Friday, August 20, 2010

A Friday Made of Fab

1. One week from today the entire Roecker family is heading to Hilton Head for a little R&R. Well, as much R&R as you can get in a house with 3 sisters, their husbands, 4 kids under the age of 5 (6 if you count the buns in the ovens), and two VERY generous grandparents. The 14 hour drive is definitely going to be interesting. My poor husband is convinced that my water is going to break somewhere in West Virginia. And because vacations make us feel guilty we've got some super fun stuff planned for the blog when we're gone. Get excited.

2. For those of you who have asked, I'm due to have this baby September 30th. Yup, that's right. I'll be at my most pregnant during the hottest months of the summer. Super planning on our part. We (and by we, I mean ME) decided that since this is most likely our last baby we should be surprised about the sex. Although, I have this feeling that it's going to be a girl....

3. We have the Tim Gunn of beta readers. I almost peed my pants when Tim Gunn commented on some poor Project Runway contestant's booty shorts: "For me, the cut of the shorts and the color of the shorts, it really says 'diaper.' Especially because they're quilted, so there's a thickness to it." Oh, how I love Tim Gunn. You know what I love even more? Our critique partner does the exact same thing for us. We sent her a very rough first chapter of our WIP and she kind of said, "For me, the voice here, it really says Gossip Girl, when you're going for Scream. Genius.

4. Mark your calendars for Monday August 23rd at 9 PM EST. We've scheduled a feedback chat/debrief for WriteOnCon. We're already hard at work on planning for next year and we want to know exactly what you guys thought about our inaugural year. Just don't bring up Error 403, okay? Kind of a sore subject...To join us for the chat just head over to http://www.writeoncon.com/ Monday night.

5. WriteOnCon was featured in PublishersWeekly. We are so proud and so excited! Thank you all for helping us make this event such a huge success!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

37 comments:

Unknown said...

Leave it to Tim Gunn for his inspirational speeches involving "diapers" I don't care what anyone says... he rocks!!!

Enjoy your R&R with a house full of chaos :)

Martina Boone said...

Yay on endless fronts! Particularly the Publishers Weekly news. SO DESERVED!!! Enjoy your vacation time. Everyone needs that R&R time. Happy Friday, girls :)

Matthew MacNish said...

A few things:

1) Hilton Head is gorgeous, and lots of fun (I live in Atlanta so it's much closer for me) but next time you want a vacation on the Carolina Coast you should look up a place called Kiawah Island. Trust me, it's awesome. Since you're already headed to Hilton Head though, if you're looking for something to do one day, a drive into Savannah GA to visit the Juliette Gordon Low house is something every little girl should get to experience (she founded the Girl Scouts).

2) That isn't the best planning on your part about the pregnancy, but hey, at least you PLANNED it.

3) I don't watch Project Runway (even though I'm a big tough man, I do go in for reality TV from time to time, as you know) and I don't know who Tim Gunn is, but that sounds like great advice.

4) Can't wait. WriteOnCon was pretty much the coolest thing ever, so anything even loosely connected to it will be great, 5) including this article, which I will now go read.

6) This is a long comment. I probably should have emailed you.

7) Today's guest blogger is Renae Mercado!

Matthew MacNish said...

I forgot to mention that if there is ANYTHING I can do to help next year please let me know. I'll make sure to let Casey, Elana, Shannon and Jamie to know as well.

Great article! Glad to see you guys getting the props you deserve.

Christine Danek said...

I love Tim Gunn. Great job on WriteOnCon. You girls are the best. Congrats on the article. You guys deserve recognition.
Great job!

Christina Lee said...

Wait a minute, according to my calculations, there's another bun in the oven somewhere in the Roecker house! ;--)

The PM article is soooo coool!

Kelly Lyman said...

Awesome news about the article! Have fun on your vacation. As my husband repeatedly tells me, we don't go away on vacation anymore (we have a 4 year old, a 21 month old and we're expecting again in October)...we now go on family trips. It's great you'll have extra hands to help though! Enjoy!

Natalie said...

Tim Gunn is wonderful in every way. Last night was one of the (many) nights PR made me feel very uncool though. I don't really like the conceptual stuff as much as wearable stuff. I wasn't into the hat challenge. I told my bff I couldn't figure out the word I wanted to describe them. She informed me that the word was "fugly." Which made me laugh. Also, WriteOnCon was truly, truly incredible. I made so many notes. I especially loved that I never felt talked down to by you types who have books in the pipeline. I went to a conference a few years ago and the authors were very standoffish. At WriteOnCon, there was a total community vibe, really sweet camaraderie. PW should send you guys chocolate. I hope you have an amazing vacation!! You deserve it.

Jemi Fraser said...

I hope you all have a wonderful time together - should be great :)

Laura Pauling said...

Just think how much less stressed you'll all be with a whole year to play? That should help, right? :)

Corey Schwartz said...

