GRLRetreat2017

Goodbye #GRL2017 Hello #GRL2018 #musings #amwriting #inspiration #tribe

Posted by

0

A few days later than I wanted. Ok…Fine.  It has been  a week since my last update. Almost sounds like a confessional, doesn’t it?

I confess I had a great time at GRL 2017. *smile*

It was a whirlwind from the get go for this VirGRLin (as they label their newbies).

Friday, Day 2, started bright an early with breakfast around 8 ish and the Storyteller Series: “Liar, Liar Bad Boys on Fire: Trivia and Prizes” with Alexa Land, Charlie Cochet (THIRDS!), and Victoria Sue. It was a lot of fun. I got 16 tickets out of a possible 20! Almost won one of the three big prizes.

Here are the tickets and the black panther from Charlie’s stash that I did win.

 

I then went to a lot of author lounges. A LOT of authors. I met so many, I’m afraid I can’t name them all without help from the handy Guidebook app the retreat had. But that is boring and who wants to see a bunch a names. Needless to say, I did get some pictures with my favorite authors that I asked to have, but like the Cocky Boys the night before, I’m not going to post here.

 

There is this one gem that I’m going to have to find a full set from Chris Owens table. She was handing out random cards from this Tarot deck and I got one that has a space one. I thought I had a picture, but apparently I didn’t take a picture of it. Here is the box for the deck though. Will have to purchase that when I get a chance. I think it’s fabulous.

 

4 pm rolls around and I go another Storyteller Series: Rural Romance — Horse, Cattle, and Haylofts… OH MY!!!!! with Andrew Grey, Sylvia Violet, and Deanna Wadsworth. That was excellent fun and I love listening to their stories and there was a little game of Mad Libs, Dirty Author style. :0

I then meet with Dani, M, and S at 5 for dinner before the Rhys Ford-Jordan L. Hawk Reader meet up at 6 pm. 6:30 pm rolls around and we are finally leaving after paying the check. I did get pictures with Rhys and Jordan and thanked Jordan for the dinner the night before.

Then there was the entertainment portion of the evening with “For the love of Games 2017 Sponsored by the Ecstasy Books.” I had a lot of fun with BINGO but I was done by the time they went to the other games. I went back to the room, chilled for a bit, read some, and fell asleep. No writing but that’s ok.

Saturday, Day 3,  started fairly early but not as early as other days. This time, the last big hurrah for the Featured Authors in the massive open-to-the-public signed happened late morning.  J. Scott Coatsworth put a call out to attending non-authors, or authors not attending as authors, to see if they could help with the QSF/Queeromance Ink table during the featured signing on FB. I said I could but I needed to get the last of my pre-orders and meet a couple more authors before I could. Probably 30 min to an hour. Almost an hour later, I had finished my rounds and I sat down until the signing event finished at 12:30 pm MDT. Then it was off to the QSF Group luncheon at the Pint Brothers restaurant/bar in the hotel.

I had a great time meeting people and chatting with several of like-minded sci fi writers/readers around me. I finished with that and hung out somewhere that I can’t remember… I might have taken another nap. I’m not sure. It kind of started to blur together. I knew I should have written stuff down….

S had lost her car key the night before and hadn’t found it so we took a Lyft to the Hamburger Mary’s dinner Brandon Witt had setup prior to the retreat. That was fun and a few of my photos of that below.

 

I did have some of the crowd but I tend to err on the side of caution when posting pictures of people, even group shots, unless I know they are ok with it. We got a Lyft back to the hotel in time to get ready for the Wild Wild West themed costume party.

There were a lot of great costumes. Joel Leslie’s took the cake as a sexy Woody, and won the best costume prize. I understand he was the Tin Man last year. There were issues with someone who was accosted and almost had something worse happened but it was prevented by a really nice gentleman. I’m not going to say anything about that situation other than something went down as it’s not my business, other than being glad it was stopped before harm happened. It’s in the hands of the police now and they will take care of it.

Again, I stayed up way later than expected but I had a great time and actually danced three songs. I was tuckered out afterwards but it was great fun watching the people and the interesting interpretations of “cowboys” and the “west” people did. There were even horses and cows… even a Cactus…

Sunday, Day 4 and the last official day, started with S finding her car keys tucked into a seldom-used pocket in the strap of her backpack. Yay! It’s also the last hurrah with the GRL Farewell Brunch. Boo!!

