Sometimes it doesn't pay to be nice...

So... I'm a pretty nice person. I try to live my life so as to inconvenience as few people as possible. Which is why I didn't get any lunch today.

On my flight from NYC to my connection in Dallas, I sat about four rows from the end of the plane. When they started preparing the food and drink cart, the lady next to me threw a fit and annoyed the flight attendant. So she got her sandwich at the beginning of the three hour flight. I decided to be polite and wait my turn. So I waited an hour for a chance to buy my sandwich because my connecting flight boards 20 minutes after landing. But when the cart got to the back of the plane, they were all out of sandwiches.

So I got no lunch. And the flight attendant joked with the woman next to me about how lucky she was to have gotten hers early!

Then we landed and the gate attendant gave me the wrong gate number. So I got off of the elevated train thing at the wrong stop. Then I had to backtrack and get back on. Only the up escalator was broken. And my carryon is full of books from BEA.

Grrr... American airlines/DFW, I am not pleased. Why on earth is one half of A Terminal inaccessible from the other half without getting on the Skytrack? And AA, why wouldn't you bring enough food for everyone? And why can't you assign a flight to a certain gate and leave it there?

I know there are no answers, and I know myself well enough to know that I won't throw a fit to be fed early next time either. I was raised with manners. But I swear, sometimes it truly does not pay to be nice. Oh well. I'll be home soon...

Anyone else out there paying for having manners?

BEA, day 3

[My editor tells me that MY SOUL TO KEEP is officially out now, since the shelf date has passed, but I'll do a proper new release announcement on the first, when I'm at home. But for now, for those who have asked, yes, it's perfectly fine to buy the book now. In fact, that would be awesome! And I'll be announcing the contest winners when I get home...]

I'm done at BEA now, and I'm both sad that it's over and pleased with how everything went. I'm also sad that I have to leave New York, but happy to be going home.

Both of my in-booth signings (with the other Harlequin Teen, then Harlequin paranormal authors) went very, very well. The teen signing yesterday was a madhouse of enthusiasm, and while the adult paranormal signing this afternoon was a little calmer, it still had long lines, and we all ran out of books. Which makes an author feel very, very good.

At the signing, I got brief glimpses of several author friends, met an editor and a staffer for Teen Libris (whom I worked with on the IMMORTAL anthology, and who did wonderful things to help promote MY SOUL TO SAVE). I also got to put faces to the names of several bloggers I've worked with and met a very friendly editor from Avon.

After the signing, Diana Peterfreund (I met her formally only yesterday, after chatting online for years) and I waited in line to see Jeri Smith-Ready, and a nice book blogger took pictures of me and Diana with an ARC of KISS ME DEADLY, our anthology. Which I was too late to get a copy of. :( As soon ss Diana sends me the pictures, I'll post them.

This morning, I had a lovely breakfast with my agent at Max Brenner (the chocolate restaurant). I have pictures of our food (and of my agent in a Mad Hatter's hat), but I'm having technical difficulties at the moment, so I'll have to post those tomorrow. After the signing maddness, I got a little one on one time with my awesome editor to talk in depth about my upcoming new adult series, then Agent M and I had dinner at a wonderful Scottish restaurant near Time's Square. The food was amazing!

I hope to post several pictures tomorrow, but for now, here are the non-visual highlights of the conference for me:

- I saw the cover for MY SOUL TO STEAL! I can't post it yet, because they're still tweaking it a bit, but I did show it to a few people, and they all seemed to like it. And I have to say, the color is beautiful. And quite striking!

- I met Sarah Beth Durst, and we hit it off immediately. I seriously think we were separated at birth.

- I got ARCs of several books I really wanted

- I met tons of awesome librarians and book bloggers

- I saw the Statue of Liberty (from a distance) and several sections of the city I hadn't seen on my previous visits.

- I went to my publisher's roof top party and got to see Time's Square at night, from on high. It was beautiful. :)

BEA days 1 & 2

I'm blogging from BEA today, so please forgive me if I have any technical difficulties. This has been a great trip so far! Yesterday, I had lunch with my editor, within view of the Statue of Liberty. Which I've still never been inside. Maybe one day I'll have time to wait in that gigantic line. :)

Then, that afternoon, I signed copies of all three Soul Screamers novels at a reception for Library Journal. Wow, librarians are such awesome, enthusiastic readers!

