Well, guess what, people. The big black hole that is Romantic Times is that way because the Internet at this hotel is $9.95 a day, and no free spots.
That is, I have to say, about the only bad thing about this hotel so far. I’m sharing a room with my good friend Desiree Holt, and we’re having a ball. Tonight she introduced me to White Russians, which was a nice touch.
So I arrived here on Tuesday, and taught and sat on a panel at the Beginner’s Learn to Write class. Judi McCoy is awesome, a great teacher, and she really cares about her pupils. If I can, I’d do this again for sure. I met some great people, and let’s face it, it’s great to be wanted.
A lot of RT is meeting new people and reconnecting with the old, not just the classes and the formal arrangements. RT has to have a good bar, and this hotel has a pretty good one. The hotel, the Hyatt Regency, is almost seamlessly attached to the conference center, so we can attend classes without once breathing the fresh air of Columbus. I have a day or two after RT before my flight back to Blighty, and I plan to take a look at it then.
I’ve found that as I get better known, more of my time is involved in doing my stuff and less on attending classes and talks, which I kind of regret, because there’s no better time to meet people. I’m a pretty shy body normally, but RT gives you the chance to go up and say hi to complete strangers and for them to smile and say, “Hi, want to join us?” Then you exchange business cards and start chatting.
On Wednesday I did my author panel with Linnea Sinclair, Donna MacMeans, Karen Miller, and the two authors who make up CT Adams. It was a lot of fun, and I hope we told the attendees a bit about how we create or enter the worlds I write about. Since I write historicals and paranormals, I do both. If you have any questions, I’ll answer them now (lol).
By the way, I do not take good photographs, but I managed to get a couple of reasonable ones for you. However, I can’t upload them because the Internet here is not only expensive, but it sucks.
Then we had the Ellora’s Cave ball. It went really well this year. Since I write for EC, people kept coming up to me and saying how much they enjoyed it, but it really has very little to do with me. I just get a pretty dress and show up, get escorted across the stage by a hunky Caveman and dance. This year’s theme was “Paint the Town Red,” so it looked really pretty. All those red prom dresses and costumes made a great show. The new Cavemen did their thing, which this year had a bit of raunch and a lot of laughter, and I have to say they’re pretty easy on the eye.
The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at midnight had some awesome hats and outfits. Victoria Alexander’s bustled 1870’s style dress and wonderful hat was one of my favorites, and they had a game, reasonably civilised, where you collected signatures to be entered into a draw. Fun.
But because of that we stayed up far too long and got up late this morning. Shame. And on Thursday we had our Cougar Growl in Club RT. My book, Beauty of Sunset, was part of the Tempt the Cougar series for Ellora’s Cave, so I joined the other attending authors. Most of us, actually. I was so happy to work on this series with a collection of savvy authors, all enthusiastic about the series and telling people about it. We had a four-foot cougar to raffle, Sheba, and she drew a lot of people. Before the event, I’d been worried that nobody would show, because, well, I always worry like that, but we had a line of people wanting to learn about the books and win Sheba. Or the other way around.
And so on to the Fairy Ball, after we lingered by the bar for a while. Enough to imbibe a couple or three drinks, anyway. The Court assembled, this year in the elements of fire, air, earth, and water, and we ate and drank and had fun. Cheyenne McCray and Eden Robins stepped down as the queens of the court this year and made way for two new queens. It should be interesting next year.
I will try to do more and let you know how the author signings and the other events went, but being sans Internet most of the time is a bit difficult. A lot difficult.
