Singing in the Rain Part 2

The title might have been better last night if it was:

Singing in the Freezin' Cold Weather: One Seattle Writer Talks About How to Defrost Your Vocal Chords

Wow, is it cold in Seattle right now. I so appreciate everyone who came out last night, braving the cold weather and slick roads. (Sometimes it hard to believe I grew up in Montana. I'm such a wimp about the cold.)

I must say, once inside it was festive and yummy. There were cookies and books and friends galore. And I got to judge the cookie contest. Yum! And, oh my aching gut. But I'm still dreaming about the winner which some sort of awful yumminess in the form of a gingersnapish whoopie pie. Oh my!

Now I'm coming down from the night, back at home, typing this little post to you, while I munch on popcorn and Junior Mints. Yes, that's the truth, popcorn and JMs.

Just a brief report on the evening, however I plan to do several post related to my talk in the near future (very near, promise).

The evening kicked off the two fantastic YA authors, Lisa Schroeder and Liz Gallagher. So great to hear about their journeys. They were both warm and charming and full of good knowledge.

So, as many of you know, I posted yesterday about the fact that I was speaking and that I was tad nervous about what I had planned in regard to my use of technology and music. But, I went through all the step to be prepared: the room was checked for my needs beforehand, I arrived earlier in the day to test everything with tech people on-hand, and joy of joys...it all worked wonderfully. Whee!

Okay, backing up even more. My day hadn't been going so great. No need to elaborate, things just not going my way. Once I got to SPU and tested everything and saw it worked flawlessly, I was certain it was all turning around for me. I was ready for a great night and a fun, informative (I hoped) talk. I even called my hubby, who knew I was worried about it all, and let him know everything was on point. Woot!

Then off to dinner with one of my dearest friends, Sara, who later introduced me before my talk: the nicest introduction a girl could ask for. AND, it was mentioned that Sara postponed having her baby (you can come out now, little one) just so she could be there to intro me and hear my talk. What a friend! And she truly is.

So there I am, starting my talk (a little on the late side and feeling a bit like I need rush and skip over some things) and then WHAT? WHAT IN THE WORLD? The power point suddenly does not fit the screen at all. The top 30% of the slide was cut off. Ugh. But, we all powered through, and I was relieved I still had my sound. But I felt a little muddled and not on top of my game. That said, everyone there was a wonderful audience and it was a pleasure.

I've heard from many today with the most lovely words. Some of my favorites: that the talk was original and an out-of-the-box way to think about voice. That totally makes my day. Plus, the many who mentioned it sparked an idea for them. Gotta love that.

Because of the time crunch, I missed saying some of the things I'd hoped to and we didn't get to do the writing exercise that I had planned for the end. People ask if I could still share, so hopefully soon (with a little help from my techie Jaime friend) we'll get it up on Cuppa Jolie.

I also plan to do a post or two about the talk, as well as post my talk playlist. That will be fun. Yes?

Thanks again for all of your support. This community of writers is truly a gift in my life.

NOW, why didn't I take any pictures? Sheesh.