Last week while cleaning out my closets I came across some workshop tapes from the 1996 RWA conference (the first one I ever attended). I used to like to listen to tapes in the car, especially when I was driving an hour or two but had gotten out of the habit.

Well, I was going out of town for my day job so I took the tapes with me…and really enjoyed listening to them!! So far I’ve listened to: Plotting Part 1 and 2- Jolie Kramer. How to Take a Manuscript Apart and Put It Back Together-Revisions and Rejections- Barbara Keiler ; Analyzing the Synopsis: Inside an Editor’s Mind- Leslie Wainger; Weaving in subplots and Secondary Characters: Make Them Integral to Your Story- Kathleen Morgan; Texturing Your Novel- Kristin Hannah.

By the time I’d listened to all those wonderful presentations, I was hooked. I searched some more and found Through the Eyes of The Hero/Men Talk Different- Kylie Brent & Laurie Brown. Then, some career focused ones from RWA 2005: From Here to Eternity- Your Career Business Plan in Action- Cherry Adair and Marketing is Not a Four-letter Word- Blythe Gifford.

I learned something from all of them and I’m definitely in the mood to start listening to workshop tapes/CD’s again. What surprises me is that I ever quit listening.

Have you ever done that? Turned away from something that you once enjoyed only to pick it up again years later?

The great thing about being a writer is that the only meetings you’re ever required to attend are those you schedule with yourself. Of course, if you schedule a meeting, then don’t feel like meeting, you can just cancel.

But I am well aware that people in other professions do not have this luxury. There’s something about the work world that loves a meeting—even when there’s nothing to say, even when all that’s said at the meeting is how there’s no need for a meeting.

Nowadays bosses and CEOs are getting wise to that fact that employees don’t like meetings and so they try to disguise them as “fun activities.” Instead of sitting and listening to the boss tell the employees the goals and objectives for the year, the employees play a “game” to learn them. Or maybe the staff does some kind of touchy-feely talking activity, where everyone is supposed to say what they think but no one really does because no one wants to get fired.

Ah, meetings…

Anyone feel me out there? What’s the most stupid, most pointless meeting you’ve ever had to attend?

…Stefanie D. Congrats, Stefanie! E-mail me with your address and the title of which of my books you want signed and I’ll send it to you ASAP.

Thanks to everyone who participated. And don’t forget to check out Robyn’s blog on being a fangirl below.

Kim blogged last week about brushes with famous people and we ended up talking some about published authors. I don’t get starstruck so much anymore, since I’ve been going to writing conferences for so long. I went to my first RT when I was 19 (this was before I knew about RWA) and oh, wow, I was like a kid in a candy store. I brought favorite books with me and actually accosted Teresa Medieros in a hallway and then proceeded to run back to my room (up like three flights of stairs) to retrieve my copy of Once an Angel for her to sign. She was gracious and waited for me and didn’t once look at me like I was a crazy stalker. For years at RWA’s National conference I would wait in her line and buy her latest release (which frequently I had already purchased) just so I could be near her. I don’t think she ever put a restraining order on me and now I think she even knows my name and she’s always so very sweet. But I swear I get all stupid around her cause I mean she’s Teresa and I totally love her! And then there’s Suzanne Enoch. I read Lady Rogue when it first came out and I still remember the experience. It was just so much fun and I fell in love with her characters. The same has been true of ever Suzie E book I read and again I just make a fool of myself around her. She sat sort of across from me at the big book signing this year at National and she waved and I totally felt like the cutest boy in school had just waved at me across the cafeteria. I know some of you out there know what I’m talking about. Amanda Quick is probably the biggie for me and I’ve only ever gotten the nerve to wait in her big old line (again at the RWA National booksigning) once. I tried to think of something clever to say, but instead I just gushed like an idiot (which knowing what’s it’s like to receive gushing, it’s a rather pleasant experience, but still!). I wanted to be brilliant and instead I was a goof. Thus the only one time in her line. Then there was the time that Kathleen Woodiwiss who was at the National conference. I didn’t even get close to her, I never met her, but the woman stepped up to the stage and I burst into tears. And you know I’m really not like that, for the most part. I mean I’m fairly articulate and despite other people’s talents, I don’t tend to be impressed by someone simply because of who they are. I mean we’re all people, but some authors still trip me up. I think some of it is just overwhelming gratitude for writing great books and for paving the way for those of us who’ve come more recently. Whatever it is, there are still some authors who bring out the fan girl in me. So how about you? Who are you a fan girl for?

After all the recent talk of movies–bad, sad, and otherwise–here at Jaunty Quills, I was surfing some of the quiz sites and ran across this quick little quiz that is supposed to tell you which movie heroine you are the most like. (This is one we may have done before, but bear with me. There’s a different question coming at the end. I think. )

Which movie heroine are you?

Lizzie Bennet You are Lizzie Bennet from “Pride & Prejudice”! You are loving, intelligent, and caring. You love to spend time doing your favorite things and spending time with friends and family. You’re never willing to compromise yourself or your morals and never let people get you down. You’re true to yourself, but sometimes too stubborn.
Take this quiz!

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According to the results, I’m Lizzie Bennet. I guess I’ll go for that, LOL. It could have been worse, and I have to admit that there is some truth to the personality description. So what about you? Which movie heroine are you? Do you agree with the results?

Which movie or literary heroine do you think you are the most like? If I had to choose, I’d say I’m a cross between Jo and Beth March of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. I have a touch of Beth’s painful shyness and her homebody tendencies, while I can connect with Jo’s desire to be a writer and her solitariness, as well as her stubbornness, her impatience, and her fierce loyalty to her family. Do you have a heroine that you can identify with?

