National Conference Report

Fiorella lost her sunglasses the first day.  The second day, she slashed her leg trying to get into a taxi-cab van built like the Great Wall of China.  The third day, she tripped and fell on a treacherous front step while departing the hotel, leaving her with a big goose egg on her forehead. The fourth day,  she realized her book stood all, all alone, that everything else on the market was light and fluffy while hers was dark, deep, and emotional.  The fifth day, coming home, she lost her regular glasses. For her, the romance writers' conference was a total bust.

Or was it?  Sure, she woke up yesterday morning and lay there working out the words to "My Country 'Tis of Thee ,"  "America," and the national anthem (which she could only get halfway through) to be sure that conk on the head hadn't obliterated quite all of her memory.  Sure, she'll have to wear the ugly purple cat eyes until she can get to the optometrist for a classier-looking pair.  Sure, she'll have to make a trip to Walgreen's to pick up a new pair of sunglasses, and she'll have to keep a close eye on that leg wound because she hadn't packed Neosporin in her carry-on.    

But Fiorella survived and is stronger for the experience.  She met with her agent, Liza Dawson, for the first time in person, and the divine one is as positive and supportive in person as she has been over the phone.  And Fio reconnected with two old friends, who supported Fio when she experienced a real-life black moment of her own.  And she talked to Laurie Kellogg, disdained by publishers despite her many contest wins, who finally took matters into her own hands, self-published, and is now pulling in $5000 a month.

But the real kicker is that Fiorella realized how strong her book is, that it reaches to the depths of despair to the zenith of joy.  That it is dramatic (thank you, Baylor Children's Theater), an emotional roller coaster, Gone  with the Wind with a happy ending.  Sure, it's not what's on the market right now, but Fiorella thinks it will sell like the proverbial hotcakes once the word gets out.  This book is emotionally satisfying, a keeper, one you can't put down.  To amend Scarlett, AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, THIS BOOK WILL FLY!