Heels and Purses and Dresses, Oh My!

I’m having a little bit of a panic over, not one of my favorite topics, clothes.

No. 1

Romance Writers of America’s national conference is at the end of July. It kicks off with a massive book signing Wednesday night and ends with a Saturday night ceremony where the winners of the Golden Heart (unpublished) and RITA (published) awards are announced. In between those two events there are any number of publisher parties, dinners, lunches or breakfasts with agents and editors, workshops to attend or present. You name it, we authors pretty much have to be prepared for it.

No. 2

This kind of once a year mega-event is, I think, for us women writers, always cause for at least a little bit of anxiety. We work from home, so our daily attire more often than not consists of pajamas, sweats, jeans, fleece, and everything in between. In other words, we don’t get out much. And most of our wardrobes show it.

Being the particularly casual and cheap individual that I am, I probably have fewer dresses and dressy outfits than your average woman. Hence the panic.

No. 3

I’m not overly worried about Wednesday night through Saturday day. I’ve been to enough national conferences over the years that I think I have those outfits covered, or can get them covered with minimal fuss. It’s the awards ceremony Saturday night that has me in, okay, I’ll admit it, a tizzy.

Saturday night is a very dressy night and you’ll see everything from business suits and dresses to full-length formals to French twists. What I’ve always gotten a kick out of is that the attendees are 99.99% women. There are very few men to impress and, still, we look all made-up, manicured and coifed to the max.

No. 4

I’ve never been too worried about the awards ceremony in the past. I’ve always worn kind of a middle of the road short to three quarter length dressy type dress. But this year is the first time I’m a RITA finalist.

That means that if I win (and that’s a big if, cause there’s some very stiff competition in my two categories), I’ll have to get up on stage in front of more than 2,000 people to accept the award. I want to look good. Just in case. I figure, hey, this is as close as I’m ever going to get to prom, so I want a formal, full length pull out all the stops kind of dress.

No. 5

A few weeks ago I did some initial reconnaissance. I must have tried on thirty or more dresses and had a difficult time making up my mind, although some style constraints became very clear to me. I don’t like the way strapless or spaghetti strap dresses look on me. While I narrowed thing down, I’d still like input.

These are samples of some dresses I’d definitely take off the rack to try on. In fact, I have actually tried on some of these styles. Still, though, I’d like some input.

No. 6

Let's pretend price is of no concern. LOL Which one is your favorite dress? What colors do you like best? Should I go for sexy or classy? Make a statement or be safe?

You guys pick the dress and then all I have to do is lose ten pounds!!

No. 7

And in keeping with our anniversary celebration, one commenter will receive a copy of TREASURE, my double RITA nominated book, and one of these cute little Burt’s Bees Healthy Hands kits.

Helen