Lost Luggage, Tubs, and Cacti

I'm back!  Wish I could say the same for my luggage.  I waved goodbye to it at the check-in Delta terminal in Tucson and haven't seen it since.  My flight arrived in GSO last night at midnight and I put in a lost luggage claim.  It's now 10 AM and Delta's online baggage status site informs me "We have not yet been able to locate this piece of luggage."  I'm holding off on panicking just yet.  I don't mind the luggage being on the other side of the country so long as someone knows where it it and it's heading back my way.  The thought that it's just lost in Delta land terrifies me though.  This bag weighed in at 48 pounds and was almost all shoes and clothes, so you can imagine how full of stuff it is.  I'm giving them until noon before I place the "irate customer" phone call.

Now, Tucson and NSA (National Speakers Association) University.  First I have to say this is the friendliest group of people I've ever met.  Speakers are not shy, and I think I met and held conversations with at least 200 of the 300 people who were there. Quite a change from my typical writers' conference where we nod a shy smile at one another and turn back to our notebooks.

The University was set up to offer participants a choice of 4 tracts: Branding, Information Marketing, Performance, and Writing.  Each student chose a major and minor focus.  The writing tract I taught on had 34 people in our major and 61 people in our minor.  The Dean of our tract was Leslie Charles, and faculty were myself and Chris Roerden, an editor from GSO with 40 years book editing/ghostwriting experience. In the picture here, it's me, Leslie, and Chris.

While I'm pleased with my portion (writing for magazines) of the program, I can't say we were an unqualified success.  I wish we had been able to offer participants more specific exercises than we had planned.  Still, a number of people approached me to thank me for the content and our class was kind enough to give us a standing ovation the final day.  (And kind enough to keep applauding while I took a picture of them!) =)

The most rewarding part of the conference for me was the encouragement I received from NSA members to become a professional speaker. Several members gave me their cards with the encouragement to contact them if I decide to pursue a path in public speaking.  I'm going to give it serious consideration.  Although I am DRAINED after being "on" for 4 straight days, I can't deny there is a buzz that comes from connecting with people in a presentation, especially when I see their eyes light up or a lightbulb go off when they "get" one of the concepts I'm presenting. Part of me thinks, "Why would I want to put myself through the hassle and nerves of preparing and presenting in public.  Why not just live the quiet life with my writing and be happy." But there is another part of me--a part I suspect is stronger than the "live a quiet life" part--that is whispering, "You could do this..."

So we'll see.  Lots of food for thought, anyway.

Tucson.  Stunning.  Just wish I'd had time to explore.  We pretty much went from sunup to past sundown in the conference, so I never even managed to walk a trail.  Disappointing, as our resort was built sort of into a hill, with huge, picturesque ridges rising in every direction.  The landscape was very brown and barren to my eyes so used now to the lush green of the South, but it had a desolate beauty all its own.  Here are some pictures I took at sunrise my last day there but as always, the photos don't do the landscape justice. 

That's all for now.  I have a TON of work to do--not the least of which includes a conversation with a Delta baggage claim attendant.

Cheers,

Dena

p.s.  Almost forgot!  The hotel rooms at Loews Ventana Resort were to die for.  I spent 2 happy evenings swimming in the pool-size tub in my room:

Still Here...

It's 8 AM in Tucson and it's the last day of my NSA conference.  Much to blog about later--it's been an incredibly busy but worthwhile 4 days.  I leave for the airport at 1, after the conference ends, and hope to have some time to properly update the blog.  Going to run outside now and try to capture a few digital pictures of the view.  Absolutely stunning mountain cacti, 20 feet high (or so it seems), but have had little chance to be outdoors at all.  Disappointing, as this is beautiful country.  More later.

Driving While Dilated - Dumb Things I've Done Category

I'll chalk today's excursion home from the eye doctor to one of the more stupid things I've done in life.  They dilated my eyes and instead of sitting in the doctor's office for 30 minutes to an hour like a normal person, I decided I wanted to be home and got in my car.  THAT was a nerve-wracking 30-minute drive.  For whatever reason, my right eye was operating better than my left, so I drove home with my left eye scrunched shut and my left hand on my forehead, shading my eyes the entire time.  My guardian angel must have been with me today to get me home without injuring myself or anyone else on the road.

