Yep, my cane and I are going to give it a try. Some days this bad knee behaves and other days it balks. I’m keeping my fingers crossed the darned thing lets me attend all the Colorado Gold workshops and panels I want, enjoy the Friday night book signing, work my way through the buffet lines,  and make it to a table without dropping my plate on the floor.

Looks like the conference attendance is right at the maximum again this year. And look where the conference is going to be held (I couldn’t pick the photo off the site so you need to click on THIS LINK to see the hotel and the incredible view of the mountains).

The Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers membership is still growing, and the conference is truly one of the best in the country for writers at all levels. As a non-profit organization staffed by multitudes of amazing volunteers, membership costs and registration fees for the big events are reasonable. And RMFW offers great free workshops each month as well. I’m proud to be a member and volunteer (co-editor of the RMFW Blog) of this great organization.

What I’m hoping to find at the conference, even more than education and networking, is motivation. This has been a down year for me with little writing and rewriting to my credit. My lack of writing energy might be post-publication letdown (sort of like post-holiday blues), but it’s also related to the series of unfortunate incidents including a broken bone in my foot and the postponement of my much-needed knee replacement. My “get up and go has got up and went” or something like that.

As I connect with old friends, make new friends, pitch my one completed novel manuscript, and soak up the wisdom of keynote speakers and workshop presenters, I want to absorb their enthusiasm as well. I need their energy, their love of the craft, their kick in the butt (figuratively speaking, of course).

I’m beginning to sound like a vampire who wants to feed off those innocent, unsuspecting souls who think I’m just there to network and have fun.

Okay, the real truth: I am going to have so much fun! I’m very excited that I’m finally getting to a conference this year! Can’t wait to connect with all my friends and meet bunches of new people! Looking forward to hearing from keynote speakers Jeffery Deaver and Desiree Holt! Have already picked the workshops and panels I want to attend! I’m charging my camera as we speak because this year I plan to take pictures!

And I can’t wait to buy more books to feed my addiction!!  I already have six “must buys” on my list and I know I’ll find more!

How’s that for a consistent abuse and overuse of exclamation points?

I’m not sure if I’ll have a chance to post again before Thursday, so I’ll give you a heads-up now that my guest this week is Cricket McRae, aka K.C. McRae, aka Bailey Cates, aka Bailey Cattrell. Cricket is a mystery writer with a variety of series going (and an excellent standalone, Shotgun Moon, I mentioned here a few weeks ago). I hope you’ll drop by and learn about the tools Cricket uses to stay organized and meet her deadlines.