There will be singing

There was a lot of singing going on at National.

National kicked off on Wednesday night with the literacy signing. This is a big event where the general public is invited in and everyone buys books from their favorite author and gets them signed right there. Before heading to the literacy signing, we stopped off at the goody room.

The goody room is the room designated for authors to put their bookmarks, samples, books they're giving away, etc. It changes all the time so we usually make several trips during the course of the week.

What a surprise we got when we walked in. It's fairly empty and there is the lovely Maggie Shayne, signing the books she's leaving there in the goody room. That was a bonus in itself. Then the singing started.

While Maggie was signing my book, I noticed her ring. I commented on it and she flashed me a tattoo. We talked for a minute, discovering we had some things in common. She started singing and I knew the song so I sang along. Autumn joined in and it was a lot of fun.

After we left the goody room, I commented to Autumn that we should have gotten our picture taken with Maggie. So, during the literacy signing, we found her again to get pics. Again, we burst out in song and the people standing nearby applauded our efforts.

Later that night, we joined the Romance Divas for karaoke at the Kimonos restaurant. Autumn and I got up there twice, singing I Love Rock 'n Roll and Walk Like an Egyptian. 80's moment, anyone?

We were able to coerce Denise Golinowski up there and she was great!

I met Denise through Roses Colored Glasses and we've become writer pals. She's a regular commenter here. We met face to face for the first time that night and let me tell you, she's great!

It's been so wonderful to be able to put faces to those I've been meeting online.

The literacy signing was packed. There was a good response from the public and I haven't heard yet how much money was raised but I did my part, totally spending more than I'd planned.

Do you like to sing? Like karaoke? Do anything crazy (fun-crazy, not stalker-crazy) when meeting one of your fave authors?

Goals, Goals, everywhere there’s Goals

Goals are important. Without goals, what do we work toward in life? What gives our lives meaning? Goals don't have to big and lofty, as long as they are important to you.

I think we've all heard that writing our goals down helps us focus on them more, makes them more real to us than an abstract idea. I think that's true. This year, I became a member of a wonderful group. An accountability group. What's that, you say? Well, this group knows what my long term goals are. In this case, what I want to accomplish for the year. I've broken these long term goals down into small chunks and these wonderful ladies make sure that I complete these tasks I set for myself or they have permission to kick me in the tookus to get me jump-started. Writing your goals down is all well and good, but if there's no accountability, what's to keep you on track?

My good friend, Rachel Lynne (http://rachellynneauthor.com/2010/02/15/success-is-just-around-the-corner.aspx), has determined this for herself and puts her goals out there every week on her blog. Then she holds herself accountable to her readers. And then she has the nerve to challenge us to do the same! Can you believe it? (Just kidding, Rach!) Denise Golinowski (http://gaiasong.livejournal.com/8142.html) has succumbed to Rachel's siren call and I'm bending under the peer pressure. LOL. Seriously, writers can be the biggest support for other writers and it's wonderful when they care enough to help you keep your course and realize your dreams. So I'm writing my goals for the rest of the week here, where everyone can see them, where I will be ridiculed and shamed if I don't succeed. Okay, not really, but I'm a writer. I need a little melodrama every now and again.

So – drum roll please!

This week, I vow to finish chapters four and five of Blood Diamond. I vow to post a blog entry everyday through Friday.

Whew! Okay, not as bad as I thought. Now, we'll see how it goes on Monday when I own up to how I did. ;)

So what about you? Do you have any goals you'd like to share? Would you like some help in staying accountable? Please share your experiences.