I was volunteering at the RWA Registration Booth when a woman stopped by looking for credentials for a photographer. Her name was Heidi Benson, and she was from the SF Chronicle looking to write an article about the conference. She and I got to talking, and she told me she was so impressed with the conference, and having a good old time talking to everyone at RWA. In my estimation, she seemed like she was genuinely curious about the organization and the women who are writing and working within the genre, and didn’t seem to be starting from any specific assumption about romance novels, its writers, or the genre as a whole.

Thanks to Marta Acosta, I have a link to her article, which ran today (that’s a little late, no?) under the headline Romance-writing hopefuls discuss craft in S.F.:

Forget scones and Devonshire cream. Red meat is on the menu in the new generation of romance novels. According to fall book promotions, “the alpha male is back,” paired up this time with a “kick-butt heroine....”

...The genre couldn’t claim a 26.4 percent share of the book consumer market if it didn’t deftly reflect the times.

That vigor may be due, in part, to the member-supported Romance Writers Association, an authors’ advocacy group that cultivates talent. Regional chapters provide members with supportive communities and educational opportunities, while the annual conference offers face-to-face access to editors, agents and famous authors.

Benson’s article includes a quick examination of the subgenres in romance, and the manner in which authors market themselves online. It closes with a peek inside a workshop on writing the sex scene, and features Toni McGee Causey, CJ Lyons, and Roxanne St. Claire discussing the constructive use of a sex scene in a romance, as well as the construction of the scene itself.

Of course any media examination of romance novels will mention the sex, but this one seems a cut above, because it acknowledges the craft and the humor of the writers working that craft. The article did a better job than most I’ve read of revealing what RWA is: a whole mess of women mentoring one another in the process of creating romance fiction and potentially building a career out of that fiction.

Well played, Ms. Benson, well played.

Thanks to Katiebabs and Angie for the images. I think if someone hadn’t distracted us, we’d still be in the Borders manically Twittering.

At the risk of giving some of you a sever case of book envy, one of the highlights of the RWA conference is getting all the free books you could possibly imagine. I was telling sister Lisa this before I went and she asked me an interesting question. She asked if I had plans to read all the books I have or is it just the books themselves I like to collect. I thought about this and had to admit, a large part of the thrill comes in just the owning of them. I have so many books now in the TBR pile, if I do the mathematics, which to be honest isn’t likely because it would take mathematical talent of which I have none to figure out, taking into consideration the number of books I have unread, the number of books I read a week, which is way down anymore, too much time spent on the internet and on blogs talking about books, and the number of years I have left to live, I will never read all that I have now. If I were to completely stop buying books altogether and only read these I have, I could last for years. Then take into consideration the number of books I own and factor in rereading and I’m set for life.

But do I plan to stop buying? Not on your life! As I stood in line, experiencing claustrophobia, heat, tired, aching Feet that still haven’t forgiven me yet, part of me wondered what on earth I was doing – and why?? Was it just books I wanted or were the ones I picked up, ones I figured I would read. And I came to the conclusion that each and every book I picked up were either books I thought would be a good read, or in some cases books I had already read and very much enjoyed and wanted to share with other readers – via contest starting Sunday *g*.

Chances are I won’t get to all of them, but each one had something that got my attention. Whether it was The Bargain by Julia Templeton, an erotic medieval which I’ve started reading or Howling at the Moon by Karen MacInerney, which is a tale of an uban werewolf by an author I’ve never heard of before or We’ll Never Tell by Kayla Perrin, a suspense tale I know I’ve seen somewhere in the blogosphere or Bound to Please by Hope Tarr, the first in a new series by Harlequin – Blaze Historicals, something grabbed me about them.

I’m fortunate that I like pretty much all genres so I don’t limit myself when choosing what book to read. I admit that I start a lot of books that I don’t end up finishing for one reason or another, but each one I pick up, I do so expecting to like it. And I’ve had quite the surprise with some of them. I never really expected to like the Lara Adrian Midnight Breed series, but I’m delightfully surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read. I didn’t think I’d care for Urban Fantasy, but Driven and Hidden by Eve Kenin blew me away. Who’d have thunk when I read Countdown by Michelle Maddox (which is out now by the way) I would be so enthralled with it.

I thought I was getting over historicals but then comes Joanne Bourne and Elizabeth Hoyt to rekindle my interest in them again.

I picked up a couple of Jill Shalvis book who is an author I’ve really enjoyed in the past.

I picked up Oceans Apart because I knew I’d read a wonderful review of it on Book Binges. And Twisted Creek because Nath really enjoyed it and she’s a tough sell!

So yes, every book I get, I have every intention of reading, when is another matter though. And yes, Lisa is partly right. Part of the addiction is in just the having.

So I’m curious now about other readers with huge TBR piles that they may not ever get through. Is it just the acquisition of the book that gives you the rush, or the unexpected thrill when you’ve read one you didn’t think would be as good as it was?

