RWA Day Two: I Should Probably Start Taking Notes

Ahhh, yes.  That moment at the conference where Wendy's mind completely wanders south and she has the memory retention of a toddler hopped up on Pixie Stix and Coca-Cola.  I really should consider taking notes while I'm at RWA (what with the sleep deprivation, not to mention any alcohol I consume....), but I figure that would just look odd.  Anyway, today started by KristieJ rising before me and hitting the continental breakfast.  I opted to stay in bed until 8:30AM.  Eventually I was suitably put together and went downstairs to find caffeine - The Giver Of Life.  It was standing in line at Starbucks that I chatted with Leigh Duncan - to which I inquired, "You're with Harlequin American, right?"  I swear she was so flabbergasted that I not only knew her name but that I knew she wrote for American.  She immediately whipped a book out of her purse and autographed to me on the spot, declaring that I had "made her conference."

Such is the life of a category romance nerd.

Kristie and I eventually made our way to the keynote luncheon and sat with the lovely ladies from All About Romance - Lynn and Blythe.  Cathy Maxwell was the keynote speaker and gave a wonderful, rah-rah, inspirational speech that had people either weeping or wanting to stand up and shout "Amen!"

There were two publisher booksignings this afternoon, and Kristie and I hit up both of them.  I grabbed several titles at the Ballantine/Bantam Dell signing - which also included a number of Loveswept authors.  Then we moved on to RWA's first ever Indie signing, which included established names (like Barbara Freethy and Courtney Milan) that have gone self-publishing, to newer writers who chose that route out of the gate.  It was very well attended, and I'm sure much will be made of it in the coming days.  I'm not coherent enough, at the moment, to offer up any of my theories on this - but it was nice to see so many authors participating and so many people attending.  I think it was a nice success and I hope that RWA will stick with it for future conferences.

After that I had enough books (sigh) to ship my first box home - which will arrive at the office sometime next week.  Then it was time for the Blogger Bar Bash!  Many folks stopped by including Rosie, World Famous Author LB Gregg, Growly Cub (of Twitter fame), Limecello, Liza, Blythe and Lynn from All About Romance, authors Lorelie Brown, Jeffe Kennedy and Carolyn Crane.  I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, because I suck like that.  Also, I really am brain-dead at the moment.

Tomorrow is a big day for me.  It starts with a breakfast date and ends with some party invites.  Which means, you know - I probably should think about getting some sleep and not typing blog posts after midnight.

Silly Wendy