Then, last night, I was one of five speakers at the AAP/Library Journal dinner, where each librarian got a bag filled with books by all the speakers. And man, were there some awesome speakers. I was up second, following Cory Doctorow, and he is not an easy act to follow. :) After me were Jane Green, Ann Fortier, and Ann Brashares, who wrote Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. They were all awesome, and so very friendly to one nervous writer, freaking out over her first real speaking engagement. In front of 250 people. But I think it went pretty well, based on the fact that I did not trip over my four inch heels, knock over the podium, or forget my own name. :) In fact, in retrospect, it was actually kind of fun!

Today, I had breakfast with my agent, then eased to the Javits Center for a signing with the HQ Teen and Kimani authors. And you wiukd it believe the size of the crowd. We ran out of books. completely. And I got to meet a bunch of book bloggers I've only met online before. Including Kristi, the Story Siren, who was nice enough to give me her copy of MATCHED, which doesn't come out until November.

Tonight I'm having dinner with my editor, a fellow HQTeen author, and two other editors. Then we're heading to my publisher's party. After that, I'm sure I'll be exhausted. :)

More tomorrow!

On the road again...

I'm at the airport right now, waiting for my flight to NYC (with a layover in Memphis). But while I'm traveling, you could be winning a signed copy of MY SOUL TO KEEP, at A Bookworm's Haven's interview and giveaway!

Also, scroll down for the links to three hoer giveaways, which are still going on!

What I've learned by ending the series... [edited]

First of all, don't miss these contests currently going on. Lots of chances to win copies of MY SOUL TO KEEP as well as some other swag! [Now with functioning links!]

The E-Z giveaway

The Countdown contest

A Journey of Books interview and giveaway

Things I've learned by ending the Shifters series:

1. Most people don't want a series to end. I understand. I'm gonna miss the Shifters too. :)

2. There's no way to remember every single detail from the previous five books. I've had to do a lot of searching in the previous manuscripts.

3. Finding a good last line is hard! I've gone through several so far, and my editor and I agree that I haven't found the right one yet. Sigh. It needs to be perfect, because it's not just the last line in the book; it's the last line in the series!. And it will be perfect. But I only have one more chance to get it right: page proofs.

4. I'm really nervous about the reception of this book. The last in the series needs to be riveting, and fast-paced, and it has to satisfactorily wrap up all the threads. But there's no way everyone's going to be happy with the way it ends, so I'm trying to come to terms with that now, to save myself the stress later.

BEA schedule

Next week, I'll be in NYC for Book Expo America, and for those who've asked, here's my schedule:

Tuesday night, I'll be speaking at the Association of American Publishers' author's dinner. Speakers include:

Cory Doctorow, author of For The Win (Tor/Forge)
Rachel Vincent, author of My Soul To Keep (Harlequin Teen)
Anne Fortier, author of Juliet (Ballantine)
Jane Green, author of Promises To Keep (Viking)
Ann Brashares, author of My Name Is Memory (Riverhead)

*Co-Hosted with Library Journal

Wednesday, I'm signing MY SOUL TO KEEP at noon with the other HQTeen authors, in the Harlequin booth.

Thursday, I sign SHIFT at 2:00 pm with several other paranormal authors in the Harlequin booth.

I hope to see some of you there!

The E-Z giveaway!

We're officially less than 2 weeks from the release of My Soul To Keep, and books are already shipping from most online stores and have been spotted on several shelves so far. So I'm thinking it's time for another giveaway...

But first, if you haven't seen the countdown giveaway, click here for details. It's not too late to enter!

And here's the wallpaper #1 has designed for this latest release. It'll go up on my website tonight, hopefully in a couple of different sizes, but if you want to snag this one now, feel free. (Click the image to see it full size)

Also, check back tomorrow to see my signing schedule for BEA and for a link to the PDF version of the My Soul To Keep first chapter excerpt!

And as always, you can read the free online novella prequel (it's a teaser, not a full-length novel) here. Click on the cover and the PDF will load.

I'm sorry it's a day late (I wanted to post this yesterday), but hopefully the no-work aspect of this giveaway will make up for that.