Lots of people left today (some even the day before) but M, S, and I stayed until Monday. We had a great lunch with people at Pint Brother’s and then chilled out in the room. I believe I either read or napped until it was time to go to the Melting Pot with Lisa Henry, M, S, and I. We had a great time. Yes, that really is my fortune from a fortune cookie. M kindly held it so I could take a picture. I never had one at the Melting Pot before. I’ve only been to the Atlanta area ones. It says, “You’ll get candy corn stuck in your teeth.” Which is probably going to come true because it is one of my favorite Halloween candies. 😀 The dark and light pot is Yin Yang chocolate with dark and white chocolate. It was yummy. The other pot was  the cheese but apparently I didn’t get a good picture… The last picture is the front of the restaurant. I was a public library at some point.

We went back to the hotel that evening and all of us did our final packing. I got a spare suitcase earlier, from an author who didn’t need it anymore, to have enough room to pack my books and clothing. I did manage to get everything I could take and have both suitcases under 50 lbs each. Did have to pay the 2nd bag fee for Delta, but it was a little cheaper than shipping. I’ll probably take a picture of the horde of books I got once I finish unpacking. (Yes, as of this post, I hadn’t unpacked yet…)

Monday, S met with her daughter that was leaving the country for 4 months so left really early in the morning (like 5 am early). M and I caught a ride from the hotel with Kim Felding. Kim went on Southwest, I went to Delta, and M got dropped off at his airline that I have no idea how to pronounce, let alone spell. Starts with an L and if you are familiar with European airlines, you are doing better than I. M and I got through security and met up for just enough time to have a meal together before my flight was to leave. We took a last picture and I headed home.

The flight was uneventful but I did spend most of the time writing on my story that I had been earlier in the trip. That was great to do. I got home after dinner with my family around 10 PM EDT got the couple of gifts out that I had purchased (and the Divinity that I brought home). I had to go back to work the next day, and it’s been fairly busy ever since. Also, why it took me so long to type up a post on my travels.

We were told one night (I don’t remember which night, Thursday at the opening receptions probably) that next year’s GRL will be in Portsmouth, VA. At least one person in RGR lives not too far away and she is planning on going. Maybe we’ll get a few more of us to go. I figured out Monday night when I got home that the family doesn’t have plans so I’m going to drive there this time. It’s only 9 hours away, so doable. More books for me…

So, maybe I will see you there? If so, come find me. I’ll have a Hug Me button on from this year. Now, off to way too much stuff to do. Who knows, maybe I’ll go as a Supporting Author. Here’s to reaching for your dreams.

For more information on the retreat, visit here: https://www.gayromlit.com/. Right now, it has the 2017 information. Eventually, they’ll change it to the 2018 info once they have everything ready.

Eloreen

Day 5 pre-GRL and Day 1 GRL Migraines QSF On Writing #GRLRetreat2017

Posted by

0

Day 5 pre-GRL was Wednesday, Octobert 18th, 2017. M, S, and I transferred to the Denver Marriott Tech Center for the official pre-GRL meetup before GRL starts on Thursday. It was so busy and packed with things to do starting at 3:30 pm MDT that I fell over around 1 am. I then turned around and got up at 7:30 am the next morning to get breakfast and start the day with Author lounges.

Day 1 of GRL was great and full of energy. Almost too much energy. I bought 3 more paperback books, and several freebie books later, the Bru Baker CAMP Howl bag was starting to hurt my shoulder. And I haven’t gotten my pre-orders yet. 😀 

Right before lunch, I started talking with someone manning the GRL registration, Michael Henry, who liked Sci Fi. I gave him my last extra copies–signed of course-of Discovery and Flight I brought with me (the QSF Flash Fiction contest anthologies from 2 years ago and last year–this year’s anthology, Renewal, is on order to my home). He stopped me later to tell me how much he liked Flight, my story in Flight. I appreciate that a lot. I’m glad someone does and helps me keep going as a writer.