Many, many people take photos at RWA. And you’ve seen really, really good ones at other sites, with beautiful folks in ball gowns noshing on all the chocolate in the universe at the RITA reception, authors meeting happy fans, and people queuing up to have books signed at the literacy signing. I don’t have many of those.

What do I have? LOLRWAs. Get ready. They’re terrible. Enjoy!

ETA: I forgot - many of these pictures were taken by Angie James. Thanks Angie!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

I've been thinking about what I would've liked to know before attending RWA. Fortunately I knew people who had attended and was able to ask lots of questions.

If you are wondering whether or not attending RWA is right for you, go take a look at what I had to say in my monthly column at Access Romance.

You haven't had enough yet. You know you haven't. Go on. Go check it out.

So much for taking a few days off.

First off, I’m dying today – no I don’t mean in the literal sense, but I got home Very Early in the morning on Monday. Yesterday was a holiday here in Canada and I would have taken the day off even if it wasn’t for more than one reason. I fully planned on taking today as a sick day, but, being the dedicated worker bee that I am, I set the alarm clock anyway. Just as it went off and I was about to turn it off, make my phone call into work and roll over and go back to sleep, I remembered that one of the team of 3 that I work on was going to be off today. If I had called in sick, we would have just had one person and she is brand spanking new and I didn’t want to do that to her.

So, here I am, at work, feeling worse than I did last Saturday when I really did have a hangover, feeling like I have the hangover of all hangovers. And not only am I at work – I arrived two hours earlier than I was supposed to. I work on a rotating schedule, one week I start at 8:00, the next 9:00, the next 10:00. I thought I was 8:00 but I was 10:00. But we got a total new phone system while I was away so I stayed for a workshop on how they work. But it’s going to be a loooooooong day. So I might just have to do a Part 3.

I last left off with many of my fellow bloggers who showed up. So now I’ll do other stuff

• Running into authors in the parking lot. I told my roomies it’s probably the only time it’s not bad being a smoker – at a RWA conference.

• Having to ask what a Silver Bullet was. I found out what it was.

• Finally finding out what the name of that movie was. I think there are some who might remember *sly wink*. It's Pirates. Who'd u thunk it. Thanks go to Angie for the title.
  

• Getting up the courage to say hello to Nora Roberts. And she remembered me!!! Me!!!

• The ferry ride to Sausalito. Man was it cold up front. I had to go back inside and then I lost my bus pass. I needed that to get on the bus! But I told the tour director I’d lost it somehow and she let me on anyway.

• The tour guide from hell. Tracy, Alys and Katie can attest – she was one Drill Sargent of a tour guide. The funniest part was when she leaned into some people who were whispering in the front and with her microphone said very clearly and very loudly, I do NOT share.

• Meeting so many authors! I'd love to mention them all, but then I would forget some. But I have to say each and every one was gracious and friendly and a real credit to the world of Romance Writers.
  

• Seeing Gena Showalter smack the bottom of Sarah and Jane at the Harlequin signing. I’m sure there was a private joke in there somewhere *g*

• Handing out business cards and then getting to tell them about the back. (I designed them myself *proud grin*). Mind you I had a bit of a scare there for a bit. I was telling my sister about them and she said that there might be a copy right violation there. I immediately emailed Jane who replied that yes, technically there was. "Oh shit, shit, shit "I thought! What do I do now?" Then she sent me another email saying she didn't think they would mind. But just in case there are any people from BBC reading this - I did not make any profit. I just wanted to share the love.
  

• Telling Madeline Hunter all about North and South. She had read the book but didn't realize there was a series made out it. Hopefully she will be checking out Netflix.

• Finding my bus pass in my big fat dirty old man underwear purse - long after the fact

• The books!! The books!! All the free books!! There were a number of authors I approached and told them I had all there books and loved them, but if they didn't mind I would love to take one and give them away for contests on the blog. Each and every one of them was thrilled with the idea. So! Contest for free books start on Sunday. Kate and I were chatting and I had such great fun last year with "Guess that Book" that I'll be doing it again this year. Starting Sunday. "Guess that Book" And the prizes will be books I've loved.

• The Dorchester dinner. Wowzers - was that the great time. I think Kate and I were the only bloggers there and sadly I was in shy mode that night. But just being invited was most thrilling!!!

• Along with not just getting free books, was getting books I'd never heard of, books that look really good. I can hardly wait to dive into them. I had so many I had to ship them home - well to the office really. I thought they would take at least a week to get here, but Joy of Joys - they arrived today. I guess it wasn't so bad working today after all (it's now much later - this post has been a long time in the writing)

• The freedom of realizing that I wasn't going to make the Very Many workshops I'd planned to make and then finding out they would all be available after the conference. I went to the desk and ordered a set. And for a Very Low price, I also got a copy of the top 24 from last year too!!! I was starting to feel so bad that I was missing them since I planned on attending them this year.

