ECWC 2010 - Thursday
So, it's been like five years since I attended the Emerald City Writers' Conference in Bellevue, Washington (sponsored by the Greater Seattle RWA chapter). Thankfully, a shift of weekends worked in my favor this time so I could attend. And, even more thankfully, one of my writer pals offered to let me come an extra evening as her roomy couldn't make it for their Thursday night reservation. Thank you, Miz D !
Now, this was only the second ECWC that I had attended where I wasn't "working it". The first 5-6 years, I was "on" constantly but now, just as a volunteer, I had freedom. But I still packed like I needed to prepare for every calamity. I even brought a spare lint brush. Seriously.
I loaded up the car (you'd think I was going to be gone at least a week , the number of bags I had - I took a bag of JUST SHOES! like a dozen pair! FOR A WEEKEND! I'm insane) and drove to the eastside. Since my freebie night was one night only, I left most of my crap in the car. I'd be spending Friday and Saturday nights in my own room so could pile said crap in that room.
Yay! Finally settled in (temporarily). I had a bunch of pals to hang with and planned to meet many more. We got together, those who'd arrived a day early, and had a late lunch. It was much fun and made new friends, too!
Most of our group had volunteered to help adding/stuffing promotional items in the free gift bags each attendee of the conference will receive so after we finished eating, we went in search of the stuffing room. The room quickly filled up with helpers - and boxes and boxes of stuff! After planning delay, we got our assembly line going. It was a lot of fun and we all got to see the gorgeous covers and freebies first! Everyone got three books and there were pens, bookmarks, teaser booklets, postcards, candy, a button, chapstick, post-its and on. It's a fun way to get promotional ideas.
It took about three hours to get all 250+ bags stuffed with the huge pile of goodies! After that, we welcomed the pizzas the Conference Committee bought.
We then converged on the bar, meeting up with new and old friends. Several hours later, it was time to stumble off to our rooms.
It was a great way to start the long weekend!!
Now, this was only the second ECWC that I had attended where I wasn't "working it". The first 5-6 years, I was "on" constantly but now, just as a volunteer, I had freedom. But I still packed like I needed to prepare for every calamity. I even brought a spare lint brush. Seriously.
I loaded up the car (you'd think I was going to be gone at least a week , the number of bags I had - I took a bag of JUST SHOES! like a dozen pair! FOR A WEEKEND! I'm insane) and drove to the eastside. Since my freebie night was one night only, I left most of my crap in the car. I'd be spending Friday and Saturday nights in my own room so could pile said crap in that room.
Yay! Finally settled in (temporarily). I had a bunch of pals to hang with and planned to meet many more. We got together, those who'd arrived a day early, and had a late lunch. It was much fun and made new friends, too!
Most of our group had volunteered to help adding/stuffing promotional items in the free gift bags each attendee of the conference will receive so after we finished eating, we went in search of the stuffing room. The room quickly filled up with helpers - and boxes and boxes of stuff! After planning delay, we got our assembly line going. It was a lot of fun and we all got to see the gorgeous covers and freebies first! Everyone got three books and there were pens, bookmarks, teaser booklets, postcards, candy, a button, chapstick, post-its and on. It's a fun way to get promotional ideas.
It took about three hours to get all 250+ bags stuffed with the huge pile of goodies! After that, we welcomed the pizzas the Conference Committee bought.
We then converged on the bar, meeting up with new and old friends. Several hours later, it was time to stumble off to our rooms.
It was a great way to start the long weekend!!
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