Yeah, so that daily report thing didn't work out so well. Sue me. As the title implies I'll do a couple of these--that is if anyone cares. If not this might be the only dispatch from the front, (I'd say from the rear but that's just not right.)
Day one.
Incase anyone wondered, the TSA still SUKKS.
In other news, it pays to fly in the day before the conference. Especially if you HATE flying as much as I do. Seriously, I'm no more good after a trip on those winged deathtraps.
The Grand Hyatt was much better than I imagined. For the price and from what I've read of NYC, I expected Fred's Flop House with a communal water closet down the hall. This room was beautiful. I would post a picture but I'm still trying to figure out how. Yeah, I'm challenged.
So, I checked in with volunteer organizer, David Wilson, (great, GREAT guy) and got my volunteer duties mapped out. *Note: volunteering was one of the best decisions I made.
Not only did I get fed, get free schwag (coffee&bottled water vouchers/books/etc) and meet other great writers, I got the lay o' the land for AgentFest.
Now, a note for
starfuc 
fanboy/girls: Don't book this conference simply to meet Hero A. Author. I'd heard of a few of the cats attending--David Morrell and Jack Higgins were the only ones I'd read and Higgins was the only one I enjoyed reading. Honestly, I didn't know he was still alive and when it was announced he'd cancelled for health issues, (he's like 318 years old) I wasn't surprised. My Mrs. gave me this conference as a birthday gift and I went strictly for the agents, (workshops/presentations were a bonus) but if I'd dropped airfare and hotel
just to meet him, I'd have been pissed.
So, day one: I assisted with signing in other wayward writers, letting them know where we'd be conferring, meeting and most importantly, drinking--writers, go figure. I was given a sam'mich and released after a couple o' hours. My Mrs and I spoke with a nice lady named Kathleen--more on that later. We then strolled Manhatten ate pizza at Mario Batali's Eataly and strolled some more while I smoked my I-got-on-the-airplane-without-horse-tranquelizers-and-it-didn't-crash cigar from Nat Sherman's (BEST. CIGAR. SHOP. EVER.) and I thanked Oprah I was alive.
Later, more on the actual conference, if anyone's interested. And, maybe, even if you're not. Just saying.
