RWA - Day 1

Yesterday about 2pm, I headed downtown for the opening day of the Romance Writers of America conference. I got to the hotel about 3:00 or so, and immediately called Katiebabs. She and her roommate, the super sweet Aymless were in Harry's Pub having a drink with author Jill Myles. The wait staff at Harry's was pretty clear that they wanted us to move on, so we ended up moving out to the Lobby Bar, where we hung out waiting for Kate & Amy's room to become available. Once it did, they took off to check in. Just a few minutes later, Julie James came down and we headed to the goody room to check out all the stuff. Amazing stuff in the goody room! I also had my first Nora sighting. She is way tinier than you would think, and had a fantastic black suit on. She had a small entourage with her, and was headed down to the Literacy Signing. We also bumped into Gannon, another reviewer from RNTV.

After the goody room, Julie and I headed down to the exhibit hall for the Literacy signing. Wow. Just wow. There were literally hundreds of people lined up for the signing. Julie scooted off to get to her table, where she'd be sigining, and I found Gannon and PJ and hopped into line with them (it pays to know someone!). A couple of smart authors had created bags with their names on it that were being handed out to readers who were waiting in line. And someone else was handing out maps of the rooms. There were a handful of authors who were "endcap" authors, who had tables literally off to the side because their lines end up being so big. As soon as the doors opened, I hustled off to Nora Roberts' table. I was about 15 back (there were over 100 in line). And when I got up to the front to meet her, well. I made a big dork of myself (For God's sake, look at the picture, I look like a fool!). It's possible I was bouncing a bit. Wow. It was a serious thrill. She was very nice, but very business-like. I'd guess you have to when you have dorks like me a bit overexcited to meet you. She had several photographers and a film crew filming her.

The remainder of the room is set up in alphabetical order. It was very tight quarters, but it was pretty easy to find authors. I was nowhere near as organized as I could have been and did a bunch of laps around the room. I hustled back to find Nalini Singh. Who ISN'T AT THE CONFERENCE! And then I headed over to see Colleen Gleason, who looked amazing and there was a lot of squealing and hugging and loud chatter. She had pretty good traffic though, so I took off pretty quickly. I also had a chance to meet Meredith Duran, who was already sold out of her books, but I got a chance to tell her how much I loved Bound By Your Touch and asked her if she'd sign my book when we get together on Friday. I'm also in the midst of reading (and really enjoying) Sherry' Thomas's Not Quite a Husband, which of course, I had in my bag. She graciously agreed to sign it for me. I was thrilled to see Melissa Marr there, and had a chance to tell her how much I am enjoying her Faery Court books and tell her that Abby, my niece, was really enjoying them too. She also signed a copy of Fragile Eternity to Abby, and gave me a small gift to give Abby. She was so cool and very nice. I also got to meet Kristan Higgins and tell her how much I love her work.

Here's a picture of JR Ward, who was not wearing her trademark sunglasses, and looked very tiny and attractive. Her line was also incredibly long, I'm guessing probably sixty or so people when I took the shot. Many of the women had on t-shirts that said things like "Vishous' Shellan" and "Rhage Brigade" etc. Hard core fans. I'm betting she's very flattered by that. I didn't get into line for her, but it looked like her fans were each anxiously awaiting their turns.

But the most fun part (other than meeting Nora) was meeting Lisabea. I don't have a badge (I'm not acutally registered for the conference), but Lisa did. I totally walked up to her and was all, "LB Gregg, I LOVE your work!" then I told her who I was and there was much hugging and laughing.

After buying my books, (all the money goes to Literacy), I headed upstairs to wait for Kate. Once she was done, we met up with Lisa and Amy and the wonderful Rosie and headed out to dinner. We found a place that had $3 margaritas and delicious food. We had a hysterical and wide-ranging conversation about a variety of topics. Dinner ended shortly after 10:00. The girls headed to Ann Aguirre's pajama party, but I still had an hour and a half ride ahead of me back home, so I decided to head out.

What a fun day! I've got another fun one coming up, with a bunch of parties, and getting to spend time with one of my favorite people, Monica Burns. I will report back tomorrow.