Missy's Report from RWA National!

Missy here! I'm home from RWA National and thought I'd share some photos and also my picks for best workshops I attended. And since Blogger doesn't like me, I have a feeling all my photos will be off from the descriptions of them. So please know I at least tried to label them correctly. :)

First off, Danica Favorite (left) and I met up at the airport and shared a cab to the gorgeous Marriott Wardman Park in Washington, D.C.

This is a photo of the older part of the hotel. There were amazing gardens all around. And also a wonderful neighborhood nearby that had lots of fun restaurants with outside tables and patios. I think I ate 5 meals there! Debby said she was going to pack up the fun neighborhood and take it home with her. :)

And the next photo was an exciting moment. A photo and autograph opp with Janet Evanovich! She gave a fun opening session speech. It seems she's probably as fun in person as you'd expect.

And now just some photos with all my great writer friends!

First, Golden Heart finalist, Cara Slaughter. Then Debby and Janet dancing at the amazing Harlequin 60th Anniversary celebration.

In the next, I'm posing with Love Inspired authors Stephanie Newton (center) and Dana Corbit at the Awards Ceremony reception. The group photo is (from L to R) Kit Wilkinson, me, Janet, Debby and Irene Hannon at the HQ party.

I also had a few sight-seeing photos to show you. Janet and her hubby were kind enough to let me tag along the first morning there. We visited the Capitol, and even had an amazing tour guide who slipped us some tickets to visit the Senate Gallery. It was a glorious day as you can see in the photo.

The last two are of the Library of Congress. It was, well... just check the photos. I was nearly speechless. And even more so when I got to view the Gutenberg Bible.

That ends the photo tour. I'm sure others from the conference have a lot more photos. But I wanted to share a few highlights for me.

THE WORKSHOPS!

I know some of you are interested in purchasing CD's or downloading recorded workshops. I have to say my very favorite was Donald Maass's class based on his new book, The Fire in Fiction. Wow. It was an amazing class for me. Interactive. And I got some great ideas for my story!

Others I got a lot out of include:

Emotion: The Heart of the Novel by Brenda Novak

The Fifteen-minute Synopsis by Jessica Faust and Sharon Page. (The handout is supposedly great, too, if you could order the handouts from RWA.)

Under Their Skin by Robin Wells.

Tina put a link to Bill Stephens Production on the weekend update. So if you're interested in checking out the workshops, go there. This year, they're offering an option to download individual workshops for $8 or $12 each.

It was wonderful to see some our Seeker blog friends in D.C.!! It was especially nice to have them come say hi at the book signing. So thank you, ladies!

Now, finally, I'm off to my very own bed and my very own pillow... ahhhh....