Okay, so it's only two weeks later, but I'm only now recovering from RT. That's the Romantic Times Convention for those who don't know about it. This year it was held in Pittsburgh, it was my second time attending, and I'm already looking forward to going next year.

Why, you ask? Is it the cover models and Mr. Romance contestants? Umm...well, I'd be a liar if I said I don't like to look at cute boys. Is it the bookfair? That's pretty impressive too -- hundreds of authors in the same room? The electricity is palpable! Is it the workshops and lectures? Not so much. Is it the parties? Well, I do admit I love to dance.

But what is it about RT that I love so much? It's my time to be a rockstar!

See, here at home, I'm the chief laundry doer, the chauffeur, cook and maid and bill payer, mail sender, lunch packer, birthday party planner. My life at home is so not glamorous and though my family is proud and happy for my success with my writing, to them I'm MOM and WIFE first...not AUTHOR.

At RT, I'm Megan. I'm not anyone's parent or spouse, I'm not a daughter or a sister, either. I'm Megan, author and reader. Fan, colleague. It's the closest I get to an "office" party, since I don't work in an office.

It's not that I'm someone else, you understand. I'm the same person all the time, whether I'm at home typing away between loads of laundry or at RT with glitter in my hair. (To be honest, I wear glitter in my hair at home sometimes, too.) My hopes and dreams and desires don't change. But there is something different about being with a group of my peers and friends I see only once a year, a time when I'm not required to clean up after anyone but myself, where I don't have to be responsible for anyone but me for five whole days.

It's heady.

It's inspiring.

It's...necessary.

I come home exhausted and invigorated at the same time, bubbling with new ideas that will see me through to the next year. I come home ready to face the daily grind again after just that small break. I come home humbled by how far I have to go before I'm "somebody" -- because no matter how much of a rockstar I might have been, I'm still just the teeniest, tiniest fish in that vast pond. I come home ready to take care of all the details of my "real" life -- and I come home appreciating it.

What refills YOUR creative well?

M