Unfortunately, about 1:30 pm MDT, I got a bad headache. Woke up with one but it went away for a while. Took medicine, an EMERGEN-C packet, and ate some lunch. I got overwhelmed, too much input, and a migraine was threatening to start. I decided to rest in the room. Two and a half hour nap later I emerged pain free and ready to go to the Patreon dinner with Jordan L. Hawk. Didn’t realize that she paid for it until it was the end and about to go to the opening reception right after. So, thank you Jordan. I really enjoyed the company and the food. 

I realized this evening while waiting for the final event to start that I hadn’t posted yesterday and today’s update. So, after some encouragement from M and new friend Dani, I went up to get a photo with the Cocky Boys. I’m not that brave to post it here (I tend to not post my photo usually). I’m winding down because it’s almost 12:30 AM Mountain time (so, 2 hours later Eastern). I’m going to see about posting tomorrow (later today). Somehow, I’ll write some more on The Druid’s Bond before I go home. I did get to recommend my Coil Me Up story to someone on Facebook who wanted to read something with snake shifters. 😉

Eloreen

Day 4 pre-GRL Denver Botanic Gardens, Eggs Benedict, and More Divinity #GRLRetreat2017

Posted by

0

Day 4 of pre-GRL. We had an outing to the Denver Botanic Gardens, Eggs Benedict for lunch, and I finished the Divinity. But first, another picture from the house. It’s a rose. One of my favorite flowers.

 

We went to the Denver Botanic Gardens as well. I took over 200 pictures with my point-and-shoot camera, so I’m having to uploaded them to Google Photos. There are a couple where S and M are in them. Mostly the gardens. Link below. The picture below is the English and Spanish maps and two cards S bought me from the gift shop. The Spanish map was given to me first. I was amused.

GRL 2017 Denver Botanic Gardens
https://photos.app.goo.gl/f5kXrN6186KG6WRA3

 

We had Eggs Benedict this afternoon with home made holandaise sauce. Well, I had it with Canadian bacon while M and S had it with Avocado and spinach.

 

The final batches of Divinity. The two flat-looking ones are cherry Divinity. Not quite how they are supposed to look. I stirred them too fast with the mixer when I added the cherries. Still tastes good. Come to the impromptu foods from around the country/world sampling at 6 pm outside the Ballroom B/C at the Denver Tech Center tomorrow evening if you are there. If not, I’ll post more pictures. 🙂

 

Between the making of the white divinity and the cherry divinity, I took a nap. Yes, another nap. 🙂 And now, to send some photos to Piper Kay since she couldn’t make it to GRL.

Day 3 Pre-GRL a meetup and Divinity #GRLRetreat2017

Posted by

0

Since I promised to post something today, and more pictures of the house, here we go. The update for the day is after the house pictures.

House pictures:

Dining room

Kitchen, excuse the mess. 🙂

Hallway to the bedrooms and bathroom off the dining room

Living room

Wall behind the living room. You can see the dining room from here. Front door is to the left of the picture

Back porch and yard

Day 3 started with a 6:20 am (yes, morning) local time phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. I let it go to voicemail. I went back to sleep 20 min later after the adrenaline left (did I mention I startle easily?). 

Woke up 3 hours later with another phone call and that was all she wrote. Breakfast with pancakes and eggs. I edited The Druid’s Bond a little and made my first batch of Divinity. Surprisingly easy. Love the 10% humidity. 

The Divinity. No nuts because I don’t like them in foods. I will be doing more batches tomorrow.

Then S, M and I went downtown near Union Station to meet up with JP Kenwood for happy hour drinks. 

We got back about an hour ago and I’ve worked on editing The Druid’s Bond a little more. Tired though so probably going to shut down after this post and go to bed.

Plan tomorrow: Botanical Gardens, more Divinity making and writing, and a meetup with another of M’s friends coming in the evening for a late dinner here at the house.

Then packing for the Tech Center. One more day.

Eloreen

Day 2 Denver pre-GRL #GRLRetreat2017

Posted by

0

Day 1 was traveling and getting to the house Marc (M), MTSnow (S), and I rented before GRL. We all converged to Denver in one piece, hung out last night after dinner in a mall food court, and crashed.
Picture of the standing horse at the Denver airport. We had to circle a lot while we waited for M to arrive from customs. Not the best picture. I’ll see if I can get a closer one with my picture software. And crop it a bit.

