Where have I been?

It's been an interesting week. I'd no sooner gotten used to not working when I got almost two full-weeks of work at the old job. Of course, this is when my life decided to go crazy on me and we got into a bid/counter-bid situation on the condo that resulted in a sale. Yesterday was the inspection. As far as I can tell, that went okay--except our thermostat's battery picked that very moment to die, resulting in a panic call from our agent to the DH. I was at work so I didn't have to deal with it.

So, yay sold. Now all we need to do is have a place to go. This has become more complicated than I expected since the property we want is bank-owned. You'd think they'd want to sell it, right? Well, we're having a hard time getting information out of them, and when I hear from my agent it sounds like there are different rules governing bank sales than regular sales so . . . research is in order.

When I'm not packing, that is.

I see it this way. At the end of escrow we'll either have a place to live, or we won't. If we don't, the DH and I will hit the road and gypsy our way around California. Could be fun, although I doubt the Pooh will like it.

Poohs don't like cars.

The Hug

Watching the DNC last night¹ and seeing the Obama/Biden hug lifted my heart so high it hasn't fully landed.

I looked everywhere for this image this morning and could only find it in B&W in the paper version of my L.A. Times. What a shame. This is a landmark hug.

I mean . . . forget the black/white issue . . .

Forget that it's politics . . . (yes I saw a Bush/McCain hug but it totally squicked me out--it was so Hollywood.)

There was something very special about this hug. You can feel, just by looking at it, that it is totally heartfelt. It was real. And it took place in front of all of America--in front of all of the world.

Two MEN hugged. OMG. When I was growing up, men were only allowed to show emotion with each other with a handshake or maybe a pat on the back. At some point that graduated to the arm-around-the-shoulder. But this is so much more.

Long ago, at the heart of the womens' liberation movement, I knew that women would never be liberated as long as men weren't liberated too.

I believe this means that we are getting close.

---
1. I wouldn't even be watching the DNC but I've been back at work freelancing during the live coverage. So I actually got paid to see this hug. Life is good.

Shelf Space

The realty people held an Open House this afternoon which necessitated our making ourselves scarce, so the DH and I haunted a nearby Barnes and Noble.

He went off to the gardening section looking for books on succulents, while I checked out the succulent YA. I don't know why it had never occurred to me to see where my book would (will!!) be when it hits the shelf, but today I checked that out.

OMG can you see what I see? I always knew I'd be next to Holly Black--that's a no-brainer. But Francesca Lia Block? And just inches from Judy Blume? What insanely wonderful real estate. What an honor.

What a responsibility! I just have to finish the book (so close now), get an agent, sell it, survive revisions, copy edits, cover treatments, and . . . and . . . and . . .

But you know what? I'm up for all that.

Completely.

One Home For Sale

I've done a bit of blogging about putting our place on the market and looking for a new spot somewhere in Central California, and I have a little bit to share. First off, our realtor took pix of the inside of our place (since it's a lovely wooded complex with major pools, etc., sometimes the interior pix don't get used for promotion), but I stole a couple to show you what our place looks like when it's cleaned up for company.


Here's the living room. Bright. Airy. Colorful. You can see the two cat paintings in the background. The one over the fireplace is Lion, my dear kitty who passed away last fall. That was painted when he was in his donut stealing days at our old place. He's leaping from a counter in the kitchen with a "you caught me" look on his face. The picture to the left is of my Vito, who I named after the Godfather. There's a picture of the Duomo in the background. Vito had a bit of the Florentine gentleman in him. Both pix were painted by the DH.

Here's the living room from another angle. You can see the trees outside and the garden that our balcony has become. The DH needs a real yard so bad--you can see it encroaching into the livingroom to the left of the TV. Those are the girls, as we call them, who are part--only part--of his orchid collection.


And here is the master bedroom--overexposed. And who is that on the bed (and the lovely quilt made for my dear friend-who-reads-but-does-not-comment-on-this-blog)? Why, it's Mr. Pooh! He likes our realty lady so he doesn't hide when she's here.

If you look closely you can see one of my fav paintings over the bed: Le Thé by Matisse. It's part of the permanent collection at LACMA. Yes, when I leave L.A. I will miss seeing the real one as often as I do, but you can't have everything.

This 'n That

Just a few things I always meant to post but I never got around to it. Today is "clean up" day at Chez Gina including her Chez Laptop . . .

First off:
I didn't know they had Flickr in 1969.


Here's a shot for you: Tori Spelling leaving my neighborhood Target. The DS and I were just arriving (we're off shot to the left) and he noticed a great crowd of tall paparazzi walking backwards while snapping shots of this petite blonde pushing a stroller. Thanks to the power of Google I know who it was. Is this one of the parts of L.A. I'm going to miss when I move? Not so much, really. It's weirdness to the extreme, IMHO. Just let the lady do her shopping.


Mango Nectar with my name on it. It was good too. Went with a Philippino dinner I had for my birthday. Now this I will miss when I leave L.A. The diversity of food one can find just in a five-minute drive.


This is a shot of me from the workshop at RWA SF. What I noticed is that I have a real Italian Renaissance look going here. Left is by DaVinci. Neither of us are smiling. Maybe it's that we have the same pout?

Ever wonder . . .

. . . where this shot was filmed?

Check out My Town Monday on today's TitleWave blog to find out. :)

Sell House Sell

Open House Sunday
Come People Come
See Comfy Condo
Think "Nice Place"

People Make Offer
Sell House Sell

I made a House Selling Candle because it never hurts . . .