• What's up for grabs: A signed copy of My Soul To Keep and a Soul Screamers t-shirt
• How to enter: fill out the form below

Rules:

• Entries must be received by 11:59 pm (Central standard time) on Saturday, May 22.
• You must be at least 13 years old to enter
• If you're under 18, you must have a parent's permission to enter, because I will need a shipping address to mail the prizes to if you win
• One entry per person--I will delete multiple entries and disqualify anyone who submits them

Specifics:

• This contest is open to worldwide contestants.
• Soul Screamers t-shirts come in large only. Sorry. That's the only size I have. But I think they run kind of small.
  

Okay, start entering!

And...it's done! [Edited]

Ten minutes ago, I turned in revisions for MY SOUL TO STEAL. While I was working on the manuscript, the changes/tightening didn't feel like that big a deal. But in retrospect, looking back over everything I did and what those changes meant for the story, I think this may have been the biggest (or at least, the most profound) set of revisions I've done for any novel yet, except for Prey. (Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while will know that Prey was restructured with a completely new main plot during the revisions process).

The problem as I see it was this: the new character, Sabine, took over the novel. I have to admit, I love her. [Edit: I love Kaylee too, of course. No new character would make me love Kaylee any less, and since we see everything from Kaylee's perspective, the series obviously wouldn't work--or be the series it is now--without her.] She's Kaylee's perfect foil. I don't want to say too much about her until people have had a chance to read My Soul To Keep (which Amazon tells me is already shipping), but I will say that the plot (and just about everything else) took a back seat to Sabine before these revisions.

Sabine's still a force to be reckoned with. Kaylee doesn't know what to do with her, and ultimately, no one else's advice can help her with that. She's going to have to handle Sabine on her own. And she does it beautifully. But thanks to my editor's wonderful advice and thought-provoking questions, I was able to bring the plot forward and to really dig deeply into the characters themselves.

Kaylee has changed, in large part due to what happened in MSTKeep. And she's not the only one. But I think she's better for it, even if that means that the pieces of her life don't fit so neatly around her any more. Not as neatly as they used to, anyway.

I think the thing I'm most pleased with about these revisions is one particular moment near the end, during a very important, plot-driving argument (more of a showdown) between Kaylee and Sabine. In the original, Kaylee got mad and did something I needed her to do, to propel the plot. But my editor pointed out in her notes that Kaylee's action in that spot was out of character for her.

And she was right. So my challenge was to get her back into character without losing that plot propulsion. And that was very difficult. But in the end, I did it, by digging deeper into Kaylee's character and letting her learn from experience. And by taking some advice Ally Carter gave to a room full of people last July, and probably didn't even know I was paying attention to. ;-)

The result is that Kaylee's actions are now just as meaningful as they were before, but now they fit her better, and they're smarter. And possibly even more effective.

So, I'm pleased.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a new My Soul To Keep themed wallpaper to show off and a new contest to announce. That's my goal, anyway, as I work on line/copy edits for ALPHA.

Also, I've heard that MSTKeep is now shipping from several places, but if you happen to find it on an actual shelf, I'd love to have a picture...!

French bean sidhes and group tour!

Today's one of those days I feel guilty taking time away from work to eat, sleep, exercise and shower. But I did it anyway, because I've come to the realization (though everyone else already seemed to know this) that the older I get, the less forgiving my body is of a writer's inherently sedentary lifestyle. I sit down under my laptop for way too many hours a day. I'm always tired, and I have neck, back and wrist pain. It's time to fix that.

Wish me luck.

In other news, thanks to the miracle of the internet (and international readers with Twitter accounts!) I've discovered that my publisher's French branch has given Kaylee a new face! My Soul To Take will come out in France, en francais, on June 1, 2010. They're calling it De Toute Mon Ame, which literally translates to "Of All My Soul," though I suspect there's some meaning lost in translation. ;-)

And... in other other news, I now have the all-clear to announce that this June, I'll be going on a 3-day, mult-author bus tour of the midwest! Here's part of the official press release:



Five Bestselling Authors Take Over Your Favorite Retailers This June!
Harlequin presents the 2010 Authors In Motion book signing tour

Chicago, IL (May, 2010) – This June, Harlequin is giving its readers a unique chance to get up close and personal with five of their favorite writers – all at once!

From June 25th to June 27th, retailers Walmart, Kmart, Meijer and Shopko are opening their doors to the Authors in Motion tour, stopping at stores between Chicago and Milwaukee. A group of New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors are visiting eight locations over one weekend to meet fans and share their latest books.

