[For some reason, Blogger won't let me post pictures today, so I'll try to post them tomorrow. Until then, I've posted a few (not the ones I plan to post here) in today's
Deadline Dames post.]
Okay, now that I’ve been back for several days, I think I’ve gained enough perspective to rehash RT somewhat coherently. But really, I’m making no promises.
This was my fifth RT (I was also at the ones in St. Louis, Daytona Beach, Houston, and Pittsburgh), and looking back, I’d have to say it was definitely one of the best.
I arrived around noon on Wednesday, and
Jocelynn, my conference roomie, met me in the lobby. Unlike past hotels, this one was actually a complex (compound?) with sixteen different buildings, and our building was on the opposite side of the property, and I bet it took us twenty minutes to find our room that first time. We actually had to consult the posted maps (like at the zoo) twice. ;-)
After I settled in, we went for lunch at the poolside bar/restaurant, where we found Jenna Black. Then we wound our way back around to the main building so I could register. Then, as sometimes happens we ran into several more friends and spent the remainder of the day and evening by the pool (under a table shade, mostly), getting caught up with people I hadn’t seen since the last conference.
On Thursday I sat on three young adult panels, and they were all awesome. Except for the fact that I kept forgetting to mention the name of my own forthcoming young adult novel. Yes, seriously. For the record, it’s
My Soul to Take. ;-)
On Thursday night, my agent took me and
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (she’s not an agency-mate, but she’s just too awesome to leave behind) to a great seafood restaurant where they print a new menu every day, depending on what fresh food is flown in that day. My shrimp was sooo good, and the chocolate cake truly beyond words. In a good way.
I slept in a little on Friday morning (for two of the days I was gone, I was actually up for 21 straight hours), then had lunch with some friends at the hotel restaurant. Then I shared the Tim Tams Keri Arthur brought me with some friends while I waited for my last panel, with Jeaniene Frost, Jeri Smith-Ready, Illona Andrews, and Mark Del Franco. Illona was hilarious as captain (I mean,
overlord), and while I feel like I floundered a bit at first, I practically monopolized the panel with my last answer. Oops!
After the panel was the Reviewer’s Choice awards, where Keri Arthur won a lifetime achievement award, and the awesome Ilona Andrews won best urban fantasy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch them accept their awards because I scheduled for an off-site group signing at the Borders in Ovedio.
Other than seeing friends I’d been missing all year, that signing was the very best part of RT for me. Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Marc Del Franco, Jennifer Lynn Barnes and I grabbed coffee and snacks at the bookstore coffee shop, then sat down in front of a waiting audience and answered questions for an hour and a half before we started signing books. We were there for three hours. It was amazing. The audience was enthusiastic and curious, and the store manager was so incredibly nice. And impeccably prepared. If I’d known bookstore signings could be so much fun and so little stress, I might actually have done more of them in the past.
After the signing, we wound up at Chili’s for a late dinner, and by the time we drove back to the conference hotel, it was nearly midnight. I sat with my agent and Jenna Black for a few minutes, then went back to my hotel room to crash.
I actually didn’t see Jocelynn much at all that day, because she ditched! She and her agent went to Disneyland! If I hadn’t had an amazing day myself, I would have been jealous. ;-)
Saturday was the mass signing, and I was both impressed and terrified by the number of books waiting for me. They had all three of the available Shifters books, and since none of them are new releases, I was afraid I wouldn’t sell any of them. But I actually made a sizeable dent in the pile! I also met several book sellers, signed bookplates for both of the Australian booksellers who came, and promised swag to at least half a dozen bookstore owners.
Oh, and one very clever bookseller (B&N, I think?) actually talked me out of my last ARC of
Prey. She was so enthusiastic and obviously desperate for it that I couldn’t turn her down. ;-)
Saturday afternoon, I said goodbye to several friends who left early, then settled in at the poolside restaurant with Jocelynn, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and my fellow Dames. The service was horrible—Keri’s mini-burgers were still dripping blood!—but the company was fantastic. After we finally got our checks, Karen and Jennifer went back to their rooms and Jocelynn went to check out that evening’s conference-sponsored party, and Keri, Jackie, Jenna and I wandered into the indoor restaurant to wait for our agent to return from her "pirate adventure."
Around eleven, I made myself say my goodbyes. I always want to drag out those last moments of a convention, but I had to get up at 3:30am to catch my flight, and I wasn’t even packed yet.
So, after three hours of sleep, I got up and dressed (quietly, hoping not to wake up Jocelynn), then snuck off to the airport in the dark.
In summary, RT was sooo much fun this year. And I got several signed books (though not as many as I’d intended) to give away here this summer.
Also, if anyone has any pictures from the signings or the panels, please let me know! As usual, I hardly used my camera. ;-(
Oh, and don't forget to scroll down to win a signed copy of Jocelynn's Dayhunter!
The urban fantasy YA panel: Richelle Mead, Heather Osborn, Caitlyn Kittridge, Melissa Marr, me, and Marianne Mancusi.
This is me before the mass signing on Saturday.
About the book:
"Magic stirred in me, offering whatever I wanted. With little more than a thought and a gesture or two, I could make magic do anything. So long as I was willing to pay the price..."
About the book:
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