In May, I wrote about Laurel encouraging us to start up vegetarian week every month. Since that time, she's increasingly gone off meat and this summer decided to become a vegetarian. We're not a huge meat eating family to start with, but I know that being a vegetarian has challenged her at times, particularly when she's thought about tuna melts, moussaka, and my chicken tenders. And it's not quite as simple as just putting a salad in front of her, because even though Laurel consumes a lot more veggies than she used to, veggies are more of an accompaniment than the main attraction for her. And some easy options -- such as falafel and hummus -- haven't been received favorably.
We've told Laurel not to be hard on herself; that if she wants to be vegetarian, that's great, but that if she adjusts her plan and eats meat once a week (or whatever) she's still doing something amazing. But she's holding fast. So we're trying to support her and come up with new food ideas. At the moment, here are her favorites:

Cheese pizza

Mac and cheese

Quesadillas -- usually bean + cheese as the base and then we add bits of corn, avocado, etc.

Pan seared tofu

Vegetable tempura (not all deep fried veggies are enjoyed equally though)

Eggs, any style

Vegetarian sushi

Spinach pie

And that's pretty much it. So I turned to the fine folks on Twitter and Facebook this week and there were so many great responses -- thank you! I was going to reorder and categorize the feedback, but there was a lot of overlap in the respones and I wanted to credit appropriately, so I just left responses intact. I did sort the responses into three broad categories:

Recipe Inspiration

From @StarryBrook: "check out Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone. Fabulous ideas like stuffed tomatoes, lentil soup, etc. Big hit!"

Incorporating Instant/Pre-Made Products

From @MinkyMoo: "We make tacos, lasagna, stroganoff, just about anything [out of Morningstar veggie burgers or crumbles]."

From Kristy: "My oldest is recently turned vegetarian. She loves veggie burgers. And I make lots of pasta with veggies in it. And for quick food, she likes lean pockets and Amy's organic frozen meals."

From Rebecca: "We are a family of vegetarians! Proteins at every meal: Gardein plant-based tenders, veggie burgers, black beans, hummus as a side, eggs (omelets for dinner sometimes), soy crumble burritos with cheese, etc."

From Michael: "‎'Meat' items by Boca and Morning Star are popular with my step-daughter but my wife swears by Quorn products. And the beef strips by Trader Joe's are perfect for fajitas (chicken strips aren't bad either).

From Amber: "Frittata is always a hit, and mine loves marinated or fried tofu. For quick lunches, Morningstar products have saved my butt on a few occasions!"

From Bill: "Lentils; split pea soup; fake meats from morningstar, quorn, and gardein; pastas; burritos; cheese toast; soy nut butter and jelly."

Other Vegetarian Meal/Snack Ideas:

From @devarim: "I often make mild (not bland) dals and serve w/ plain yogurt, rice & complementary Indian vegetable dish."

From @SeastarsSeaside: "sweet potato, black bean enchiladas! Yum!"

From @Laurenmissesyou: ""[We're] vegan! Posted about it on my blog recently. S particularly loves avocado rolls, sweet potato, pasta with peas and carrots, beans rice and guacamole, tofu, and spinach."

From @threehautemamas: "burritos, beans & rice, & hummus platters (veg/pitas/cheese/etc)."

From @mamajoan: "my kids are vegetarian...they eat tofu, grilled cheese, quesadillas, umm and a LOT of pasta ;)"

From Kim: "Hummus & pita, black bean soup, eggplant parm, quesadillas..."

From Erin: "Stuffed portabellos, veggie stir-fry w jasmine rice."

From Lila: "Bean/rice burritos are easy and yummy. Augusta eats hummus with a spoon. We make quesadillas in the microwave. Stir-fries are always good if you can get your kid to eat them. And chili with TVP is also terrific."

From Asha: "Edamame. And my kids love tofu. Buy firm or extra firm, cut into small cubes, saute with oil till brown and crisp, and a few splashes of soy sauce near the end. Then keep it in the fridge to throw into rice, pasta, stir fry. Also, refried beans."

From Christy: "My kids aren't vegetarians, but I do a big pot of vegetarian chili in the winter (with beans). We eat it with tortilla chips, and use it to make quesadillas and burritos with rice. I make enough to freeze portions of it as well."

From Aimee: "Obvious, but valuable - veggie burgers, tofurkey dogs, omlettes, quiche, endless pasta options, risotto, baked potatoes loaded with cheese and veggies, nachos, quesadillas, grilled cheese and tomato soup....the list goes on!"