Day 2 was leisurely awakening this morning, a Costco and grocery run for the week, and returning back to the house for lunch. Just finished lunch and now I’m ready to nap. I’m on vacation. I can nap if I want to!

Picture below is a bush full of finches, it looks like. They are so cute. Their was this morning on the way to Costco.

The house is beautiful and plenty of room. The owner lives in the basement and rents out the upstairs via Airbnb. He got me a candy thermometer for the making of Divinity, a little Goergia I’m bringing to the retreat. I’ll probably do that this evening or tomorrow. I’m going to bring some just for K-lee to distract/cheer up from the pain she’s been having. Don’t worry, I’ll have plenty for people to try if you are attending.

Bedroom I’m sleeping in awhile at the house. That’s my purse/belt on the end of the bed. More pictures of the house later.

We’re going to do a planning session and see about what we want to accomplish before going to the retreat hotel on Wednesday. Perhaps I’ll read or maybe write. I’m feeling a little inspired–something about not working helps–so I might pull out my laptop or iPad. I definitely would like to catch up on reviewing.

I’m planning on wearing my new Rainbow Gold Reviews (RGR) t-shirt or hoodie Wednesday that S brought us. I’ll try to post pictures once I get them. I brought my camera, but I have my phone camera too. There is something to say for ease of posting to social media with the phone camera.

I going to take my nap now. More later. 🙂

Eloreen

One day away and I will be in Denver #GRLRetreat2017

Posted by

0

GRL Retreat and Denver here I come!

It’s been awhile since I posted. Sorry about that. Work has been insane the last several months. I haven’t had much time to read much less write. It was only last week that I tuned into Facebook in preparation for this trip.

Trip you said? What’s this GRL thing?

https://www.gayromlit.com/

That’s where I’m going. My first time, and first Romance retreat/conference of the book kind. I go to DragonCon every year for the last 6 years, and occasionally do day passes to others around Atlanta. But this is my first book convergence and the ability to meet the authors, bloggers, and yes, even the Rainbow Gold Reviews crew that I’ve worked with for the last 3 years in the LGBTQ book genre. I’ve been reading primarily MM for 6 years, writing sporadically for 5 years, and blogged about it for 4ish years–WordPress tells me when I have an anniversary but I can’t think of when I started this mess unless I look it up. I’ll figure that out later. 😉

I didn’t know about GRL until it was here in Atlanta several years ago RIGHT BEFORE it was to happen. Could take the time to attend then. Sigh.

By the Gods I’m going now. 🙂

I’m meeting up with two of my co-conspirators on RGR, MTSnow and Marc Fleischhauer, and we’re renting a house from tomorrow until the 18th where we transfer to the host hotel the Retreat is at in the Denver Tech Center.

This is also the first time I will be anywhere as Eloreen Moon. 🙂 That’s kind of scary and exciting on it’s own.

As you know Eloreen is my pen name because I work in a conservative industry: legal technology. I keep this part of my life separate from Real Life (TM) because it’s easier that way. Will I come out to work? Probably not. I don’t even talk about my polyamorous family life except in bare-minimum words. If asked directly, and I feel safe, I will probably explain but I definitely don’t volunteer.

I’m an introvert with aspirations of writing full time (not there yet; maybe in the next five years, and definitely when I retire). Now, if I can only get the part time writing going, I’ll be golden. *smile*

I’m hoping this retreat will allow me to work on some of the WIPs I’ve had going for a really long time and just need some scenes fleshed out and editing done. The publishing world for LGBTQ genre writing has been churning with publisher and retailers dropping like flies in recent years and a lot of authors going self publishing. I’m hoping to get my act together and prepare to launch myself this coming year. We’ll see. First, I need to finish some stuff. That’s one of the goals this vacation.

The others are to meet authors and have a great time. I look forward to meeting those that will be there. Come hug me and say hello  if you are there. I’d love to meet people who read my blog. 🙂 Just make sure you let me know before the hug part. Stealth hugging may get you decked if I’m startled.

Eloreen