Included on the tour are bestselling authors:

• Carla Neggers (The Mist)
• Susan Mallery (Chasing Perfect)
• Rachel Vincent (My Soul To Take)
• Gena Showalter (The Darkest Whisper)
• Emilie Richard (Happiness Key)

These authors have thousands of readers between them, and have each made national best-seller lists multiple times. They are some of the hardest working names in the business, and the only thing they enjoy more than writing…is meeting their readers!



And here's the schedule!

Friday, June 25th:
10am-12pm
Meijer Highland, IN
10138 Indianapolis Blvd,
Highland, IN 46322

2pm-4pm

Kmart Tinley Park, IL
16300 Harlem
Tinley Park, IL 60477

6pm-8pm
Walmart Joliet, IL
2424 W. Jefferson
St, Joliet, IL, 60436

Saturday, June 26th:
10am-12pm
Meijer St. Charles, IL
855 S. Randall Rd
St. Charles, IL 60174

2pm-4pm
Kmart Bloomingdale, IL
156 South Gary Ave
Bloomingdale, IL 60108

6pm-8pm
Walmart Gurnee, IL
6590 Grand Ave
Gurnee, IL 60031

Sunday, June 27th:
10am-12pm
Shopko Racine, WI,
4801 Washington Ave
Racine, WI 53406

2pm-4pm
Shopko Sussex, WI
N66W25201 County HWY V
Sussex, WI 53089

Come out and see us!

Star light, star bright...

Yesterday, I turned in page proofs for "Fearless," my short story in the upcoming Kiss Me Deadly anthology. As usual, there are things I wish I could change/tighten, but time's up for that one, and I believe the book comes out in August. If you read the Soul Screamers series (especially after you've read My Soul To Keep) you might be wondering what's next for Kaylee. The answer to that is: Sabine. This new character turns Kaylee's world on end in My Soul To Steal, and the "Fearless" story is your chance to see Sabine through her own eyes, five months before we get a good long look at her through Kaylee's.

Also yesterday, I cut a scene and redistributed the necessary information to another scene in My Soul To Steal. And let me tell you, that is hard work.

The problem is this: once I've written a rough draft, I tend to remember things the way they originally happened, so when I start messing around in subsequent drafts, rearranging things, tightening, clarifying, etc... I sometimes get confused about what's going on. I often can't remember whether a character has already said an important line in this current draft, or whether I'm remembering that line from the last time I read the manuscript. And that little literary wormhole is very disorienting.

Also, I really wish I could take back one little, bitty line from My Soul To Save. Just one line. Maybe if I tell you all which line I want to retract, you can all get out your white-out and strike through it for me. In every single copy in print. Simultaneously.

I could count down from ten. We could do it together. It'll be a bonding exercise.

Who's in? ;-)

Bits and pieces

I'm still working on revisions for My Soul To Steal, and I'm at the point in the process when I really wish I could start dropping some mini-excerpts online. But I can't, because that would spoil things from My Soul To Keep. So...hurry up, June 1!

Other random things:

• I'm having a rather domestically challenged week. Yesterday I splattered bleach all over a brand new shirt. And my hot water heater is broken, so I've had cold showers two days in a row. Raise your hand if you hate cold showers. *waves hand in the air*


• I'm behind on mailing stuff. That's because I'm perpetually behind on everything. But it shouldn't be long if I still owe you something. Though...if it's been more than a month, please send me a reminder of what I owe you, and what contest you won it in.


• I discovered via the internet that My Soul To Keep is getting a simultaneous release in the US and Australia. (With a very slightly different cover. Same art, different crop.)


• And in case you haven't heard, the Aussies are going to get My Soul To Steal (Soul Screamers 4) a full month earlier than those of us in the US. They'll get it December 1, 2010, while it won't be out in the US until Jan 1, 2011. So...does that mean I'll actually have 5 full length releases in 2010?


• Amazon.com (I know, I know) has updated it's Author Central program, and now I'm allowed to suggest edits to product information. So I suggested that they label all my books with the series name and book number. And so far, about half of those suggestions have already been implemented! So if you check out my author page on Amazon, you'll notice that most of the books are now properly labeled as Soul Screamers 1, or Shifters 5, etc...


• And last of all, I kind of love this Pamela Palmer cover, and not just because it has my cover quote on it. Though that helps. ;-) How cool is the monochrome and the black cat?!

I haven't read this one yet, but I love the look of the cover!