And just to add to the fun, anyone who comments before midnight tonight will be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of your choice of one of my first four books. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning. Good luck!

Show, don’t tell. How many times do writers hear this Golden Rule?

You know how certain books will strike you … and stick with you for days? These books have writers who manage to get everything just right. They put all of the “rules” into play in ways that touch us, haunt us, resonate with us.

Sometimes a song will hit you the same way. I happened to hear the following song recently, an enormously popular piece from years ago. Listen to the lyrics. Just these few stanzas tell a whole lot, but oh so subtly. Bobbie Gentry evokes a mood without spelling anything out. She merely recounts a casual discussion at a family supper. Can you believe she recorded this song when she was 23!

Gentry only hints at the underlying story, which makes it powerful and haunting. Yesterday, Anne asked you about movies that moved you … What songs or books that have stuck with you long after reading or listening to them?

There are a couple of movies that always make me cry. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen them, I always, always shed a tear at a certain moment. The three below are guarantees for me. Two of them are movies I’m sure most of you have seen, and the other I’ll leave as spoiler free as I can. Just browse the posters and the paragraphs that don’t begin with a bold word, if you want! All non bold beginning paragraphs are spoiler free (so just about every other paragraph). I cry equally for happy, meaningful moments as for sad ones – so that at least makes my recommendations ambiguous.

ET - When Eliot believes ET is dead. Ok. I know he’s not. I know ET is going to be just fine. But that moment is spellbinding and I always cry. Seriously. I always cry. One of the best scenes in movie history for capturing a single moment of emotion.

Now, I’m not a cry on demand kind of girl. Just because the music swells or two people are reunited, it doesn’t mean I’m going to shed a tear. There has to be something there. Some synergy of connection and magic. A perfect moment of emotion.

Angus - When he knocks over the chess piece. For those who have seen it, you’ll know what I mean. That moment between the two actors is captured so perfectly. The music, their expressions, the statement of the actions. I’m getting teary thinking about it. Great movie, if you haven’t seen it.

Again, it’s about that perfect moment of emotional connection.

Braveheart - The end when he sees her in the crowd springs the waterworks every time. I have some friends who are rabid fans of this movie. I am not a rabid fan, but the ending is perfect.

Sure, if I’m in the weepy mood, I might be more apt to shed a tear or get choked up during any movie. But that’s not what I mean by the above movies. I can be angry, I can be happy, I can be content, and those moments will still get me!

There is a particular theme that has a good chance to move me to tears (if done well), but if I told you what it was, I would ruin a few of these recs for anyone browsing spoiler free. More than one of the five movies listed here have it. Again with the moment magic though. I’ve seen other movies with that theme and my eyes remain dry.

Pan’s Labyrinth and Big Fish – More recent movies that I’ve only seen one time, so they haven’t passed my “always make me cry” test. I bawled though at the end of Big Fish in the theater. I mean, cried hard enough that I was all blotchy afterwards. Sheesh. So we’ll see if it holds the next time I see it, or if it was a specific moment rather than a movie moment.

So what movies move you to tears? Happy tears, sad tears, or anything in between. Which movies can you watch over and over and still cry?

Have you seen this? Quills, can you relate?

Last night I went to a play with some friends. It was called “Crowns” and much of the storyline touched on “hats” I’d never thought much about hats….or more specifically women wearing hats…but as I was watching, I started thinking….what if hats came back in style?

I can’t remember a time when hats “were” in style. I can remember cloth headbands, plastic headbands and winter hats….but the closest that I come to wearing a hat with a dress was Easter Sunday when I was a child.

I was thinking it’s about time for hats to make a comeback. Not the real fancy ones of a bygone era…but fun hats that would look great with casual attire. I admit that if they did come back, I’d give ‘em a try.

How about you? Would you be interested in wearing a hat? Or, is there some other fashion that you’d like to see make a comeback? Fishnet nylons? Tent dresses? Leggings? Or maybe it’s not a fashion thing….maybe you’d like to see big bangs come back….or white eyeliner…

C’mon….spill…we won’t laugh…at least not very loudly.

About ten years ago, I attended a concert with a good friend of mine at the Louisville Motor Speedway. It was a spur of the moment thing, one of those free concerts where no tickets are required. You just show up and the early birds get the best seats. It turned out to be one of the more memorable concerts of my life. Why? Not only was the headliner my very favorite singer at the time, country music star Bryan White, but we were right up front, next to the stage. So close I could have reached out and touched him. Or at least, it felt that way, as you can see from the pics above. Sigh… The only way the day could have been any better was if I’d had the chance to meet him personally.

Unfortunately, that was my one and only close brush with a real celebrity, LOL. But I know people who claim they’ve had a bit more luck in that area than I have. One of my friends still waxes poetic about the time she met Donny Wahlberg backstage at a New Kids on the Block concert. She can describe in great detail exactly what he looked like that night, from the way he fixed his hair, to what clothes he was wearing, to how he smelled. Believe me, I’ve heard the tale more times than I can count. Another friend of mine swears he met actress Kirsten Dunst at a local convenience store when she was in the area shooting Elizabethtown a few years ago. (Yeah, I didn’t believe him either. It kind of ruined his credibility when he swore up and down that she asked for his phone number.)

So have you ever had the chance to meet anyone famous? Rubbed elbows with a celeb or shook hands with someone you admired? And if not, who would you like to meet if you could?