WOO-HOO! 11.00o participants? That's amazing, you guys!

Laura S. said...

Wow! Congrats on the Publishers Weekly mention!

Have a wonderful vacation, Lisa and Laura!!!

Jared Larson said...

Great article. Congrats on all the success. And go have fun!

Alexis Bass said...

Tim Gunn commentary is the best! Thanks for sharing!

Paul Greci said...

Have a great time at Hilton Head. I'm doing a lot of family visiting the next couple of weeks, too!

Jonathon Arntson said...

I love the title of this post. It's helped me shed the little bit of grumpiness I have.

Okay, I so love you guys more now. TG is one of my fave ppl ever. I like Gretchen the most, btw, and I have the text to prove that I liked her before her two consecutive wins!

Um. Okay.

I'm weird.

Kerri Cuev said...

Fall babies are wonderful even if that means bun cooking in the oven all summer lol. My niece is due Oct and sooo excited to be an Auntie!
Enjoy the R&R!!!!

Katie Anderson said...

I am LOVING this season of Project Runway! And I am so proud of writeoncon! Y'all rock!

Lisa_Gibson said...

Enjoy HH! I'll make a note to show up next Monday. Great critters rule!
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Jill Kemerer said...

Have a relaxing vacation. I didn't know you were pregnant--it's coming up quick! Congrats!

Marsha Sigman said...

I love me some Tim Gunn.lol

Have fun on this trip...14 hours...that's just asking for crazy.

Stasia said...

Love, love, love Hilton Head. We adopt a sea turtle nest there every summer! Personally think it's well worth the 14-hr drive. Loved the PW feature--well-deserved and many congrats! Enjoy your vacation.

Kelly Polark said...

Enjoy your vacation, ladies!
All three of my pregnancies have been summer pregos (I have two August bday children and one early Sept). Thank God for air conditioning and cute maternity sundresses!

Lori W. said...

Just read the Publisher's Weekly link. Congrats. and thanks again to all of you. I'm still going back and re-watching and/or re-reading WriteOnCon vlogs and posts. Happy vacation!

Dara said...

I was in Hilton Head for a beach wedding back in June and only for two days. It wasn't my favorite place but I like going to beaches when the crowds are gone--like in September or October. I think I would like it A LOT better then.

Sept. 30 will be here before you know it! I don't think I could take the suspense of not knowing the baby's sex.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Have fun on your family trip. I'm sure they have AC there, so you'll be comfortable, even in your condition. :)

Tim Gunn...very cool!

I thought I did something wrong on the first day of the conference, so I decided just to go back and read the archives...They are full of great stuff. I did read on PW it was due to the overwhelming number of people logging on, so I'm glad I'm not as inept as I thought I was. :)

Have an awesome weekend and holiday!

Sherrie Petersen said...

The article was great, but hello -- who has the second bun? Is it the elusive third sister who is also pregnant?

Krispy said...

Love Tim Gunn on Project Runway! Have fun on your R&R and congrats on the PW feature!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

I'm so happy about the PW mention. You all deserve that a much more. Yay, WriteOnCon!
And I hope all adults, kids and buns enjoy their week in Hilton Head. Sounds grand.

Gail said...

Family vacas can be fabulous or f***ed depending on the family dynamics. I bet your family trip (after the looooong ride, of course) will be loads of FUN!!!

K. M. Walton said...

Pregnant + Summer = Holy ick. However, being with family in the Outer Banks = FUN.

Congrats on the PW article, ladies!

emily j. griffin said...

Did my eyes decieve me or was there a mention of two buns in the oven? I'm doing the math and that just doesn't add up with the one (possible) baby girl mentioned. Is the Other Roecker Sister preggers too? Did y'all plan this? Now c'mon, that's just so darn cute.
(Just preparing you for a little down south, souther draw while you're in HH.)

I'm with Matthew on Kiawah Is. Gorgeous. Being an Atlantan myself, I've been to pretty familiar with all of those little island. If you visit Savannah, Laura, you can enjoy a nice frozen adult beverage at Wet Willies. Don't worry, Lisa, I'm sure they have some non-alcoholic versions too.

storyqueen said...

I recommend September 24 as a good day for the baby to come out....it's my birthday!

Have a great time on the family trip!

Shelley

Jill Wheeler said...

I LOOOOVE SCREAM!

Julia Phillips Smith said...

Congrats on your PW nod - that has to make up for the Thing That Shall Not Be Named.

Stina said...

Oh, so that's when your due date is, Lisa.

We had to find out the gender (OMG, I typed genre before I edited this!!!) for our third and final child. My husband and I couldn't agree on boy names (we'd already used our favorites on the first two kids). For some reason, my husband was against Viggo. Maybe it had something to do with my mega crush on the actor who plays Arragon in Lord of the Rings. :)

Fortunately we had a girl.

Claire Dawn said...

Congrats on Pdub! That's amazin!

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