On July 12, I boarded a plane and set off for sunny San Diego and my first RWA national conference. Since joining RWA last fall, I’d been mulling over attending. I had plenty of reasons why I shouldn’t go (I haven’t joined a chapter yet, the only people I knew I hadn’t met in person, my hubs would have to take off time to watch the kids, etc) which spurred me to go.

In my life, if I’m feeling intimidated by something I know that’s when I need to (insert your favorite cliche–dig deep, suck it up) and go for it.

And I’m so glad I did.

Heading into the conference, I’ve been kind of hitting a wall with my five year plan. Year one I published three novels in two series. I’m in year two and have published two novels, am finalizing edits on another, and need to write one more. I’m working on novellas for those series too, but then my plan kind of hit a dead-end.

I love self-publishing, I love working with Kindle Press, but I would like to still go after publication with one of the houses as well.

At the conference, inspiration struck for a new novel. My current plan is to finish the books I’m working on for my series and then start this new project and hopefully submit in the winter. I’m really excited about this book and can see how I can develop it into a series that will either be published traditionally or I’ll go the self-pub route again (so sign up for my newsletter for more info eepurl.com/bS6den )

Beyond inspiration, getting the chance to talk to other authors, to meet some of my online friends in person, learning from the workshops, and networking made me so glad that I went. And has me figuring out how to make it to Orlando next year.