Writer Friends and Writer Business

The past few days have been hectic but fun. Daughter hopped a plane with three friends and they're sitting in Seattle now waiting to attend the LSU game. Honestly, I doubt if they're sitting and waiting. :)

I hooked 'em to Beaumont to visit friends and take care of some business. Spent Wednesday with Rogayle, my travel writer/novelist friend, then met hubby to have dinner with cousins. Then today, I met with another writer friend.

Debra and I have known each other via the Internet since 2007--if not longer. We "met" when she emailed me about Lamar's writing classes. We clicked and have kept in touch ever since. Debra took my NF writing class. I believe when Debra and I first started emailing each other, she was unpublished. Since then she's sold a recipe and she's got a regular column in a newsletter--a paying gig! Plus, she blogs on a regular basis because she always has something to say. Talk about a go-getter. Every time Debra opens her mouth, I hear myself saying, "That's a fantastic story, you need to write it!" or "Debra, you've got a book there, you need to go home and focus on your writing!" This woman has more stories in her than anyone I've come across, and believe me, there's nothing she can't do.

Today we sat in Rao's Bakery and talked blogging, books and writing for almost three hours. This is a picture of us standing outside Rao's. I can honestly say I wish I had half her energy and all her ideas!

When I left Debra, I ran to Barnes & Noble to meet with the Cindy, the Community Relations Manager and Cathy, the store manager. I hurried to the reference section to see if they had any new writing books and saw a young man browsing. I'm always so curious when I see people purusing the writing books so this time, I was bold and asked if he was a writer. We struck up a conversation, so let me say right here: Anthony, I hope you accomplish all your dreams with your art and your writing.

Cindy and Cathy and I spent an hour discussing our Bayou Writers' Conference. The two ladies are going to manage our conference bookstore/author signing. This will be the first time we've had an author signing at our conference so it's great to have a couple of pros in charge.

Overall, a very productive day with old friends and new ones. What would we do if we didn't have writer friends to encourage us and help us along the way? I can't imagine.

Tomorrow morning I interview the State Treasurer. My brain is mush. I think I'll immerse myself in Project Runway.

Later,

j