Hey, hey, it's Work in Progress Wednesday! Or, Jaredpalooza!

... except, what I'm working on right now is super-duper sekrit.
Flergle.
Murmph.
... and even Snerldt.
So how about instead, I give you some recaps on the over the top awesome that was this year's GRL?

Okay, my lovelies, hold onto your favorite boy-toy *no, no, NOT Jared Rackler, though I can clearly see why he might be chosen--waggles eyebrows*

Oh, hell, wait a second. Perhaps we should just have Jaredpalooza? Yeah, I can get down with that. Because see, while yes, my buddy Jared is a beauty, there is way more to him than meets the eye.

Jared, the silly otter, will tell you he's shallow. I'm sorry dears, but I gotta blow that nonsense right out of the water. The boy is smart, talented, gorgeous and best of all? He has a beautiful soul. *sorry, Jared baby, I had to say it.*

Time for another gratuitous pic of beauty?

Eh, hold it down in front. I've got a good one! Yes, yes, The Dynamic Duo, Jared and Devon, bringing beauty of face, form and spirit to the sumptuous Dreamspinner "wear your nice clothes" shindig.

**happy sigh**

Are you starting to get my off-beat point here? Besides Jared being a cutie of the first water, GRL was--indeed has been from the very first event in New Orleans-- an amazing,exhilarating, nearly week-long endurance event that rivals the Iron-Man thingy for stamina required, a summer full of Deep South tent revivals for feeding your soul, working a soup kitchen in the poorest place you've ever set foot in for making you feel good about yourself, and a family reunion full of family you actually like and want to see for a splash of "Hey, these are my people!"

But it's even better than all that. Because the sum of Jaredpalooza and GRL is greater than it's parts.

 No, really.

Yes, it's an endurance race. Yes, many *sniffle, hack, glurmpf* many of us come home with various forms of Con-Crud. But oh my word, do we ever come home empty? I know that I don't. Especially not this year.

Why?

Because this year the organizers started something new, with the assistance of the Rainbow Romance Writers. They started a Writer's Workshop that happened the day before the GRL Retreat began. I was hoping to come away from the workshop with a few new techniques. Instead I came away with a whole new worldview. I took two classes. The first was with: Funny Man and Physical Comedy Gal, better known as Zam Maxfield and Ethan Day. They totally rocked the house with their class on writing Rom-Com! I learned, I laughed, I conquered. *oh, hell... that's the wrong tag-line again, isn't it?*

Then I gibbered about what to do. Fortunately for me, Damon Suede was on hand to give me a little guidance. In deep, rolling tones he pronounced, "Git yur silly ass over to the agent thing with Saritza. You couldn't pay for this anywhere else. Well, *pause while his totally real and also completely affected Texas Twang reasserts itself* yep, you could. But it would cost a mite."
No, those weren't Damon's actual words. The accent was his. He took it out of his back pocket and put it on very prettily. No, really.

Like any smart girlie would, I scampered right over to the Agent Saritza class... and was promptly impressed.

I signed up to meet with her later. I signed up to pitch books to various publishing houses, starting with Riptide, because Rachel Haimowitz scares the bejayzus out of me (as a person to pitch to) and I figured if I started with her I'd be able to get through everyone else easily afterward. I was right. The afternoon passed in a whirl of pitches made and accepted and by the end I'd promised to produce 5 new series this year.

*pausing to kick self in arse, and then to high-five the mirror*

Even if I'd left after the first day the gain for me in connections, experience, and possibilities would have be well worth the cost of going.

There was another class that afternoon, Amy Lane's course on characterization--taken after the pitches had melted my brains out of my ears--and this one combined in my head and heart with the Rom-Com class Ethan and Zam had given to unstick a story that's been languishing in the back of my brain for nearly three years.

And that? Was just the beginning. Stay tuned. I'll be back tomorrow to let you in on more of my GRL highlights tomorrow.

Muah!
Cherie Noel