Just two more days until I leave for Vegas for the Romance Novel Convention.  My dear friend Melissa will be with me, and you may recognize her name from the front section of Unexpected Metamorphosis.  Not only is she like a sister to me, but she helps to keep me in line when it comes to writing.  Once I’m finished writing for the day, I always email her a copy of what I have typed.  Then, I wait patiently (not) for her to respond.  Although I do the writing, she always has a say in what gets deleted, and a LOT gets deleted.  There were many times I typed away all through the night, only to delete the entire night’s work since it did not meet her standards.

It also helps that she is from the North, and I’m from the South.  She continuously lets me know if I’m typing southern, which happens a lot.  Here’s an example of some of our conversations:

Melissa:  “You can’t type that.”

Me:  “Why not?”

Melissa:  “It’s from the South.  People from the North won’t know what you mean.”

Me (a little defensively):  “That’s not southern.  Everyone knows what that means.  It’s universal, Meliss.”

Melissa:  “I never heard of it until I met you.  It’s southern, and you can’t type it.  You can say it this way…”

Me (more defensive, but I make the changes):  “Now it sounds northern!”

Those were the easy conversations.  The hard ones were where I had to delete an entire night’s work, because it did not pass her inspection.  I can honestly say Unexpected Metamorphosis would not be half of what it is today without her.  She keeps me in line.

So now we are packing for Vegas, and she will be by my side at the convention.  Although we don’t live in the same state, she’s flying out of Atlanta with me, so her family is here for the weekend while we get ready.  That means our husbands are watching the children while we go shopping for new clothes, and my bedroom is covered in women’s clothing as we empty our shopping bags and sort through my closet.  Kids are laughing throughout the house, and our husbands are enduring.  Life is good!

I plan to blog while in Vegas, so stay tuned.  I’ll post pictures and try to give details of what it’s like to be at the Romance Novel Convention.  As for today, Melissa and I plan to take the children to the pool while the men go mountain biking.  Then, it’s off to more shopping and having our nails done.  At some point, we really should finish packing.