A slow down is coming

October 7th and 8th are rapidly approaching, and with them comes the James River Writers' Conference!  I'm so very, very excited about it.  At least, I would be if "very, very excited" meant the same as "kinda looking forward to it."  It's my first writers' conference, so I'm not 100% sure what to expect, but it's not my first conference.  Typically at these things I prove myself quite effective at picking the presenters who have crammed their agendas with Stuff I Already Know or Stuff That Sounds Interesting But Isn't.  I do have an opportunity to be rejected by another agent, which is very nearly exciting.  There will be several agents there, of course, but I've already been warned by Rachelle Gardner in her blog (http://www.rachellegardner.com/) to avoid tackling them when they look to be in a hurry, and it's my experience that anybody I wish to speak with is either a) in a hurry, or b) already mobbed by the entire population of attendees in the Starbucks line. 

So.  All that said, now I can put my inner Eeyore away.  I actually am looking forward to it, in a guarded sort of way. 

Come to think of it, I was a lot more excited about the weekend event before I realized that the Monday after begins Dissertation Time once again.  My study foundered--or should it be floundered?  They both allude to a slowing down, but one includes a sinking as well.  Ah, well, whichever.  My study stopped and died an ugly death at the end of last year when everybody told me I couldn't survey the people I needed to survey.  That, and I ran out of money.  It's why I started writing creatively, honestly.  I'd always wanted to, and all of a sudden I had the time to do it. 

Now, though, I'm starting back up with a slightly altered research plan.  It should only take me a few months if I buckle down and work like a madman at it.  It's going to be interesting, switching back into academic style writing where adjectives are a bad, bad thing.  I'll get it done, though, one way or another. 

That said, unfortunately, you may see a bit of a slow down starting October 10.  I'll still have some time, of course.  After all, I have to give the survey takers some time to access and complete the survey.  Most of my time this winter, though--at least, the first half of it--will be spent going after the elusive title of Doctor King.