I'm off to the annual Romance Writers of America National Conference in less than 48 hours – YAY! I'm really excited, deep down inside. But as always at this time of year, what I'm thinking about right this second is – how much of that pile of laundry needs to be done in order to pack? What clothes look good enough on me after a few months of American living (more calories and less exercise)? How many suitcases can I wrangle alone? How many business cards should I take? How many empty bags should I bring to carry all the new books home??

Yes, these and many other questions are at the forefront of my mind today. Once John drops me off at the Anaheim Marriott, I'll have much more brain space to relax and get back to being excited.

Some of the things I'm looking forward to include –

• talking to the PubIt reps from Barnes and Noble about what I can do to increase sales of my book to Nook customers
• going to more workshops than ever on the business of self-publishing
• staying up too late talking with my friend and roommate Lauraine Snelling about, you know, everything (since we're girls!)
• and even running down to Disneyland in my “The Running Company – Bondi Beach” running shirt so I can take a picture and send it to my friend Chris, the store owner (Camy Tang, want to run to Disneyland? We had such a great time running in Central Park last year!)

Remember, if you can get to Anaheim, California, Wednesday night, there will be an autographing session at the Anaheim Convention Center with over 400 romance authors with the proceeds from book sales going to literacy charities. And the best part is, it's free and open to the public.

It should be an exciting week. I can't wait! But right now I have to go do laundry.