Tomorrow, the 2011 Pennwriters Conference gets underway with the Thursday Intensives. I didn’t sign up for one this year in an attempt to save some pennies. But I know I should have. These workshops are fabulous. Instead, I’ll head to the hotel in plenty of time for the Board of Directors meeting. I’m now Vice President of Pennwriters, which sounds like a bigger deal than my old Area 3 Rep title, but in fact is much less work. And, NO, I have no intension of stepping into the president’s position next. Ain’t gonna happen, folks. Don’t even joke about it. Anyhow, the conference itself gets underway bright and early Friday morning. I’ll be helping with the Twitter for Twits workshop at 10:30AM led by the incredible Tamara Girardi. There are sooo many workshops that I want to see. It’s overwhelming. And wonderful. Meredith Cohen and Julie Long have done a phenomenal job putting this thing together. But before I get there, I have to handle one important bit of preparation. What to pack? ...

If you mention “Back to School Sales” to most kids, you get to watch them turn green and sickly before your eyes. I remember those days. The darned sales started two days after the last day of school. I knew it must be a sinister adult plot to wrest all the joy from summer vacation. However… If you mention “Back to School Sales” to most writers, you’d better stand back because we will run you over to buy a crate of notebooks at ten cents each even though we have a closet full of blank notebooks at home already. Tis the season. The Back to School Sales are upon us. Today I purchased 20 of those notebooks, although I didn’t want to drive ten more miles to get to the store that had them at ten cents each, so I paid 15 cents. I will store them for the next time we plan a Pennwriters workshop. I’m also planning a trip to Staples this weekend to take advantage of their one-cent sale. Truthfully, the GOOD stuff is a DOLLAR, but still… And I have coupons . If I play my cards…errr…coupons…right...