Well - it's getting late and I'm still pretty jet lagged - seeing as I had to go to work today. As more memories come to me I may have to do a third post. But I'm saving the best memory for last.

• I don't know how many were visitors after I went to RWA in Dallas last year, but I had one of those 'moments in time' memories last year when Jane, Sybil and I went out for lunch with Lisa Kleypas. I wasn't sure if she would be there this year. I thought she probably would be as both Sugar Daddy and Meet Me at Midnight were up for RITA's, but she wasn't on the literacy signing list. I didn't want to bother her by emailing her, but I was keeping my fingers crossed. I was having Christina Dodd sign a book for me when she mentioned that Lisa was downstairs doing a signing for St. Martins. I was overjoyed and headed straight down there - lickety split. She had a number of people ahead of me in line so I waited a bit. When it was my turn, she looked up, saw me, got out of her chair and hugged me. Another one of those moments in time. There was still quite a few people in line behind me so I didn't want to take too long talking to her, but she asked if I would be in Washington next year. Since it's my goal to start some kind of book, I absolutely plan on it and told her. She said then for sure we would get together then and I know she is the kind of person who means what she says. One last thing - I handed her a card and told her to check out the back seeing as she was an integral part of the Great North and South Crusade. She loved it!
  

So this may or may not be my final post. It depends on how much I forgot. I'm still on San Francisco time I think.

On Saturday, I completely slept through my alarm, and woke up very shortly before I wanted to be at the Pocket signing. I had met so many wonderful people at the Pocket Dinner on Thursday night that I simply had to show up and get signed copies of free books.



At this point, I was realizing I had no pictures of Kresley Cole! Doh! And here I'd been in love with her all conference. So I took a photo of her signing (well, two really, but she made me delete the first one) a special copy just for my sister:




And then I insisted on getting a photo with Kresley herself, so I can tell people that I really did meet her and did not scare her (much) with my adoring attentions:




Meredith Duran was another author I kept running into, and was so terribly awesome. She is just as cute as her author photo, is easy to talk to, and I glommed her historical (DUKE OF SHADOWS) on the plane ride home. I love me some Meredith:




My fabulous editor, Micki Nuding, was also helping out at the signing, so I snagged a quick photo of us together:




In case you are wondering, yes, I am that pale...that and I was probably wearing too much make-up, given the fact that I applied it all within the space of about 30 seconds. Oh well.


Who else was at the Pocket signing? Lo and behold, it was a certain someone:



Wooo!!! Sherrilyn Kenyon!!!!!!! She was so nice and sweet, but she had a migraine. I kept trying to cut the conversation short so she wouldn't feel obligated to talk to me because she wasn't feeling well (since I was tripping over my tongue anyhow) but she kept making conversation and I realized that she knew I was all nervous and flustered and was trying to make ME comfortable. She was so nice. I promised my sister I'd get a signed copy of one of Sherri's books for her, and I did.



Here's Sherrilyn Kenyon again, Sharie Kohler (aka Sophie Jordan) in the middle, and Sherrilyn's co-author Dianna Love. Poor Sharie is so beautiful and sweet (she really made me feel welcome with all the Pocket authors) and I feel terrible that this is the only picture I got of her. Eek! Next year!


After the Pocket signing (I think they had more books per author than any other publisher...Pocket is awesome like that), we trooped downstairs to the plagiarism/copyright panel hosted by Smart Bitch Sarah. It featured Jane Litte (who is an attorney in her other life) and Nora Roberts (who needs no introduction). I have some pictures of that, but I passed them on to Jane, so check the Dear Author website for those.

Jozelle Dyer (Tor's Romantic Suspense editor) had probably the oldest edition of a Nora Roberts book that I had ever seen. It was beautifully preserved.



Nora was running out the door, but she was gracious enough to pause and sign it, and I think that pretty much made Jozelle's conference right there.






And that's all the conference photos I have! I sort of forgot to keep taking them as the afternoon progressed. I think there were a few others with me in them that I'll link back to as they pop up.

All in all, it was fun, so very very fun. I'm kinda sad that the next one is a full year away.

I'm running out of steam on the RWA blogging, so I'll at least post all my pictures, right? Right.




Okay, so these weren't from Friday, but here's the ginormous luncheon they had on Thursday for the keynote speaker. This room was huge huge and it was crammed full with lunching women.



One more:




I also ran to the first signings of the convention - Avon and Warner. For those of you that don't believe me, let me show you the hauls from these two signings alone.

Avon:



Warner:



Please note that I showed remarkable restraint despite all the free books. I only took about half of what was in each room. I sh&t you not! I also missed most of the later signings (though I did score a few ARCs from the Tor signing - they had the best goodies!) or I think I could have easily walked away with two enormous boxes of books instead of just the one enormous box that is currently being shipped back home to me. It was srsly crazy, y'all. You have no idea. RWA = book mecca.