Rachel, on My Soul To Keep

Thanks to the internet, and the curse/blessing that is Google Alerts, most authors (if they’re interested) know when a review has been posted of one of their books. I don’t read all my reviews. For my sanity, I can’t, because people tend to either totally love or completely hate my books, and reading a review by someone who hated one of them (which is well within the rights of any reader) tends to derail my concentration and my confidence.

And as writers, in the court of public opinion, we’re not allowed to respond to bad reviews. At all. In any way. It’s considered bad form, and beyond that, there’s no way for the author to come out looking good, even if the review in question is only a “review” in the broadest sense of the word. We come off looking defensive, sensitive, and rude. It’s better just to step away from the internet until the initial frustration over a bad review has a chance to fade.

Authors know this. We remind each other of it regularly.

But I don’t see any reason we can’t respond to/discuss the good reviews, right? ;-)

I found an interesting review of My Soul To Keep today, and I love it, based purely on the thought that clearly went into it. I’m not going to post the whole thing, because it is rather spoilery, but I am going to show off some snippets, and my thoughts about them.

Here goes (from Lexie’s review of My Soul To Keep, on Poisoned Rationality):

“It’s not often that you'll find me preferring the third book in a series to
either of the first two, but with My Soul to Keep, third in Vincent's Soul
Screamers novel series, I am. It’s not that I didn't enjoy My Soul to Save and
My Soul to Take, because I loved them both immensely, but I felt like Kaylee had
infinitely more to lose in this book.”

This is true. Everything is on the line for Kaylee in this book, and the stakes are incredibly high, once she understands what’s going on.

“Whether she meant to or not Kaylee had depended upon Nash to be there and
what would happen if he wasn't?”

“For me it felt more real, Kaylee's story that is, because she had to learn
to deal with everything with limited help. She turned to Tod of course, and she
asked for answers in a roundabout way from Harmony (Nash and Tod's mom), but she bears the brunt of things.”

Yes, she does, and I’m proud to say that I think she holds up under the stress nicely. She’s not a physical fighter, like Faythe (from my Shifters series) is, but she’s very strong mentally and emotionally, and she’s very, very smart.

“As she races to save everyone from something, she's also trying to deal
with trust issues, mental issues and guilt.”

Yup. I threw everything I had at her this time, and that wasn’t even my aim in the beginning. But as it turns out, following through on the core issues in this book gave Kaylee a lot to overcome.

“… And Tod does feel bad about it, just he would do it all again if he had
to. He's in the deep gray of morality now that's dead and a Reaper. He isn't as
selfish or calculating as he seems though, several times in MSTK his emotions
get the better of him and he can't help himself. I still love Tod, something so
irrepressible about him that I just can't deny.”

I love Tod, specifically because of his moral ambiguity. And this is one of my favorite aspects of the Soul Screamers series, and one of the parts I work hardest on. The characters are all imperfect, and their flaws span a very broad range. With the exception of Emma, everyone has his or her own goals and motivations, and those are usually in opposition to the goals and motivations of several other characters.

And it’s not that Em doesn’t have a life of her own. It’s just that her interests don’t outright conflict with Kaylee’s. At least, not at this point in the series.

“I had a laugh out loud moment when Sophie gets a small dose of comeuppance
that she desperately needed. She just...I'm not sure how to describe her because
she reaches new levels in this book. Several times I turned to my sister and
asked her 'Is this what girls are really like?' and she would tell me they're
worse in her high school.”

Sophie isn’t based on anyone I knew in school, I swear. I was fortunate enough to have a really good group of friends in high school, three of whom this book is dedicated to. But no one’s completely immune to what goes on in high school.

Sophie is a product of her own environment. And oddly enough, in spite of her material advantages, she’s probably the most disadvantaged character in the book, in terms of ignorance. She doesn’t/can’t understand what’s going on around her, and her frustration manifests as resentment against Kaylee, whom she instinctively knows is at the center of a storm of chaos she doesn’t even fully comprehend. I feel sorry for her.

Kaylee does not. Not anymore, anyway. ;-)

“The book delighted me, in a dark way (I wouldn't say this is a happy book)
and though I was initially quite upset by some of the character developments, I
eventually found myself agreeing with them and understanding why Vincent took
them the route she did.”

Yeah, I’m expecting to get a lot of this. This was not an easy book to write, and it is not an easy book for Kaylee to live through. Things change because of what happens in My Soul To Keep. Consequences are permanent, and after this one, the characters will have to reevaluate their relationships to one another, for better or for worse.

