I was in New Orleans from Wednesday thru Saturday for the Authors After Dark convention. It was my third year attending and I thought it was the best so far. Four hundred attendees got together to share a love of books in a city unlike any other I’ve ever seen.

It’s been a longtime dream of mine to go to New Orleans. I’ll have to go back sometime and really see everything. As it was, a deadline (the same one that’s going to keep this post short and sweet) kept me in my room Thursday and Friday. To be honest, I really didn’t mind. It was lovely having the quiet writing time to myself. I found the groove and it’s still with me.

But I didn’t want to be in a city I’d dreamed about visiting and leave it feeling unhappy. So I made a short list (VERY short) of things I needed to do to be able to leave NOLA not feeling shortchanged. That list was:

  1. check out Bourbon Street
  2. have some chicory coffee

(those two things kind of go in order, too, don’t you agree?)

Here I am Wednesday night on Bourbon Street with longtime friend, Sasha White:

And here’s Saturday and the line for Cafe du Monde, where Shayla Black and Kris Cook accompanied me on my mission to have chicory coffee:

With my list done, AND the convention events I attended on Wednesday and Saturday, AND the chapters I wrote, I left New Orleans feeling content with what I’d accomplished while I was there.

How about you? Have you ever taken an abbreviated trip somewhere and still managed to leave feeling satisfied?