From Liz: "Black bean burgers, stir fry, and broccoli cakes are popular in our house!"

From Michele: "My child refuses to eat meat because he does not like it. He eats more in the style of tapas. A little of this a little of that. Most meals include a pasta(plain), a fruit, tomatoes, yogurt, and sometimes a granola bar of some kind. We give a carnation instant breakfast drink once a day at least to guarantee protein."

From Suzanne: "Black bean chili made with red/green peppers, tomatos, corn; broccoli and mushroom quiche (renamed broccoli pie which gets them to scarf it down); quinoa stuffed roasted peppers.

From Kate: "Lots of avocado!"

From Jocelyn: "We do veggie chili a lot in our house, although we are not veggies (I don't eat red meat). My 2year old cannot get enough of it when I make it. We also do 5 bean hoppin John."

From Cynthia: "Abe loves miso soup with tofu. Also roasted brussels sprouts (mainly because the cute 5-year-old down the street loves them, but hey, whatever works...)."

From Mamma's Cooking: "definitely veggie chilli. Someone mentioned Kale pesto to me recently. I haven't tried yet though."

From Karen: "I'm not a vegetarian but some suggestions: hummus with pita chips, lasagna with spinach and cabbage, veggie burgers, veggie sausage, cheese quesadillas, cheesy grits, Amy's organic meals, miso soup with tofu, refried beans, lentil soup, eggplant parmesan, pintos and cornbread (good southern food), smoothies with spinach and protein powder, cheesy potatoes, stuffed potatoes, curried pasta with cauliflower and chickpeas, Mexican dip (refried beans, salsa, cheese, onions, etc), fruit and yogurt parfaits, zucchini or pumpkin muffins."

Thanks so much everyone! I'm making my grocery list now! Meanwhile, if you have additional ideas to share, feel free to do so in the comments below.

Image credit: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Oh my goodness, I'm still on a high from the awesome that was Pivot Boston last night! It was a huge amount of work putting together this two hour event but it was so gratifying! We sold out, our waitlist was overflowing, the positive energy was buzzing like crazy, people were asking about another event (I do, in fact, have an idea for a second Pivot...), and there were just so many incredible attendees, spanning a wide range of ages, interests, and backgrounds. Having made a big career pivot myself, it was moving to see so many people seeking passion in life. Yay!
Now, it goes without saying that this event couldn't have happened without help. This was a volunteer effort; a passion project by me and my co-hosts Morra, Whitney, and Roxanna. Our amazing assistant Kaitlyn and a couple of other fine helpers were invaluable. And then there are our sponsors. I wanted to take a moment to call them out. Because they are awesome and also took a gamble and supported us on this first-ever venture.

Thank you to:

Hubspot, Sam Adams, Peapod, and Sweet Cupcakes for providing refreshments.

TaskRabbit, for providing rabbits to help get the refreshments and goodie bags to our event, and also for helping us with registration.

Caroline Cook Photography, for being our event photographer. I can't wait to see the event photo album!

Lands' End for the beautiful totes that served as the goodie bag base.

Dancing Deer, Lift Lab, Posh Peacock, AmLactin, Dr. Loretta, Wiley, Leslie Graff, Goodies, Jabra, Adora, and Mom.com for the wonderful goodie bag contributions.

And finally to Peapod (groceries!), Taza Chocolate (chocolate!), Stella & Dot (baubles!), Leslie Graff (fine art!), and Caroline Cook Photography (smashing new headshots for 10 women!) for the amazing door prizes.

And of course I was honored to be a speaker and was truly inspired to hear about the pivots made by Heather Coughlin, Karen Rubin, Roxanna Sarmiento, Leslie Graff, and Whitney Johnson -- who, by the way, was amazing in facilitating networking after the close of the program.

Seriously, I'm still on a high from this event. Just go check out the #PivotBoston hashtag and you'll see why. Meanwhile, I wanted to keep the Pivot Boston love going. I have an extra goodie bag from last night and want to give it away to one of you fabulous readers. See below to enter to win (also, for another chance to win, hop on over to Roxanna's site)!

+ + + + +
THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Kate!
+ + + + +

Rules:

Simply leave a comment below about this fantastic giveaway. If you're so inclined I'd love to hear about what your pivot would be if you could drop what you are doing right now and pursue your passion!

US entrants welcome to enter.