I couldn't do much when I got home--everything on the computer was blurry as were books and TV, so I laid down for an hour to let the effect wear off.  I dozed off and had dreams about driving against traffic, flying over speed bumps, and getting lost.

I am pretty much going to be out of commission for the rest of the week.  I'm in GSO all day tomorrow (Literally.  I'll leave the house at 8 AM and get home about 9:30 PM) and then I fly out at 8 AM on Thursday for my NSA University conference in Tucson. I spent the afternoon packing. I'm taking 6 pairs of shoes for a 3-day conference.  Plus, it's 75 degrees in Tucson, but we're in an air-conditioned building, and it drops to 40 degrees at night.  Therefore, I've shoved everything from tank tops to turtlenecks in my bag and have decided to play it by ear. 

Right now, I'm hoping the kink in the left side of my neck works itself out by flight time on Thursday.  I must have slept on it wrong last night and now it pinches every time I move my head to the left. (I know...so don't move my head to the left. )  I'm going to go hop in a hot shower and see if that does anything to alleviate the pain.  Since I didn't exercise this morning, I forced myself onto the treadmill this evening.  My deal is I have to do 3 miles--walk, crawl, or jog.  I hate wasting time so I jog it, just to get it over with.  It's important to know what motivates you in your exercise program.

BTW, I'm looking for some new, fast-tempo music to jog to, if anyone would like to offer suggestions.  I listen to a lot of Aerosmith, Meatloaf, with some side roads into "Veronica," "by Elvis Costello, "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, "Knock on Wood" by some knockoff artist, and a few country songs.  Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

Fox 8 Morning News Interview

I had my book interview today on Fox 8 Morning News.  Cindy Farmer interviewed me and she's just as cute and friendly in person as she is on TV.  Thinner though.  Not that she looks at all big on TV, but she looks a whole lot slimmer in person so that "the camera adds 10 lbs" thing must be true.  Bear that in mind if you saw ME on TV this morning. =)

The interview flew by.  I feel like I only said 3 sentences although I'm sure when I get home to watch it, it will be much longer.  She asked me how much fun was it to write the book, did I have a favorite story, and asked about us getting a second cat.  I talked with my friend and fellow writer Pam Cable right after the interview and she said it went really well. But then again, Pam's a good friend. <grin>.

Funny thing, I ended up wearing almost the exact same gray suit with the same black boots as Cindy Farmer.  Luckily, I had a bright orange sweater on, so I lost my jacket so we didn't look like the bobsie-twins.  I wore more makeup than I usually do and hope when I see the interview I won't have a Tammy Faye Baker look going on.  That would be a shame.

Books sells are going well.  I've sold about 16 through Amazon, I'm meeting an area pet sitter today to sell her some for X-mas gifts for her customers, and the Book Launch at the Green Bean is tomorrow night.  I'm finally getting excited about it.  I think it will be a good turnout, the weather should be decent, and I'm really, really hoping both of the cats Happy Hills Animal Shelter is bringing will find a home.

My book selling goal for the night is to sell a minimum of 30, 50 would be fantastic and anything over that is gravy.  I'll tally up the numbers for you on Friday.

Meanwhile, I'm up to my eyeballs in work.  Two huge projects that I'm kicking myself for not staring work on sooner.  I'm hoping to get a pretty close to done draft of one of them today.  I've got my children's book critique group tonight at 7 PM (it's 11 AM right now) and I'm considering just staying here in GSO and working all day vs. going home.  However, I think I left my e-mail open at home because I just checked it and had only one message--highly unlikely. And there were a few things I needed to get.

Speaking of stupid things, here's one.  I locked myself out of my car last night. I taught a public speaking workshop (a small group, but so much fun.  I hadn't been in the mood to teach but the people in class were so open and fun it ended up being a really good night.  I love when that happens) at GTCC, and had to call campus security at 9 PM when class ended.  But a high five to them. They were there in under a minute and had my door open in about 3.  Very efficient.