San Francisco, California
It all seemed to be going so well. After yesterday’s last-minute decision to go to the Maui Writers’ Conference in Hawaii, Team Roz really pulled out all the stops to help me get there fully prepared.
I didn’t want to turn up empty-handed. The objective of the exercise is to schmooze the attendant literary agents and/or publishers. I needed a seriously impressive book proposal to hand out.
But my book proposal was still far from ready. Ellen Hawkes, my advisor in all matters literary, had made a lot of suggestions for improvement that needed to be implemented.
Impossible deadlines have a marvellous ability to focus the mind, and in 3 hours of intense mental activity and much typing, I had a proposal that met with Ellen’s approval.
I also decided I wanted 10 copies of my Atlantic rowing videos on DVD to include in the package, as the videos seem to provoke a definite reaction in all who see them (varying from ‘you must be mad’ to ‘wow’).
Luckily Lex at Riekes Center for Human Enhancement was able to help out.
Then there were labels to print out – for the folder and for the DVD’s, so it was off to the Palo Alto Apple Store to buy Disc Cover, and to Staples to buy labels, folders and printer paper.
With a lot of expenditure and a bit of difficulty (WHY won’t Hawaiian Airlines accept British credit cards?) I managed to sort the logistics – flights, hotel, and conference badge.
So I was looking all shipshape and ready to go. Then I found that there was a problem with the sound on the DVD’s, my laptop (with all my logistical info) wouldn’t sync to my palmtop… and then to top it all I pulled a muscle in my lower back.
A case of more haste, less speed, maybe.