Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday was the big day, the GH/RITA awards ceremony. Sadly it was not a good night (in the ultimate winning sense, it was a great night in the 'squee we have lots of fabulous finalists' sense) for the Aussies and Kiwis, none of my buds are coming home with pretty golden statues or necklaces but it was fun to watch them all on the big screen and glammed up.

Before the ceremony was another day of conferencing. I only did two workshops (Jane Porter and Lilian Darcy's 'It's my process and I'll cry if I want to' and a panel on writing cross-over fiction) and wandered around a bit the rest of the day, stuck my head into some signings but didn't ultimately get anything (my case is full already), went for a walk, had the obligatory it's-near-the-end-of-conference-and-I'm-tired nap. Then I had to make myself all pretty and go to drinks hosted by my fabulous agency (the Irene Goodman Literary Agency) at Bourbon and Branch, which was a speakeasy during the prohibition years and still operates on the same principle. You need the password to get in and once in it's all dark with suitable decor (including a fabulous pressed tin ceiling in the libary room) and cute yet mysterious looking barfolk in thirties gangster type hats and shirts. The cocktails were pretty good too. I'm going to have to try and find orange bitters in Australia to replicate one of them. The drinks were fun and it was nice to meet some of Miriam and Barbara and Irene's other clients.

We made it back from drinks in time for me to find the Aussie contingent for the ceremony and much hooting and cheering in typical Aussie fashion of our Australian and Kiwi nominees. Then there was dessert and possibly more drinks and a quite late night : )

Today (due to said quite late night) has been quiet. Kelly and I succumbed to the lure of Macy's handbag department so we will both have fabulous bags to show off at the RWOz conference in a few weeks. Since then I've been reading and possibly napping and am now contemplating the wip again. Tonight I have to pack and then tomorrow night I fly home. Time has flown over here but in some ways it also feels like I've been away for a long time. It will be nice to get home to my own bed and the fuzzy beasties (though not so much the Melbourne winter!)