Release date and RWA National

I have a tentative release date for The Sergeant's Lady--the second half of August. I have to say I'm glad it's late rather than early in the summer. We're moving to our new place at the end of June, so it'll be good to have a month or two to settle in before the bulk of my promo push (blog touring and the like) once the book is out.

When I found out I was likely to be a summer release, I signed up for the RWA National Conference July 28-31 in Nashville. I usually go to at least one small to mid-sized conference per year--the Surrey International Writers Conference just outside Vancouver, BC in October is a particular favorite--but this will be only my second time at RWA, which is HUGE and therefore a bit overwhelming to your typical introverted writer. Which I certainly am.

That said, I'm looking forward to the trip. It's always fun to get away from my everyday world and be nothing but a writer for a few days. The workshop list is up, including handouts for a good many of them. Lots of good stuff there. I may change my mind between now and July, but I'm planning to focus on career and productivity--time management, working with editors and agents, being productive as a "pantser" (i.e. a writer who works by the seat of her pants rather than outlining and plotting in advance), coping with professional jealousy, etc.--with a few carefully selected craft workshops, because there's always more to learn.

I'm trying not to get too excited about an alphabetical workshop list, though. There seems to be a Conference Law of some kind where the three workshops I'm most interested in are scheduled for the same slot (probably the very hour I have an agent appointment or the one time my editor is free for a one-on-one over coffee or drinks), while there will also be at least one slot where all the workshops are on writing inspirational, erotica, or romantic suspense (the three romance subgenres I have the least interest in ever writing), along with how to perfect your 50-page outline before starting to write (blech!), and one LOVELY workshop whose loveliness I can attest to because the same author gave the same talk at Surrey or Willamette or Pacific Northwest last year.