Dena is in San Francisco!

Actually, I'm right outside San Francisco in San Mateo, for the annual Cat/Dog Writers Conference.  I'm speaking this morning at  9 as the opening session on Networking.  I spent last night having stress dreams and waking up every 30 minutes to look at the clock and make sure I hadn't overslept. In my dreams, I lost my handouts, nobody showed up, I had the wrong location, it was supposed to be dressy but I was in sweatpants and couldn't find anyone to drive me back to the hotel to change clothes, got lost, etc.  A really fun night!

Right now it's 6:30 am and I'm sitting in the breakfast area of the hotel, which I suppose is "mood lit" but which in my opinion is pitch black.  A few minutes ago, a 70-year old woman took a tumble down two stairs and landed on her hands and knees.  Maybe they make it so dark in the hopes you won't notice that they're charging $8 for one egg.  Give me a break--I'll buy and raise my own chicken for that amount.

The flight in was uneventful.  A young girl in my aisle in her mid-twenties was flying for the first time so we chatted a bit during take-off and landing to calm her nerves. The best part was having a 3-hour layover in Cincinnati.  My best friend Trisha took off work and met me at the airport for an hour-long coffee and chat.  I hadn't realized I had that long a layover there and had e-mailed her last minute and wasn't sure if she would be able to meet me.  "No problem," she said.  "I informed my boss this morning I'd be taking lunch at 9am today and she was good with that."

Our Cat Writer's conference is held wherever the Cat Association holds its competition.  I am in heaven right now as the hotel is FILLED with cats and their owners.  And these are show cats...beautiful, well-behaved, well-trained cats.  People are riding up and down the elevators with carriers and it's all I can do not to grab a cat and run.  The shuttle from the airport to the hotel yesterday had 4 cats on it, two of which were PERSIAN KITTENS.  Oh my God, how cute were they??  Indescribable.  Big blue eyes in little white faces gazed out from the netting in the top of the carrier.  Just to die for.

I"m doing a book signing (along with a lot of other authors) at the cat show tomorrow.  They told us not to expect much and just bring 5-7 books.  It seems like the perfect place to sell cat books, but maybe owners are so focused on the show they don't shop?  We'll see.

Okay, time to start getting ready for the speech.  I bet I'll sleep better tonight. =)