“A lot of what happens in MSTK is a direct consequence of the actions in My
Soul to Save and watching the blame game get tossed around was darkly
amusing.”

Yes! This whole thing started in My Soul To Save, though readers probably didn’t realize that at the time. I had great fun--and even a few tears--following through on the consequences of one ill-fated moment in the previous book. But I do think the books will stand alone, so don't be scared off by the fact that it's third in the series. ;-)

Now that you've read the discussion, if you want to read the entire review, it's here. But I warn you: there be spoilers!

First My Soul To Keep contest!

Want a signed copy of My Soul To Keep? Want a Soul Screamers tee shirt? Here's how you can get both!

Just post this countdown widget on your blog or online haunt (NOT on other authors' forums or fan pages, please!) then come back and leave me a link to wherever you posted it in the comments section of this post.




On Tuesday, May 25, I will draw 3 names at random, and those 3 people will each receive a signed copy of My Soul To Keep and a Soul Screamers tee-shirt.*

Rules:

• Entries must be received by Monday, May 24
• The link you leave must actually lead me to the place where you posted the widget. If I can't get there, I can't verify it.
• Your comment here (containing the link) must also contain a name I can use to identify you. It does NOT have to be your full name. And it shouldn't be, if you're under 18.
• This contest is open to worldwide readers. If I can ship it to you, you can enter.
• You may enter more than once, if you have more than one place to post the widget. Each entry should be a separate comment.
• DO NOT POST THIS WIDGET ANYWHERE YOU DON'T HAVE PERMISSION TO POST IT, or anywhere it's inappropriate to post it.

*Note: Shirts are available in medium only. I apologize for this, but that's the only size I received.

Catch-up day

Today is Catch-up Day. That's the first day at home after a conference, which I typically spend getting caught up on everything that slipped by me while I was traveling. In this case, blogging and email.

This post is mostly a bunch of pictures of Romantic Times 2010, which was awesome. But before you scroll down, let me say that less than two hours after I left my house for Columbus, my author copies of My Soul To Keep came in. Number 1 sent me pictures on my phone. So, since the official release is now less than a month away, we'll be doing a bunch of giveaways.

If you're a YA blogger/reviewer interested in hosting an interview or giveaway and have not already been approached by me or my publisher, please let me know in an email (rachelATrachelvincentDOTcom).

Now for the pictures!

This is a shot of the Urban Fantasy: The Big Picture panel. Panelists are: (L to R) Mario Acevedo, Jeanne Stein, Richelle Mead, Kelley Armstrong, Vicki Pettersson, and me.

Here's a close-up of the same panel, with Kelley Armstrong, Vicki Pettersson, and me. I believe I shamelessly stole these two pictures from Raven. ;-)

This is my roommate Jocelynn Drake and me. We took this picture with my phone. Because I was feeling goofy. She's such a good sport!

This is me with Sophie Littlefield, whose YA novel Banished comes out soon. I loved it!

This is Heidi, Jenna Black, Nikki, and me, after the mass autographing. I really needed food, caffeine, and good company. Found them all. ;-)

Keri Arthur and me. I believe this one and the one above are courtesy of Nikki.

A reader named Melissa took this shot of me holding her signed cover flat of Stray, during the mass signing. Thanks, Melissa!

And here's me and Melissa!

A reader named Katie sent me this picture of us together. Thanks, Katie!

This is me and Heidi (from The Pride!) during the mass signing. Thanks for sending this, Heidi!

This is Beth Anne and me. We first met at another RT a couple of years ago, and it was great to see her again! Thanks for the picture, Beth!

Amber sent me this shot of us together at the mass signing. Thanks, Amber!

I took this shot of Vicki Pettersson, Keri Arthur, and Jenna Black on Keri's camera, near the beginning of the convention. It's still on of my favorites.

This is me with Nicole Peeler, whom I haven't seen since I left Louisiana!

There are a bunch of other pictures still on my camera, and I'll probably be posting them later, on Facebook, even if not on my blogs. But this is enough for now. Got to get caught up on email!

If you want to see more of what went on at RT this year, check out the most recent four or five posts at The Deadline Dames, or Keri Arthur's blog. There are plenty more there, and in a bunch of them, I look like an absolute idiot. Dame Keri's a camera ninja, I swear. ;-)