One comment per person (please do not leave comments from multiple e-mail addresses). Anonymous or SPAM-like comments will be removed. Note that your e-mail address will not be published or shared! Leaving just your first name or first name + initial in the name field is perfectly fine.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Thursday, October 6, 2011.

+ + + + +

*One lucky winner (selected using Random.org) will receive a Pivot Boston goodie tote including all of the aforementioned fabulousness.

This post is for Strong Start Day from Kat Stone at Postpartum Progress.

I remember Then. I remember waking up to the screams of my baby girl, another day. Stumbling through what felt like water, brushing the not-quite-sleep from my eyes, wondering how I would get through it.

When my daughter was born through about twenty-four months old, I was in the throes of what I now believe to be undiagnosed PPD.

If only I could've had a crystal ball to the Now, to when I would be doing a job I believed in, that used my skills to their utmost, in a house that would become my Forever Home, with neighbors who invited us to housewarming parties and bought my girl Halloween socks, and not the house that encompassed a leaky, Silence-of-the-Lambs basement and mice and ghetto birds whirling above us at all hours of the night.

I now see the exhaustion in my face.

I wish I could've talked to the me, Then, to tell her all about the me Now.

It's real. PPD is real.

And there is nothing that can comfort you when your brain is telling you it will never be better, that the pain will never go away, that the world as you know it will never return to normal.

It was a slow path away from the job to which I offered nothing and to which nothing was offered me, from the home office with no air condititioning, in which the atmosphere often reached ninety degrees with no solace, no comfort. A slow path from being told I was stupid and inept to a being told I gave writers a path, a gleam of hope. A slow path from three hours a day spent crying and googling sleep solutions to a happy, well adjusted seven-year-old who sits on my lap and rests her nose in my neck and tells me I am the best mommy in all the world.

I'm sure it was confusing and annoying to my love in life, who must've thought the happy, ambitious woman he married had disappered forever, leaving a whining puddle of goo in her wake.

That was the Then.

This is the Now.

I wish I could tell you some amazing story of renewal, a doctor that helped me. I didn't really have that. I had a slow path of waking up each morning and slowly seeing the light. When my daughter finally slept through the night around age four, I started to recover. When I got the therapy that actually made sense to me, my mind stopped waking me in the middle of the night, churning and refusing to go back to sleep. When I finally accepted that I needed some medication to relegate my inadequate brain chemicals, my inordinate influx of stress hormones, and I combined that with visualizations and meditation that enabled me to envision a life walking around walls instead of throwing my body against them, that became the Now.

I am happy.

I didn't think -- in the Then -- that I ever could be.

Again, here, I see emptiness.

It scares me to think how seriously depressed and anxious I was in the Then. I couldn't handle the normal ups and downs of life at all. Every red traffic light and misplaced set of keys became a major crisis, when they needn't have been. We moved here and I lost two cats in a row, one of whom had been my substitute baby for nine years, and that may seem like nothing to most people, but to me, when Sybil died, it was the end of my youth. It was the end of having a wubbie, a talisman. When my first cat died and my daughter was three and we had just moved to this town where I knew no one and couldn't even find the gas station without help, I was hanging on to life as I knew it with my fangs. Life was red in tooth and claw, and I honestly didn't know if I would enjoy it again.

My daughter was three.

It should've been over by then, right?

The brain is a strange organ. It regulates or lacks regulation of happiness. It tells you things will be all right or everything is going to hell in a handbasket, and regardless of you intellectual ability to realize it's all a crock of shit, you believe it. As my former psychologist used to remind me: The intellectual frontal lobe and the reptilian feeling brain are not actually connected all that well. You can understand intellectually that nothing is wrong and if your reptilian brain disagrees, then my friend: You.Are.Fucked.

There was a time, in the Then, that I thought I was. The writing didn't matter. The job didn't matter. Motherhood didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the hurt, and the dark, and the hours without sleep.

As I sat down to think about this post for my friend Kat Stone, whose daughter could be my daughter's twin sister, I realized how happy I really am in the Now. I love my husband, my daughter, my job, my writing, my family, my friends, my life. And with the exception of the job -- nothing has changed but my perception of it.

The mind is a powerful organ.

And sometimes, it is wrong.

If you cry when you read this, if you or a friend or sister is stuck in the Then, please encourage her to get help. Life is short. I wish I could've spent fewer years in the Then. I wish I could've spared my husband and child and family and friends the Me that was in the Then. I wish I could've spared myself the Then.

