In a little less than twenty-four hours, I board a plane for St. Louis and the 25th Annual Cat Writers’ Association Conference. This will be the third year I’ve attended, and in spite of my usual introvert anxiety about going places, I’m greatly looking forward to it. Over those years, I have made friends in the association. After all, we have so much in common- cats and books, and did I mention cats?

I hate packing. I’m obsessed with taking the exact right things, to the point where I try on outfits beforehand and stay awake at night worrying. Because I will be bringing my books for the Friday night book sales and signing event, I’m going to need two suitcases. I’ve done it before, but it is clumsy to navigate them by myself. Thankfully this time I won’t be changing planes, as I have a direct flight from Portland to St. Louis.

I just purchased a Square card reader so I can take cards at the signing event. It is sitting in its little box, totally intimidating me. I need to practice, but I’ve been putting it off. If I put it off long enough, it won’t be practice but the real thing, and I better hope it works as easily as the advertisements declare.

I also bought, after many many years, a new laptop. It also sat in its box for several days before I got up the courage to take a look at it. I think it will be great, once I transfer everything and customize it to my liking. Got to get rid of that pesky Windows 10 Cortana, but I manged that on my other computer so she shouldn’t be a problem.

I hadn’t considered taking the new laptop with me on my trip, but I want to make a slide show to run in the background of the fiction panel  in which I will be participating. First off, I don’t know how to make one in the PowerPoint that came with the laptop, but I think I could figure it out. Whether in time for the trip is another story. Laptop or no laptop? Slide show or no slide show? To be continued…

Plane fear, social anxiety, new tech. Yikes! But the negative is well balanced by all I have to gain. I am looking forward to my panel, as well as all the other presentations over the three day conference. I have always learned a lot from the other members of the association. I also anticipate making new connections, and as an indie author, any help is appreciated. I love hotel rooms: the privacy, the big beds, the view, and sometimes even the room service! And yes, there will be a few cats present.

Summer and Janiss Garza at last year’s conference.

Well, there you have it- more than you probably wanted to know about this author’s anticipation of a big event. I will be running a daily mini-blog from my phone throughout the trip, so stay tuned. And for those of you who don’t have to go to a new city and put yourself out there in front of strangers, enjoy hour homes, your families, your gardens, your cats (and dogs). You can live vicariously through me.

#cwa25, #catwriters