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Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Details, Details, Details! You asked for it, you got it;)

Yeehaw! Barb, myself and Regina are grinning like fools because we made it to NEC alive, despite riding with Mario.
So now that I'm out of my coma, here's some details. We got there early Friday so we got the only connecting rooms they had left. And on the ground floor to boot. Now, that's what I'm talking about, people. Then we registered, went to a very loooooong workshop on finding your voice, but unfortunately, I'm still looking for mine. We hit the bar, got a little closer to finding our voice in a couple of glasses of chardonnay, then we met up with one of our agents. (The other one couldn't make it, bummer). But Christine is awesome. And I love meeting people you see on the loops like Mari Mancusi and Diana Peterfreund. Diana says hi, Heather Sapp (aka Amanda Brice). I can't wait until Nationals in Dallas in July so I can finally meet Heather who is also repped by Book Cents.
Top row: Jen, Barb, Danielle
Bottom row: Christine, me, Regina


Friday night it was time to unwind with a costume party. Bring your fiction to life. You could dress as a character from your book, a movie, a video, whatever. So we chose to go as the Robert Palmer girls in his Simply Irresistible video. Only we went as the Robert Palmer Simply Irresistible Fly Girls so we could promote our group blog. It worked. Everyone kept saying "Who are the Fly Girls?" I think they thought we were still a rock group or cheerleaders. Not a bad assesment, since we rock at cheering each other on while we write;)) Christine went in her scrubs so she could be comfy. We dubbed her Dr. Feelgood and asked her to help put on Jen's false eyelashes. Jen (the dance teacher) took care of the rest of us.



We slicked back our hair, put it in a bun, put on really dark eye makeup and burgundy lipstick. Soooooo NOT a good look for me, folks. First I looked like freaking Johnny Depp in Pirates of the caribbean with my bandanna in the car. Then we brushed out my curls and I swear to God I looked like a very pale Diana Ross, I kid you not. My hair was that big. Then we ironed my hair and slicked it back until I looked like Lilith from Cheers. I think I'll stick with Elaine from Seinfeld, thank you very much.


Danielle made our shirts and they rocked. She put a rolling stones type lips on the front with Fly Girls all in glitter. And the back said Simply Irresistible. And Barb made some really cool mugs. Don't know what was in anyone else's mug, but you can bet there wasn't any coffee in Barbie Jo's and mine;))



And here we all are together. I never did get a picture of the "oreo" cookie we made. Barb ande I kept putting Danielle between us and saying, "Hey, look, we're an oreo." Okay, so you had to be there, but it was funny. Really, it was.
Regina dressed as the main character Jesse in her work in progress called Wayward Wives Club. She had a really cool WWC ranch logo embroidered right on her jean jacket. You would have been amazed at all the costumes everyone came up with. Writers are a very creative bunch. Not sure what Christine is doing. I think she's teaching us the Mexican Hat Dance. Snort;)



Saturday was full of workshops, including ours. We had a nice turnout and managed to pull it off without sounding sounding lame. Let me tell you, I'm so glad I didn't go to the ghost workshop right before ours, though. But poor Barbie Jo did. She's writing a paranormal so she thought it would be cool. It started out okay, but then it got really freaky. The woman who gave the workshop is psychic. The police use her all the time to find missing children, etc, and she's really amazing. So she brought slides and all sorts of things. All was well in Barbieland, until she dimmed the lights and played a tape of a Russian Exorcism. Barb got so freaked out she ran out of the workshop shaking, heaving, gasping for air and crying hysterically. Oh, yeah, folks it wasn't pretty. Meanwhile we had to give our workshop in 5 minutes and Barbie was up first.
So she's running around yelling, "Where's Kari, I need funny. Right now." She grabs me and says, "Give me funny, I need funny, SAY SOMETHING FUNNY, WOMAN!!!!"
And here's me, "Uh, um, oh crap, knock knock?" I got nothin', folks. Kari's not good under pressure. Later at lunch I kept cracking jokes and Barbie says, "Oh NOW you're funny." Then whenever she saw the ghost woman she kept crossing herself, hissing, and dipping her fingers in her waterglass and sprinkling it at the woman as though it were holy water. Needless to say, the paranormal is off. In fact I think she's still at church.
Christine took us all out to dinner, which was so nice of her. Poor Jen hurt her back so she went back to the room to rest. We tried to help her, but we won't go there. Let's just say the woman does not handle pain well, and if you value your life you will stay far, far away from her when she's like that. So we did. We hung out with Christine, one of her relatives and a family friend. I've never laughed so much in my life. They are hysterical. Let's just say I ended up singing the the theme for Mission Impossible and attempting to scale walls. Hey, it wasn't pretty, but it did make Barbie laugh.
All in all, I had a blast. I've only been to smaller conferences like NEC (250 people) New Jersey (500 people) but I'm going to my first nationals in Dallas this year (1000 people). That's the big conference where people like Nora Roberts go and all the agents and editors are there. I cannot wait for that one. And you can bet there will be stories and pictures to match. Especially since the famous Manic will be there!

