Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Now Where Did I Put My Sparkle?

There have been a lot of posts about how to pack for the RWA National Conference, what to bring to the conference and how to prepare for the conference's many offerings. You can read all about the various ways my fellow bloggers are getting ready for conference on some of these blogs:

Lynn Raye Harris
Okay,  Listen Here
Writing Playground

I won't add much to their words of wisdom other to say that along with all the clothes, shoes, makeup and hair products I plan to bring, I also pack a corkscrew. Now you know where my priorities are. Also, once at the conference hotel and situated in my room located in the beautiful Walt Disney Swan Resort, I will also trek down to a spot I know sells wine by the bottle and snacks (the Beaches Disney Vacation Hotel along the lagoon). This will help offset some of my costs while I am at the conference. Again, gotta have priorities.

I've got my main stuff ready: pitch, general packing list (always stored on the computer, then tweaked for the different events), a dress (actually 2!) for the Golden Heart/Rita Ceremony. Now I have some last minute preparations which have little to do with selling my work and more to do with finally beautifying myself for presenting my work and having fun with a group of women who are highly charged on romance and estrogen. And let me tell you, romance writers who usually sit around in jammies or work out clothes to write with their tied up in ponytails and who wear no make up on their faces transform into princesses for this RWA Annual Conference.

We Writing Caterpillars love to put on our sparkle for the the main ceremony: the Golden Heart/Rita Awards Ceremony for writers. The Golden Heart is the Oscars for Unpublished Writers. The Rita is the Golden Globes for Published Writers. And we love to celebrate all of these fantastic writers as they bask in the Golden Aura of their successes. So we trade in our slippers for fancy shoes, and we put on our Cinderella dresses. We toss our hair into coifs fit for royalty, and we powder sparkle on our skin. And voila! We become Writing Butterflies!

But oh, the transformation is not as easy as Cinderella's Fairy Godmother's wave of a wand and a "bippity boppity boo." Nope. At least not for moi, the voluptuous 40 plus "gee I feel like a watermelon with toothpicks for legs" writer. The transformation happens in stages. In no particular order, they are:

*buy a dress
*buy shoes
*buy bling for the hair
*buy bling for the neck, ears and wrist
*get hair done
*treat writing hands to a very necessary manicure
*treat feet, especially summer heels, to a super necessary pedicure
*use wrinkle erasing products around eyes and on forehead
*find elusive Miss Oops deodorant line smudge eraser
*buy anti puffy eye cream
*pray for a fairy to come erase 10 pounds and some cellulite (or buy spanks)
*find sparkle
*trade slippers and jammies for sparkle clothes and shoes

Somehow, I have to transform from this:




 And become fabulously sparkled enough to wear all this!





Let the sparkling begin!

10 comments:

Katherine Bone said...

Christine! If you want something a bit more formal, I found a great dress that would look perfect on you. E-mail me, okay?

Love your blog post! Never thought of myself as a butterfly, but now that I think of it, I am sparkly and colorful all over. ;)

Christine said...

Hi Kathy: I am good with what I found. I seriously am glad the dang things fit. And they are sparkly, I promise. The black with the bling will work and my legs need to show! I only have legs left!!

You are a butterfly inside and out. Can't wait to see you at the conference!

Heidi said...

I think the blue one is great. There will be a lot of people in black there - you will stand out in the other one!

Christine said...

Thanks Heidi! I think I am bringing both dresses and making my mind up when I get there. I love the blue dress--but the black makes me look skinnier LOL.

And bling is my thing :-)

Karen Jones Gowen said...

The dresses are beautiful and I love the silver shoes! Have fun at conference. You will be very lovely and sparkly.

Christine said...

Thanks KarenG! I will sparkle during this conference! I am really looking forward to it for so many reasons. I just wish all my blog buddies could come, too!

Debra Glass said...

Enjoy the conference!

Christine said...

Hi Debra: I will put my sparkle on every day while I am in Orlando. :-)

Wendy S Marcus said...

Hi Christine!
Had my pedicure this morning. Hope to squeeze in a haircut. Bummed that I won't be at the Golden Heart/Rita award dinner. I made my reservation too late and couldn't get a room for Saturday night so I'll be heading out around 4:30 on Saturday. I could have gotten a room in another hotel but wanted to stay at the Dolphin. Make sure you post a picture of your final look so I won't feel bad about missing it!

Christine said...

I'm bummed too Wendy! I will be sure to take LOTS of pictures and post them. But I hope I get to see you while you are there. We are staying at the Dolphin. Can't wait!!!!!

Hair's done. Pedi/Mani are for Monday--cleaned house today so decided to wait till right before I left.

I've redone my pitch 4 times, but I think I've got it down now. Whew.