It was unnecessary.

I didn't learn anything other than it doesn't have to be that way.

Kat has dedicated her online life to supporting those who suffer from PPD. I sincerely wish I had known Kat in the Then. The entire time we've been friends I've been in the Now. But when she asked me to share my experience to raise awareness, I could only say yes.

Because you or someone you know might still be living in the Then.

I welcome all to the Now.

Kat's trying to raise $30k on Postpartum Progress to:

• Develop a compelling national awareness campaign for postpartum depression
• Create & distribute new and improved patient education materials for distribution by hospitals
• Translate our "plain mama English" information and support into Spanish and other languages

If only I'd had that instead of a free blanket in the hospital and a host of instructions for how I could scar my baby for life by doing things wrong. Kat says  only 15% of all women with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders ever receive professional treatment.

I certainly didn't, in the Then. How much more I understand about my brain and how it works and how it impacts not only me but all the people in my sphere. My little girl is a happier girl because I got help. She doesn't have to deal with a mommy who screams and cries every day like she did when she was 0-3.

I'm going to go donate. If you have had PPD or know anyone who has or even who can relate to what I've said here, please help out Kat, who's dedicated her life to helping women overcome what affected both her and me and countless other members of this community of women.

Let's live in the Now.

Today, Kate shares a home fitness recommendation (shockingly well timed as I've been thinking of taking ballet but haven't found a class that works with my schedule):

I have written before of my love of ballet, a love that has been kept at a very long arm's length by my lack of necessary talent, drive, and height. However, a recent discovery allows me to feel like a prima ballerina for a few minutes each day: Ballet Conditioning -- a wonderful DVD by Element (the producers of Pilates Weight Loss for Beginners) -- offers several hours of appealing and fun exercises, all based on classical ballet positions and stretches and all aimed at toning and lengthening different muscle groups.

With my desk chair serving as a barre, the positions bring me back to the ballet classes of my childhood -- tendu! plié! port de bra! -- and I have a moment of living inside the grace and elegance of dance. But don't be fooled: this is a hard workout that will leave your thighs burning and your arms feeling like rubber.

My sister Blondie has long wanted to go to Oztoberfest in Wamego, Kansas, home of the Oz Museum. While I love the witch's skywriting (natch), Blondie is truly obsessed with the movie. Last weekend, the little angel and I drove over to Topeka and met up with Ma, Pa and Blondie to for the trek to Wamego.

I found the original book by L. Frank Baum dark and had no idea there was an entire series of Oz books, nor that the author went on to ghostwrite a girls' series and a bunch of other middle-grade fantasy. Or that he is credited with creating the first American fairy tale. I also didn't know that The Wizard of Oz is the most-seen movie in history.

I guess that's what getting shown during winter break every year for sixty years will get you, eh?

While I have no personal obsession with the story or the movie, I was interested in the special effects. Obviously, they're not good by modern standards, but pulling off flying monkeys at the time was pretty impressive. The flying monkeys were four-inch tall models, and there were only a few of them. WHOA.

I skipped past most of the museum to focus on my favorite part -- the skywriting of SURRENDER DOROTHY.

Finally! Answers. 

All in all, the museum reminded me of the Toy and Miniature Museum in Kansas City. Interesting in the way anything is if you get into the details enough. 

However, there is no end to the creepy of this enormous statue of the Tin Man in the lobby of the museum. Check out how he is eyeballing my sister.

Looks like someone has been hitting the oil can a little too hard, no?

http://oascentral.blogher.org/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.ads/blogher.org/CoverGirl_Sep11_Review_001/@x13

The following is a sponsored post from the BlogHer Publishing Network review program and COVERGIRL. Don't judge, I'm saving to get Beloved a belated bday gift.

Also! Whenever there is a sponsored post, I will also write an editorial post that day. To see all the posts about eyelashes and mascara, check out the round-up on BlogHer.

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I've never put a ton of stock in make-up. That said, much like putting on clothing made of something other than cotton and using hairspray, make-up helps me feel dressed and ready to leave my house. When I worked in downtown Kansas City, I wore full make-up every day. Now that I work from home, I usually only wear mascara/powder/blush. On the days I put on eye shadow and eyeliner and lipstick, boy howdy, something is getting done.

