The Big Picture of My Week in Colorado

First things first. The winner of Just Between You and Me is Amy N. Amy, shoot me an email (jen at jennybjones dot com) and gimme yo addy, girl.

Second: kitty update. So far the three cats are still on the roof living life. But I've been told their days at the retirement home are numbered. I have something in the works called Roof Kitty Intervention. I'm not sure how to capture wild cats on the top of a building, but I've already been told by two different people to make sure I film it. But clearly I can't. Because I can't drag a tripod up there and obviously I'm gonna need both my hands. And feet. And possibly a shark net.

I have  been at the American Christian Fiction Writers yearly conference. This year it was in Denver, Colorado, which is a beautiful place. I guess. Here's what I saw of it.From the one night I broke out:

So yeah, I went to the majestic city of Denver and I saw…a mall.

Here's the view out of my hotel room. . .

I guess I'll just have to go back to Colorado when I'm not bound to a hotel 24/7.  Next year the conference is in Indianapolis. What do people see/do there? I must start planning my breakout in advance…

So The Big Picture won ACFW's book of the year in the YA category. Woo! I wasn't actually there for the award's ceremony, but word is my agent, Chip MacGregor, made the audience do the wave? I dunno. But sounds fun. I was on a  plane doing my own version of a wave. . .At least there was a lot of me throwing my hands up in the air. Other ACFW winners include Susan Meissner and her book The Shape of Mercy. You gotta read this book. I really recommend it. It's a cool plot and her writing is excellent. Also Rachel Hauck won with Sweet Caroline. I hate to name drop. . .but I totally am.

Me and Rachel Hauck

I love Rachel's books as well. I recommended Love Starts with Elle a long time ago. You gotta read it. I haven't read Sweet Caroline, but it's definitely going on my “must read” list. Rachel is currently co-writing a series of books with country star Sara Evans, which pretty much makes her the coolest person I know right now. I co-write with Miller the Puking Cat, but I never give him any credit. Not until he can wield his own can of Woolite carpet cleaner.

My post last Wednesday was really lame. The article on Novel Journey didn't go up when I thought it would. Little mix up. So sorry there wasn't anything to read Wednesday! I couldn't get to my blog all week. But thanks to all for your comments on the posts last week even though I didn't get to respond back. I'm gonna get to those this week!

So I had the worst hair in the world in Colorado. It was abysmal. And there is something about hotel rooms that gives me some sort of allergy fit. Like I wake up and look high. The whole day. So I'm like, “Hi, I'm Jenny Jones. I write Christian fiction and I look like I've been inhaling the fumes of recreational drugs.”

This year's conference was ultra cool because agent/author Donald Maass was there for an all day session. If you're interested in writing fiction, definitely check out his books The Fire in Fiction and Writing the Breakout Novel. Here he is.

He looks very New York, doesn't he? Black jacket, black pants, black shoes, navy shirt. He was very New York. So he's in a room with over 300 Christian writers, right? Totally drops the F bomb. I laughed for two days straight about that. Not that the F bomb is funny. But the shock in that room was priceless. Um, Donald…know your audience. That's my writing tip. And I had the best seat for the moment. I mean I was right in front of Donald when it came out of his mouth. And for once in a meeting I was actually paying attention. It pays off sometimes.

My sweet writing friend Ann Miller was kind enough to save us some seats for the session. Guess where she put us?
Front row. And when I say front, I mean this close.

That's the podium. And that's my water bottle. I was directly in front of the guy.

And the night before I had two and a half hours of sleep (one word: PACKING) and so I about passed out during the Maass presentation. I don't mean passed out literally. But I was EXHAUSTED. And I kept catching my eyes closing…and staying there. And I'd be like, “You have to open your eyes. You have to open…well, maybe just a few more seconds….” And then there was the whole eyes rolling in the back of my head thing. So I had to go take a nap before Mr. Maass thought I was having an Exorcist moment. I went and took a quick cat nap and came back for the second session a new woman. A woman who could keep her eyeballs open. And hear F bombs.

Here's my roomie and me.

That's author Christa Allan. We formed a new club this year–the Short Authors Who Also Teach club. So far the membership drive isn't going well. We only have one more recruit. But there's always next year. Probably if we had t-shirts and a snappy logo we'd get more takers. Or if more short people existed.

Here we are on the very first night. I was determined to get out to see Colorado even though I'd had minutes of sleep and was a walking zombie. See that hair? That's my “I got up at 3 a.m so don't even look at me” hair. Here we are at California Pizza Kitchen.

That's me, Gina Conroy, and Christa Allan
See how much I'm leaning over the table. That's because I was ready to drop my head on it and take a little nappy poo. Why am I so packing disabled? I hadn't slept the night before I packed, so I was like I'm starting packing early for once and getting to bed by ten! I'm gonna be so proud of myself. Okay, so I start at like 2 pm, and at 12:30 I was doing dishes, cleaning my kitchen, and still working on the suitcase. And I had to get up at 3:45 a.m. for my flight! I'm never more ADD than with house work and Samsonites. And do you think I've unpacked yet? Uh, just some candy and my toothbrush.

I felt so cut off from the news this week. And by news, I mean did Britney or Lindsey do anything? One thing I saw on the CNN crawl made me really sad, and that's the loss of Mary from the awesome 60s trio Peter, Paul, and Mary.

I listened to them in college all the time. Nobody flips the hair like Mary.

I always liked this one too.

Okay, more pictures and conference details later. Come back Wednesday for more author pictures (not of me, so you're safe) and the story of the woman I met on the plane, who is a book all by herself. Speaking of book, y'all have to get The Help. It's blowing my mind with how amazing it is. More on that later. I must go put my Arkansas accent back on. I took it off when I left for Colorado.

JEN