In about three weeks, a couple hundred romance authors and a couple thousand romance fans are going to descend upon Orlando, Florida for the annual RWA National Conference.  And I.  Am.  Psyched.  I’m talking, like, better-than-Predators psyched.  Better-than-a-line-by-line-reenactment-of-Ghostbusters psyched.  I get to see a bunch of friends I only see online otherwise, and hopefully make some new ones.  I get to interact with fans, with industry professionals, and I’m frickin’ nominated for a RITA, people! There’s no way I’m missing this.

But one of the best things about this year is the fact that we will be having the conference at the Walt Disney Resort…which means I get to face down my old nemesis, Space Mountain.

The story goes like this:  when I was nine, my family took a candy-and-nostalgia fueled trip to Disney World.  We rode the rides, Mr. Toad, the Haunted Mansion, etc.  Went up the big ball o’ Epcot, and even saw the Michael Jackson show, Captain EO. But the one ride I refused to go on was Space Mountain.  It was a roller coaster.  In the dark.  I don’t think my logic was unsound.  But being as my mother was understanding and had two other kids to deal with, she let me sit Space Mountain out.  But being as my father didn’t want me to A. be afraid of a rollercoaster, and B. miss out on the experience, woke up extremely early on the last day we were there, and took me to ride Space Mountain, before anyone else was in the park.

We rode it three times.

And now, I have to opportunity to face down my old friend and nemesis, and conquer Space Mountain once again!

If I get to leave the conference hotel, that is.

I encourage everyone in the Orlando area on July 28^th to attend the Literacy Signing at RWA.  Its open to the public and all proceeds benefit ProLiteracy Worldwide.  There will be 500 of your favorite authors there, autographing their works.  Unfortunately, I will not be one of them, as I won’t be getting to the conference until the 30^th.   But go!  Have fun!  And if you’re attending the conference, see you on the 30^th!

Lots of work this week, but hopefully some summer fun.  Until next time, Happy Reading, everyone!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 12:40 am and is filed under RWA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.