So let's talk mascara. I've always been blessed with lashes plenty thick and long. However, they have blond tips and are very hard to see without the help of good mascara. Unfortunately, the side effect of most mascaras is either a) smearing under my eyes -- I have long wished I could find a way to bottle the excessive oil from my skin and sell it on the black market to old ladies or b) clumping. The smearing seems to have improved since the midnineties in almost all brands, but the clumping is totally getting worse as each brand tries to let your lashes gain muscle without exercise.

Today we will be testing out COVERGIRL LashPerfection mascara. The fact sheet tells me it has *micro-chambers*. I am fascinated by a product that retails for $5.99 and has such technology. MICRO-CHAMBERS!

Here is a really horrible before picture showing you my bloodshot eyeballs but really attempting to show you the color of my lashes before the mascara.

Wow, is that ever unattractive. But necessary for the SCIENTIFIC TESTING. Also, I'm wearing no make-up in this photo. See that oil? How do I sell that oil? I'm trying to buy Beloved a birthday gift here.

As you can see, I have blond-tipped lashes which from afar look like they stop a few millimeters short of where they actually do without cosmetic aid. Also, they curl up pretty naturally, so I stopped using an eyelash curler after I accidentally bent my lashes in half and had to wait two days for them to go back to normal while walking around looking like an idiot.

In the foreground, we have the COVERGIRL LashPerfection wand without any mascara on it. I was attempting to photograph the MICROCHAMBERS, but they must be invisible to the human eye. In the background is another COVERGIRL mascara wand for comparison. I got it at the CVS booth at BlogHer and I can't remember what kind it is.

For comparison's sake, here's the wand of my normal favorite mascara coated with goo. I like this one because it comes off really easily.

AND NOW! MASCARA-OFF! (I wasn't asked to do this, I just thought it would make the post more interesting. And I was curious how COVERGIRL would do against a more-expensive-but-also-drugstore brand.)

It is really hard to take a picture of your own eyeball. This eye has the COVERGIRL LashPerfection on in brown. I did actually feel my eyelashes being lifted by the wand, which was interesting. Also, I'm wearing two coats here on my top lashes and was impressed with how separated they look.

Here's my old faithful in brown-black. Normally I would wipe away those clumps, but I had to show you, um, look! Clumping! It's not a huge difference, but there is a difference and my normal brand costs around $15 compared to the COVERGIRL at $5.99.

When it came time to take off the mascara, I just washed my face. I didn't seem to need eye make-up remover. It's not waterproof, but there also wasn't a lot of racoon eyes going on, either.

I have to say, I might switch.

And now! Who would like to win a $50 drugstore.com gift card for your efforts at looking at my eyelashes? Good luck!

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post

b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post

c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post

d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

e) Enter between October 4-November 4.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older.

Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail.

You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

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While we’re on the subject, you might want to check out the “Looking Your Best” posts in the Life Well Lived section of BlogHer.com. There are some great application tips and ideas for switching up your look for fall!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! After knocking off a huge deadline on Friday (that was hanging over me all of September), it was so wonderful to decompress and enjoy the weekend with Laurel and Violet. Even though I miss Jon when he's away, I find it really fun to fly solo with the girls -- we had the best time! Anyhow, I wish you all a lovely week, and if you're looking for stuff to do, here are some fun event ideas for this week, spanning haunted happenings, salamanders, autism education, reading initiatives, stargazing, trains, and eco-living. Enjoy!

Image credit: How Stuff Works

It's been two weeks since I embarked on the Do More. Live More. Be More. challenge. I'm curious about whether you have shared a promise for the campaign -- it's a reflective task that's easy and enters you to win cool prizes (I mean, really, who doesn't dig cool prizes?). Anyway, I wanted to report in about how my challenge is going. The six buckets I wrote about experimenting with were: purging, pickups, event planning, household, travel, and virtual assistant.
Purging. This is a tough one, I haven't gotten to it yet. I ended up dropping off one bag of baby clothes to Isis (for Room to Grow) since I was going there anyway but I otherwise haven't done any major purging, primarily because I need to set aside time to drag out what needs to be purged. Perhaps I need to hire a rabbit to help me with that!

