The best thing to carry is a business card and a card case.

Absolutely. Susan, you'll also want a tote bag of some sort -- many, many books and tchotchkes are given away. You can keep the synopsis in a folder in the tote bag.

Hmm. Could I get by with khakis or something similar in the trouser genre for part of the time? Three days in a row of skirts feels like a lot for tomboy me, and for that time of year and the likely state of my waistline would likely require shopping, which would require money.

Well, I don't know if Betsy would agree, but I can't see why not.

BTW, just to clarify - Humongous difference between conventions and conferences. WorldCon is a convention, put on by the fans, and there are thirty thousand people who all seem to be dressed in Spock ears or as some character from Lord of the Whatever. World Fantasy (last year was in Minneapolis, I went and stayed with juliana, and I wore leather because that's what I wear and am comfortable wearing) is a conference, which is what I assume the RWA thing is. Everyone was wearing clothes, as opposed to assumed costumes; I wouldn't have worn jeans, but then, I enjoy dressing to do large public meetings. That's just me.

I could poke Marlene and ask her if she has any recs; she's a former romance writer and now an agent. She just came back from RWA, and could tell me the best moves, I imagine.

That'd be cool. I asked about clothes because when poking around on the RWA site, I was a bit intimidated by how formidably groomed some of those women looked. I mean, I have the Very Serious Black Suit that I wore last time I was interviewing for jobs, and it'll probably still fit, since I lost ten pounds between buying it and getting pregnant, and so far haven't gained anything back. But otherwise my idea of dressy clothes runs to the gypsyish.

Khakis and a pretty shirt would be fine, Susan. But I went for gypsyish myself; you haven't seen the Chinese jacket in question, but it's bright purple brocade lined with black velvet.

The thing is, at SF conventions and conferences (I've been to both), you're surrounded by fellow geeks. At RWA conferences, you're surrounded by fellow ladies. Middle-aged white ladies, to be specific. You do NOT have to dress the way people dress on the cover pictures of their novels, but you shouldn't look scruffy either. Artsy bohemian is fine.

Oh, I wouldn't consider doing scruffy in any case - nothing to do with genres or anything else. I'm out in public with strangers who share my craft? I want to look good.

So because this week wasn't sucking enough already, I got my notification from SN that my Angel spec did not make the finals.

Yes, yes. Always a semifinalist, never a finalist.

ETA: And this post makes me sound more upset than I actually am. Because I'm sort of resigned to it all by now. Final nail in the scriptwriter career coffin, you know.

Oh, shit, Kristen. I bet it's better than the finalists, by rather a lot, too.

And yes, the week, so far, she is suckola de maximus.

Oh thanks. I still love my spec a lot. And hey, if it's the last script I ever write, it was a nice note to go out on. A sort of little love letter to my hometown.

Does it have to be the last script you write?

I don't know the background, but, well - does it?