To All The Women I’ve Loved Before

That sounds like a lesbian blog post title, doesn’t it? And just what IS a post about RWA without at least one lesbian reference, if you’ll recall last year’s RWA reports and the uber-famous cleavage. Okay, okay, none of my friends are lesbians. That I know of. LOL. But hey, every time I use the word lesbian in a post, I get extra hits, so bear with me……:twisted:

So digital cameras are a beautiful thing. Love, love, love my digital camera! Anyone who knows me knows that I am never anywhere without it (sometimes to their chagrin). But, ohmygod!!!!!!! Try taking pictures at an RWA conference! Women!!! Everyone wants to see the picture you just took of them with that handy LCD screen built right into the camera. You know how many pictures I had to take of some people (you know who you are, LOL) to get one they liked? “My arm looks weird!” “I look fat in that one!” “My head looks too big!” “No, my head looks big!” “No, MY head looks big!” (Every woman I know thinks her head looks big.)

Made me think of this conversation I had recently with a woman in her 20s. She was showing me some digital photographs taken at a recent family gathering and she commented that she didn’t like how she looked in the photos. I told her she looked beautiful. (And she did!) She said she thought she looked fat. I said, “I thought I looked fat in every photo taken in my 20s, too, but when I look back at them now, I realize how beautiful I looked–I was 20! You can’t look bad when you’re 20.” (Youth–so wasted on the young!) I told her someday she’d be 40 and look back at these photos of herself in her 20s and see how lovely she is. Most of the friends I was taking photos of at RWA are in their 30s or 40s. And they all think they look AWFUL. I think they all look gorgeous–and someday, when they’re 80 and they look back at these photos, they’ll see it, too. But for now, to all my wonderful friends I treasured spending time and laughs and hugs with at RWA–Your heads aren’t too big. Your arms aren’t weird. You aren’t fat. You’re wonderful, warm, supportive, funny, fabulous women, and I love you all. YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL! :heart:

And here’s a photo tribute to some of them who actually let me get away with these incriminatinglly gorgeous photos before they could make me delete them off my camera. (I can run faster than most of them.)

Me (left), Jena Awtrey Brown (middle), LaShon Ison Hill (right)

Mary Schramski

Jordan Summers

Larissa Ione (left), Stephanie Tyler (right)

Sasha White (left), Tess Harrison (right)

Amy Knupp

Kacey Pickens (middle), Michelle Willingham (right)

Julie Cohen

Danica Favorite


(Nobody knows who the Free Book Friday mystery chick is! Bummer! Winner chosen randomly: Lia! Click the Contact button in the menu bar above and send me your pick!)

All my RWA photos will be uploaded to my photoblog as I get time and I’ll post a note when I’ve finished. Why does my head look big in all the pictures? :fryingpan: