Today was the first day of the writing conference. It wasn’t a full day, but it’s gotten off to a nice start.

I arrived at the hotel around 6:10 PM. I went to the check-in table and saw Jo Leigh there. It was nice to see her. Once I checked in, I got a tote bag, which included a bunch of writer promo goodies. When I say “a bunch,” I mean more than I can list. Lots of bookmarks, some cover flats, and several pens (my personal favorite).

I arrived a bit early, since dinner didn’t start until 7:00. I sat down and looked through the promo materials until some women came over and introduced themselves. Everyone I talked to seemed very friendly; this seems like a friendly RWA chapter.

A little before 7:00, I went up to a room for dinner. This might be a good time to mention that there were about 40-50 people there, which seemed like a good size.

Anyway, each attendee had three books waiting on her chair. Mine were Every Waking Moment by Brenda Novak, Love According to Lily by Julianne MacLean, and Seducing the Prince by Patricia Grasso. This was a nice treat. The Novak and Grasso books were autographed.

After dinner, several awards were given out. Then Brenda Novak talked about overcoming discouragement. She has a number of ideas, but here are some of the things I found especially helpful.

• Decide what you want and how to get there. Do something toward your goal every day.
• Develop a pattern of success. You can do more than you think you can if you break down the goal or project into manageable chunks.
• Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone’s journey will be different.
• Seek balance so that you are focused on more than your writing.

Novak is a good speaker. She used several examples from her life to demonstrate her points. The conference got off to a nice start.

Tomorrow should be busy–the activities start at 8:00 AM. I’m not a morning person, but I’m looking forward to the day.