was what Moses was born to do.

A puzzling moment: when the moderator asked editors on a panel to name a memorable book they'd read lately, and several of them couldn't come up with a title. Hmm...this is troubling.

An answered-prayer moment: I had asked God to give me just one minute with a particular editor, not to pitch to him, but to ask if a friend could submit her work since she couldn't attend the conference, but she won her category of the Genesis contest. At breakfast on Sunday, he walked by. I said hi, and he sat down and said he had five minutes. That's five times what I'd asked for.

A fun moment: watching a tango lesson in the hotel lobby at midnight.

A sweet moment: learning that my favorite agents in the whole wide world left a basket of chocolates for me at the front desk. Sadly, they're gone now. The chocolates, I mean. Not the agents.

And I guess I can't think of any bad or ugly moments except the way my flight home was delayed again and again. Even that wasn't too bad because I had friends, books, and chocolate to help pass the time. But next time, I think I'm driving. Right, Suzan?

ACFW 2006

I had a lovely time at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Dallas over the weekend. It's fun to be around people who have imaginary friends to talk about, or even to talk to. Among fiction writers, muttering under your breath as you walk down the hall, alone, is considered normal behavior. Everybody knows you're just having an argument with a recalcitrant character, or maybe figuring out what kind of tree to make that character climb and what kind of rocks to throw at him once he's up there.

I met many wonderful people, some of whom were already my online friends. I reconnected with people I've known for years. I had dinner with my wonderful agent and some of her other clients, I consumed too much chocolate and coffee, and I hung out with some amazing writers, published and unpublished, who give and give and give some more, all for the love of God and people and good writing. I just wish I'd brought a camera.

Techno-klutz and the very expensive coffee

I simply cannot make myself be technologically adept.

In my last post, when I tried to link to my friend Dee's post about meeting each other in Atlanta last month, I didn't link to that post specifically, just to her blog in general, so if you clicked on the link, you were probably scratching your head and asking, "Huh? What does a rattlesnake have to do with it?" Or a dog with a Frisbee, or fancy boots or whatever she happened to be blogging about on that particular day. If that last bit confuses you, you'll just have to go read Dee's blog. Anyway, I've changed the link in my previous post.

Now, speaking of technology, take a lesson from me and keep all beverages far from your laptops, okay? A couple of weeks ago, my laptop had a close encounter with my morning coffee. That was one expensive cup of joe. Thank God the hard drive survived just fine even though I didn't know you should immediately unplug the thing and yank the battery so it can't short circuit. And thank God for my friend Jim, who found a replacement keyboard online. All is well, and my coffee is far from my laptop.

I am still figuring out my cell phone.