So let’s start with the  RWA San Fran experience.  My buds Cherry Adair, Amy Fetzer, Cindy Gerard,  Traci Hall, Mart Stella and I spent my birthday in style.  We went to Neiman’s for high tea - very posh, then our limo arrived to take us on a two hour personal tour of San Francisco.  Been there before but this was the first time I actually saw the Golden Gate bridge when it wasn’t shrouded in fog.  Then we ate at a fabulous restaurant in Sausalito.   The only down side to the whole evening was realizing we were celebrating the 20th anniversary of my 29th birthday. 

The conference was great - met lots of new people including my new editors and the publisher of Simon & Schuster.  I think I came back 10 pounds heavier.  I’m too afraid to step on the scale at this point.  Our workshops seemed to go over well.  I think The Little Pink Clubhouse summed up the Pitch workshop much better than I could have done myself, so here’s a link:

http://strategerie.wordpress.com/category/rwa-national-conference/  Please note I’m hiding behind the dais so I wouldn’t be in the photo - I always look like a corpse in pictures.

The other workshop I gave was successful only because my buds Amy Fetzer & Traci Hall jumped in to help since Leanne Banks couldn’t make the conference because of a death in her family.  It was on brainstorming and interactive, so 6 people who thought outside the box walked away with autographed books and the person voted most creative by the group was presented with the Leanne crystal bracelet (it would have been given away at the literacy signing but then we thought it would be better to present it to someone who participated in the workshop).  Since we ran over and we had the bar slot (4:30 - 5:30 - when people would rather drink that take a workshop), we decided that we must have been doing something right.

Lots of great socializing, much of it done around the astray at the end of the Marriott’s semi-circle driveway.  Okay, I smoke.  I’m okay with not smoking in my room - happy to be sent outside in the frigid 40+ degree weather so I don’t offend anyone.  I didn’t even mind that most of the time, I was breathing in bus or van exhaust.  I honestly don’t have a problem being shunned.  I don’t smoke in my house - never have - and I only smoke in my car, not my hubby’s or friends.  Here’s what I do mind.  I’m paying nearly $300.00 per night and when I went to the smoking area, without fail, some drunk or drugged, smelly and rude homeless person would accost me for money or cigarettes.  By accost I mean,  back me up to the building - completely violating my personal space.  If you didn’t give them something, they would not go away.  When one foil hat wearer grabbed my arm, I came down hard on his instep.  Now, call me nuts, but if I’m standing on Marriott property, paying Marriott rates, surely they have some responsibility to keep the area free of physical threats.  Remember, this is the hotel that as I checked in, handed me a map of the city with the ‘safe’ areas outlined in yellow highlighter.  It reminded me of New York in the late 70s-early 80s - accosted constantly.  You couldn’t walk 3 feet on any street without some skuzzy person blocking your way.  I’m married to a New Yorker and I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to telling people to kiss off, but San Fran homeless obviously attend obnoxious invasion classes.

This became more ironic to me when I went into a bar and there were 5 warning labels in the windows - drinking can cause birth defects.  Undercooked or raw food can be harmless to your health.  Our products may contain nuts and or nut oils.  Intoxication is dangerous and individuals can be charged with a misdemeanor for public drunkenness.  And my personal favorite - right next to the picture if a cigarette in a red circle with a line through it was a sign that read, “chemicals used to clean the carpet have been identified as carcinogens.”

Oh, and it’s also one of those cities that’s banning trans-fat.  Soon they’ll decide wearing a thong has health ramifications.  So, I think I can say with relative certainty that San Fran will never be my hometown.  I didn’t leave my heart in San Fran, I left a spray bottle of Clorox Hard Surface.

Have a great day!

Rhonda (and yes, 2 weeks have past and I haven’t unpacked and am really not interested tackling that chore.0

PS - The kid starts middle school on Monday - I’ll have a life again!