Then, Meljean arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Meljean and Me (I have this weird tendancy to lean away from the camera for some really dumb reason that I haven't figured out yet). I totally look stoned but I swear I'm not:




After that, there was the Berkley signing! I showed up late but still managed to score 5 or 6 books. Alas, I missed getting a signed copy of Meljean's book, but as she was signing the last one, I asked her to strike a pose. In true diva form, Meljean pleased the crowd:




Once the Berkley signing was done, we wandered into the lobby and ran into a few people. Meljean got huggy with Gena Showalter:




Jane and Rocki:




Then, they ditched me and Meljean. No love! But we went to the Harlequin party with Nalini and a bunch of other people. I took a picture of a salad.

Really.




...

Isn't that the SADDEST Conference photo ever? A damn salad? I swear there was a point to it, though. I was going to take all kinds of pictures of the wackiness and sheer fun of the Harlequin party, and I was going to start with the decorations and hors d'ouvres because they looked so neat. Unfortunately after one pathetic picture of a salad, my camera was full.

CURSES!

So yeah. All you get is a measley shot of a salad. We hung out at the Harlequin party for a while, and then on the balcony when it got too noisy to talk and we wanted to talk shop. We left early and all went to a late night Batman showing with several other friends. It was really great and I enjoyed the movie...but I kept nodding off at the important parts, which made me sad. I still don't know what happened to the joker.


Next up, Saturday photos (which, oddly enough, do not involve Rita photos. I R Bad Photographer.)

Last night when I sat down to tell Hubby about the RWA Conference, I had to look at my calendar to remember where I was and at what time, because it was all one big exhausting blur. A big, exhausting, happy blur.

But there are a few things that are popping right in the front of my brain, and since I stinketh at writing comprehensive summaries of things, I want to note a few things.

Jill Shalvis said in the comments to the post I wrote about Jennifer Greene’s acceptance speech (which still makes me cry if I think about it) that “Moments like that are what make the Ritas for me.”

Agreed. And it’s larger than that. There is a lot of effort, exhaustion, and sometimes a small amount of drama surrounding RWA National, but moments like that one speak volumes about how extraordinary RWA as a community and an organization is. There are a lot of folks who have problems with it as a whole, and there are surely some things I would love to change or see addressed, but consider the amazing combination of elements that makes up the RWA National convention:

1. It’s a business conference
2. About writing
3. And demystifying the publishing process
4. And examining and educating writers and aspiring authors on writing techniques,
5. and business techniques
6. and marketing techniques
7. and how to schmooze successfully in the bar. (Very Important)
8. It’s a one-stop experience for a lot of aspiring folks, because there’s craft, sales, pitching, research, and marketing advice.
9. It’s a business conference dedicated to the business of writing.
10. Specifically, dedicated to the business of writing romance.
11. And it is—pay attention - this is the really crucial part.
12. Created, run, administrated, directed, supported, and attended by an audience of mostly
13. Women.

Fair warning: I spent half of the RWA Literacy Signing taking pictures for Jane (which you can see on Blog Nationals) and the other half of the time squealing and spitting out erudite phrases such as "Omg I love your books!"



I was trying to get a picture of the utterly ABSURD line to get into the Literacy Signing, but mine showed up way too dark. I dropped into line about 45 minutes ahead of time, and by the time the doors opened, the queue was six layers deep and several, several hundred people thick. It had to be seen to be believed. When the doors opened, people RAN (I kid you not, there was running in high heels involved) to get to their favorite authors.

That being said, I probably sprinted over to Marjorie Liu's table to get her signed copy of her newest book, THE WILD ROAD. She was so soft-spoken and lovely that I admit, I couldn't think of a thing to say to her. I just babbled about wanting to take her picture and then scurried away with the book. I am a bad fangirl.




Gena Showalter signing the VERY LAST copy of her newest Alien Huntress book. I absolutely love these and they're totally sexy.





Sherry Thomas signs copies of her new release, DELICIOUS (which totally was). I loved this book and gushed about it to her. She just looked uncomfortable at my simpering but did her best to put me at ease. ;)




Roxanne St. Claire is a fellow Pocket author and one of the nicest women I met at the conference. She always looked like she was having fun (and she won a Rita last year!).




Another picture of the ever-adorable Nalini Singh (who is a wild woman on the dance-floor, I hear).




Nora Roberts had the biggest line there. I'm not kidding, it was utterly enormous and hugely intimidating. I did not stand in line for a book, because there were fangirls with a LOT more patience than me. Plus, if I stood in line, I wouldn't have gotten to run around for the rest of the time, her line was that long. So you get a side-shot from far away.







More pictures later!