I Am Not Now, Nor Have I Ever Been a Domestic Goddess

There are people cleaning my house right now. The citrussy scent of solvents is filling the air. They are scouring places that have become ticklish from disuse. And I am so uncomfortable with all this. Every time they ask me a question I refer them to the DH. Yes, I know, it should be me the woman of the house who has the answers. But I haven't got a single one.

I am not a domestic goddess.

I can clean, even very well at times.

I can even cook. The jury is out on that one, though.

I do laundry. I don't bake. Much. (I have a bread machine, though, and know how to use it.)

I wouldn't be in this predicament except for the fact that we did list our home and there's going to be an Open House on Sunday.

That means that strangers will be walking through my home. Petting my cat. Wondering how their things would look where my things are. The whole idea kinda squicks me out.

Hopefully it will sell soon. A person can only handle so much.

Conference Wrapup

Falling behind on my promises again. It's been almost as busy since I've been back as it was when I was gone. So, without further ado, here's my list of goals and the results:

1. Have a really good time. Network with my friends. Don't mind too much that some of my friends aren't going to be there.

Yes, yes, yes. Every day I yak-yak-yakked until my voice started to fail. I did miss my friends that didn't come, and I also missed some of the ones who did, just catching them out of the corner of an eye, or seeing them standing below as I went up the escalator (hi Marianne!), but mostly I enjoyed seeing in person so many of the people who I enjoy cyberficially. ;)

2. Enjoy presenting the workshop with my American Title sisters.

I could really get used to holding a microphone and talking to a captive audience. I had a blast doing the workshop.

3. Hand out business cards. I'm going to see if (just for the fun of it) I can pass out the huge stack I'm bringing.

Not even close. Anyone want a business card?

4. Enjoy the literacy signing. I have always wanted to participate as an author and this year I am, and one of my girlfriends is BARTing in from Oakland to see me so that's going to make it very special.

This was magical. A dream come true.

5. Enjoy attending the conference with my daughter and introduce her around. This is her first National and her first chance to meet editors and agents up close and personal and get a sense of the industry.

Magical also.

6. Enjoy my agent pitch session. Don't sweat it.

I mostly enjoyed it, but there was some Gina-angst afterwards. Should I have? Shouldn't I have? Overall, I think it was okay, and overall I think I'd rather have an agent than pitch to one. Any offers?

7. Pitch my project to other agents when I can--but don't mind it if I don't find that opportunity.

Didn't really find the opportunity. But, did come away with additions to my list so that is very good.

8. See some of San Francisco and have a lovely dinner with my dad and stepmom.

Totally done. Witness the corner of Haight-Ashbury taken Saturday night.

9. Not buy a single book. With the layoff and the impending move, now isn't a good time to spend money or add to my exploding bookshelves.

Didn't buy but did add to my TBR shelf(ves) . Couldn't help it. (We all know I'm a recovering boohaholic, and there are slips and slides along the road to recovery, right?)

10. Find the treasure. In other words, view this year's conference as if it was a quest and I'm in search of some undefined holy grail that I will know it when I find it.

I totally found the treasure. Much to my surprise it was RWA, or rather the people in it, because RWA *is* the people in it. I know in this past year I've considered leaving this group. I'm not really writing romance anymore. There's that gray area I've fallen into as a published author who isn't really considered published by the organization. But none of that matters. Over the last fifteen years I've dug myself in further than I thought.

At conference I was nourished, revived, hugged, and entertained. I was reminded that I'm not writing in a vacuum, that even though writing is a solitary effort, there are kindred spirits and we hold hands across the internet. I don't know what I'd do without them.

Conference Day Three

I know I left you with a cliffhanger on Friday, but it's been a whirlwind of activity since then (and sore feet) consisting of lots of food, friendship, talking, talking, talking, (and sore feet), and even the whole packing and getting home thing.


The good news is, I survived giving my first workshop: Making a Splash, Even if You're Waiting to Sell. In fact, we did good. We had a decent sized crowd considering we were up against Saving the Cat AND our workshop began at 8:30 am on Saturday morning which is one of the tiredest points of the conference.

We got lots of good questions, had a rather lively discussion in places, imparted loads of good information, AND filled the entire two-hour and fifteen-minute slot (we didn't take a break). We had some fabulous giveaways including partial reads from two agents and an editor, books (I was going to include one of mine, but I had sold them all on Wednesday). One of the things I stressed was the importance of buying one's domain name ASAP. In light of that, it was gratifying to see Sara buying her domain name that evening, which had been something she'd not thought about before. I hope other attendees did the same.

Lunch was an on-your-own speech-free event (so no chicken for a change). I wandered off to get a submarine sandwich with Sara and one of my dear internet pals, Gabrielle Luthy. The day was beautiful, warm with blue skies, and the company divine. The sandwich wasn't too bad either.

Then I did something I swore I wouldn't do this conference. I got in line for free books. I had a good excuse. I wanted to pick up Tor's latest offerings for Sara who, in light of her pitch the day before to Heather Osborn, needed to read them. Unfortunately, it was only a short walk from there to the St. Martin's room. :sigh: I am incorrigible. However, I did leave the Ballantine and Berkley rooms alone, so I'm not hopeless.

Then, I went to find Sara at the Agent Cartel panel. We texted each other from across the room, finally identifying where we were sitting (isn't technology fun?). I was hoping to see Deidre Knight, but she didn't make it for some reason.

Next--instead of collapsing--we went to dinner with my dad and stepmom and got a lovely tour of San Francisco, where I saw places that brought back memories that had laid dormant for years.

Tomorrow, I'll post my conference wrapup. Meanwhile, I'm going to finish moving piles around here and get some sleep.