Not at Nationals in Atlanta

I have mixed feelings about not being at Nationals. On the one hand, I miss the excitement, the meeting of friends I only see at conferences, the Dorchester dinner which is always a hoot (I hear other authors bemoaning publisher dinners, but ours are so dang much fun), seeing my editor(s), and just the whole crush of people wound up about everything, good and bad.

On the other hand, I'm still having too much back pain to navigate airports or conferences. I'd need one of those electic scooters (can you rent those?) My back is soooo much better--when I started the pain was an 11 on a scale of 1-10, and now it's about s 2. But I have a ways to go.

Also won't miss--the whole crush of people wound up about everything. I'm a shy, introverted writer and occassionally at conferences I get wide-eyed and have to retreat to my room for a few minutes to calm down. And won't be missing the whole airport thing. I like flying, but I hate airports.

I was hoping to find a dedicated blogger recording the entire conference so I could keep up with the juicy gossip--er, keep up with what's going on in the industry as a professional should. I haven't found any yet, so give me the heads' up if there's a good one out there. Author Carolyn Jewel has been posting photos--thanks Carolyn.

Rita and Golden Heart winners are announced tonight! I bet no one's nervous or anything. :-) Good luck to all the finalists!