Miata, Television, Poetry

At least once a week, someone tells Fiorella how cute her baby car is, and they're not just guys who are checking out her legs.
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Fio watched a lot of TV as a child and assumed she would end up living in a New York high rise like the characters in the shows she watched. Instead, she lives in in a lovely home she herself designed which is set the middle of a five-acre wooded wilderness that she has yet to totally explore. Life couldn't get any better.
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My goal is the same when I awake
Every morning, and through the day--
To make the world a better place
By what I do and what I say

Where Fio Is Now

Howdy, there, folks!  This is the day before the due date, and Fio is in semi-good shape. She finished marking the whole manuscript yesterday and also added in the necessary bits and pieces.  She even finaled out the first three chapters.  Today she tackles the last nineteen. Yes, it's lock-yourself-in-the-tower-room day because she has to send everything in by 10:00 on Tuesday.

God bless electronics, which is something you never thought you'd hear Fio say.  She is able to make corrections using computer keys rather than retyping an entire page, and she can send a three-hundred-page manuscript off to New Yawk City in a second rather than having to bind it up, cart it to the post office, and pay the freight.

See ya tomorrow.

Modern Living?

Fio came back from New York to discover that our wrinkled, rutted, old country road had undergone a facelift.  In fact, it had been totally repaved.

No more jolts, no more jerks
What else does the county have in the works?

A yellow stripe down the middle of the road?  Cell phone coverage?

She Shall Leave Glasses Wherever She Goes.

Fiorella went to EyeMart yesterday morning and ordered two more pairs of glasses.  Yes, she admits she bought two pairs just six months ago, but she lost them, the most recent pair in New York.

Losing glasses has been a problem for Fio ever since she got her first pair when she was in the sixth grade.  And she knows why: most people wear their glasses full-time, but the ever-vain Fiorella will put them on only when desperately needed.

"Get one of those librarian things that latches onto the frames and hangs the glasses around your neck," you counsel Fio.  She tried that, and the handle of the glasses broke off and she lost the whole kit and caboodle.  "Put them down in the same place every time," you suggest.  And Fio tries to, but she moves around so much.  And, to complicate things, because she has permanent lenses for close-up work, she rarely wears glasses inside the house except to watch TV.

Pray for her and to her--Fiorella, the patron saint of the eyeglass industry.

Flight

Hooray!
Today's the day--
Up, up and away!


Your Fiorella is flying off to the big Romance Writers of America conference New York this morning.  Wish her well.

RWA Roommate

Has Fiorella told you that she's scored a roommate for Romance Writers of America's national conference in New York this summer?  Her name is Shiloh Walker, and she's multi-published.  Not only that, but Fiorella has started reading one of her books, and it gave Fio just the boost she needed to get over that middle-of-book hump in her novella-in-progess.

Times Square, here's to ya!

Fifth Time, the Charm

Fiorella has attended five National Romance Writers of America annual conferences, and she's learned something from each one.  At her first conference, she learned that romance writers are not uniform, that they come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and ages.  At her second one, she realized that she would have to stand out from the crowd in order to be published.  At her third conference, she realized that winning contests was not enough, that she had to get herself an agent.  At her fourth conference, she learned that she was strong enough to deal with a bad situation.  At her fifth conference, the one she went to last week, she learned that she needed to write faster.

She also learned that she could have a good time at a conference.  See ya in New York next year!

Conferences

Fiorella learned four very important things at her first national RWA conference in 2008. First, she learned that she could navigate all by her lonesome within the conference, in a large hotel, and on the mean streets of San Francisco.  Second, she learned that there is no stereotypical romance writer--they come in all sizes, shapes, ages, colors--and sexes. Third, she learned that established writers (read Colleen Thompson and Terry McLaughlin) can be very kind to a newbie.  Fourth, as she learned, from the agent who stood in front of her in a Starbuck's line, a pattern of dieting for three days, then eating whatever one desires on the fourth, is an effective method of trimming down.

At the Orlando conference, she had a blinding Paul-on-the-way-to-Damascus revelation that, in order to get her work into print, she'd have to write not just as well as established authors, but strive for better.  She also learned to ignore other people's negativity.

At the New York conference, she realized that her overriding goal for the next year should be to GET AN AGENT.

At the Atlanta conference, she met face-to-face with said agent, the divine Liza, and also learned who were her true friends (read Colleen Thompson and April Sartor).

Next summer is the San Antonio conference.  More adventures to come.

Journey

Fiorella joined Romance Writers of America in January 2008, and that summer, she flew to San Francisco to attend her first national RWA conference.  What she learned there was that successful romances writers come in all sizes, shapes, and ages, which meant  she too could aspire.  In  2010, with several contest firsts under her belt, Fio attended her second national conference, in Orlando, and came away with the realization that she not only had to be as good as other romance writers, but better, in order to get published.  In 2011, she came away from the New York conference determined to get a good agent.  Now, in 2013, she will attend the Atlanta conference, meet with her agent, the divine Liza, and discuss her career.

Before Fiorella joined RWA, she had been writing romances for twenty-five years and even aroused some editorial interest, but she didn't know how to follow up or respond appropriately.  Now, in just five years, she's on the brink.

Wish her a good journey.

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Shopping in New York

Fio has left a trail of glasses, umbrellas, and pens everywhere she goes, but she did herself proud in New York. While her leopard-print folding umbrella managed to stay in her suitcase, she lost not only her sunglasses, but also the only lipstick she'd brought with her. That's a new one.

No prob. Just find a drugstore and plunk down her $8.50. But the nearest place that carried lipsticks, a shop called Sephora, was a block down and two blocks over. Credit card in hand, Fio braved the mean streets of NY and headed over there. She looked through the lipsticks until she found just the right bright red shade, then took it to the register in the rear of the store. The nice saleslady rang it up and handed her the ticket to sign. Fio glanced at the price and thought she'd been handed someone else's receipt--$26.50.

$26.50 for one lipstick? Fiorella queried the saleslady, and indeed, that was the price. Fio shut up and signed on the dotted line.

At least now she has a souvenir of the Big Apple that she can use every day.