Whew, was that more than you all wanted to know? Check out Barb's, Jen's and Danielle's blogs. I'm sure they will post more pictures and stories. And be sure to stop by the Fly Girls. You can bet there will be stories there.
Karitown out. I think I feel another coma coming on;)

25 comments:

Dim said...

Glad you had such a good time...sounds like fun!

Kari Lee Townsend said...

We had a blast, as always;))

Danielle Bronson said...

KARI T!!!!!!!!!!!
OMG! I miss you guys already.
I really am sad that I didn't get to sleep with you this weekend. I was looking forward to it. I even shaved my legs. But I undertsand you and Jen had a thing before I came along. I have to share you.

JT said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kari Lee Townsend said...

Hey, you brought it up first that sleeping with me was painful.

I'm just giving all the details of the conference, folks. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

But seriously, we had so much fun.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Whoops, Christine piped in before my post. The old post referred to Jen. This one is for Christine.

You look awesome. And no, you are not that heavy. We had so much fun. Can't wait for nationals.

JT said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JT said...

Oh, and before I forget - I better see a million posts here on our trip to NEC along with all the excellent pictures that were taken, or else I will try and be funny again and we both khow how ugly that is. :P

Unknown said...

You guys look like you had an absolute blast. Unfortunately, now I have that confounded Robert Palmer song in my head. GRRRR

Barbie Jo Mahoney said...

Ahhh.... great re-cap kari! it was sooo much fun. And you're right, there is NO Evil and spooks in Barbieland, EV-VER!!! I will never travel without my crucifix and holy water again. (amen)

And Nationals?? I'm thinking there will be a freaking all-nighter in there somewhere. Oh yeah, being with Christine all weekend has mad me realize we need to "Pace" ourselves, cuz she's a night-owl! (LOVE YOU CHRISTINE!!!) I'm thinking a quick nappy-poo before dinner should give us the stamina! (yeah, right, who can nap? too much excitement) Okay, so we'll be wild and crazy zombies!! (ugh! there's that evil again. back, back, get out!!! where's my holy water??!!)

Forget the coma... I'm just delerious! (yes, I spelled that wrong) Gee, this is a long post!

I'm rambling, but I can't WAIT to be with everyone again! And party BIG TIME with BOTH of our agents at NAtionals!!!

Wait...I hear Donna Summer singing "I will survive".... Nope. Guess it's just Kari brushing out her curls again! *snort* Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to church! (need more holy water!!!) *ha ha ha ha* (but it wasn't really funny, people.)

Angel said...

I have GOT to travel with you guys! Too much fun not to be shared with the world!!!

Lexi said...

Sounds like too much fun! Hey, look me up in Dallas!

Jess Riley said...

"Uh, um, oh crap, knock knock?"

That alone is pretty dang funny to me.

It looks like you guys had so much fun!! :)

xxxx said...

How funny! Great pictures! So glad you had a good time.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Beth, lexi, swishy and Jess, I would love to meet you ladies. We would have a riot. We always do. One of these days we'll make it happen;)

Alyssa Goodnight said...

You obviously had a good time! And that part about the psychic was hilarious! 'Bless her heart'.

Kari Lee Townsend said...

oh, trust me Alyssa, Barb is still blessing just about everything she gets her hands on;))

Dan said...

Wow! There's much more extensive coverage over here. Look at those smiles! :)

Hope you had a terrific Passover and/or Easter or whatever!

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Thanks Dan. Glad to see you back.

Jessica said...

You guys look fabulous, as an aspiring writer, congrats and good luck!

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Thanks for stopping by, Jessica, and good luck to you too.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

OK, you are cracking me up! So much fun!!

And the "famous Manic" in the same paragraph as Nora Roberts?!?!?

Here's the deal on Nationals--I entered my name in our Chapter's contest to win the registration to the conference as a twist of fate. That being, if they pick my name, it's meant to be and I'll go!! I believe in The Secret! Hoping to be there! But we have to get Swish on board! If I go, I'll have to make a Manic Mommy shirt! Holy S Bomb!

You guys look great as the Robert Palmer gals. Too bad he died.

Oh, and lastly, your comment about me finding the time to do everything, including writing--I think that might be why I'm crabby--cuz I'M NOT WRITING THE STUFF I WANT TO BE WRITING!!!

kim said...

I would crash your party if I were near -- looks so fun.

Isabel & Sauveur said...

hello
thank you for reading
it's very nice
beautiful blogg also
one will come back
goodbye and good day
Isabel and Sauveur

Kari Lee Townsend said...

Just write anything, Manic, even if it's crap. You can always go back and edit. After all, writing is rewriting. But I know what you mean. Before the conference, I was in such a slump. I'm finally writing again, too.

Hey, Kim, you can crash my party anytime;)

Isabel and Sauveur, thanks for stopping by.