Pickups. TaskRabbit has been a huge help here. We're still a one-car family (though admittedly, this is becoming more challenging, particularly as it relates to transporting Laurel and her friends around) and most days of the week I do not have the car. I have used TaskRabbit to help me get items at the hardware store, pick up a birthday cake, and track down copies of Parents magazine (I'm in the October issue!). All of these things are super helpful (the birthday cake pickup saved me yesterday!) but one thing that has made a huge difference is hiring a rabbit to do our CSA pickup. We knew from the start that the timing of the pickup is not great for our schedule but we're committed to our CSA. Having someone take care of the pickup for us (Bev, you rock!) has been fantastic, allowing our family to have a lovely and relaxed transition into evening and dinner. So nice.

Event planning. The preparation for Pivot has been insane. It was awesomely helpful to have a rabbit help stuff my Posh Peacock goodie bag contributions and the Boston TaskRabbit team is amazing and offered to help out with many Pivot tasks that were going to be hard for our little co-hosting team to coordinate (e.g., transporting goodie bags, picking up refreshments), as well as helping us with a rabbit for check in at the event. So if you need help with event planning, hire some rabbits to help you rock your party!

Household. Jon and I have a lot of to-do's here but unfortunately almost all of them cannot be outsourced. With the exception that I'm considering hiring someone to fix the paint job I did on our front door (whoops).

Travel. I definitely have some needs here but travel planning has been on the back burner while I close out some major client deadlines and events.

Virtual assistant. As I predicted, this is the hardest bucket for me. I just don't know where to start and what to outsource. I need to think about this some more because I really could use some help!

That's where I'm at! What am I missing? What would you love to outsource? And don't forget to go share a promise!

Image credit: Rawich / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Okay, so I realized I work at BlogHer. And I also realize I am moderating a panel at BlogHer Writers '11. So this is going to look very fake and sales-y, and that's actually not what I'm all about. I will be very direct if I am doing that.  Here is me being direct: I'm writing this post of my own volition and speaking only for me, not for BlogHer in any, way, shape or form. 

Now bear with me while I jump up and down around my library for a second, throwing hardbacks in the air with glee for the love of publishing. Ouch. Of course one just hit me in the head.

I am just really excited about this because it's going to be chock-full of Penguin Publishing editors, authors and publicists as well as a bunch of bloggers who have crossed the print line. And anyone who has read this blog ever knows that I am a publishing fiend, unable to resist any opportunity to find out more about the world's most confusing business. You'd think I'd know everything after a book, right? 

That is not true. Especially with what's happened in the past five years to publishing. 2008 feels like 25 years ago, not four.

There are no guarantees in life, but it never hurts to try for the face-to-face if the opportunity presents itself. 

The conference is three weeks away. It's in NYC. It's only one day -- Friday, October 21. There are basically two tracks -- one for newbies, one for people like me who have been through the publishing wringer before and have the glutton-for-punishment need to do it again. You can get the whole schedule here.

I'm moderating a panel about marketing -- my experience with BlogHer Book Club has been educational and so much fun for me. I've "met" online two of the three Penguin authors who will be speaking -- Jean Kwok (Girl in Translation) and Ann Napolitano (A Good Hard Look). (Haven't yet met or "met" Dominique%20Browning. Will have that on the docket, for sure.) Look! I even get to be on a panel with Jean.

Track 1: Your Role as Marketer in Today's Publishing World

Writers are–or need to be–marketers, and your command of social media provides a critical edge: both pre-book deal, to validate you have a following, and post-book publication, to help you sell your book. BlogHer editor Rita Arens (editor of Sleep is For the Weak) moderates a discussion with Penguin Business Development Manager Colleen Lindsay, author Jean Kwok (author of Girl in Translation), independent PR consultant Lauren Cerand, and Penguin marketer Lydia Hirt.

I'm also waiting eagerly to see old friends/speakers Kamy Wicoff, Carleen Brice, Jane Schonberger, Kathy Cano-Murillo, and a bunch of other heavy hitters I don't know well yet.

And ... the part I'm most excited about is the small-group mentoring. Here are the topics available:

Seeking fiction agent
- Seeking nonfiction agent
- Seeking help with a book proposal
- Memoir group
- Literary novel group
- Genre novel group (romance/mystery/thriller/scifi, etc.)
- Children’s (YA/middle grade/picture book)
- Humor/novelty (ex: LOLcats/Cake Wrecks, etc.)
- Cookbooks
- Shorter works/anthologies
- Expert platform nonfiction 
- Book blogging

That? Is something that never happens. Except it's happening. Next month. Good Lord, I can't wait. (For those who are wondering, the conference is $199.)

AM GIDDY. PLEASE TO JOIN.

END WRITERLY FREAK-OUT.

FOR NOW.