RWA Conference Photo Journal

Okay, this took a couple months for me to get around to posting, but I will now attempt to make up for my tardiness by being brilliant and witty as I narrate the pictorial proof that I was really there.

Tuesday... Sightseeing:
Photo #1: Even though I used to live in DC, I tag along on a sightseeing blitz of the National Monuments guided by the fabulous Ms. Amanda Brice, 2008 & 2009 Golden Heart Finalist in the YA category (she's the one on the far right... at least, I think it's right. Do you know your right from your left? Am I the only one who flunked that part of kindergarten?). Along with Shelli Stevens, Crystal Jordan, Loribelle Hunt, and Robin L. Rotham, we take on the National Mall and emerge victorious (and exhausted).

Photo #2: Washington just isn't Washington without a giant phallic symbol.

Photo #3: Amanda and I ham it up with The Ruby Slippers, as members of the Sisterhood should.

Photo #4: George Washington was a stud without his shirt. Who knew?

Photo #5: Following our Capitol tour, Amanda & Robin rejoice in finding the dastardly nail scissors which would have been a threat to our national security if we had taken them inside the building.


Golden Heart Dinner:
Photo #6: Later Tuesday Night. I meet up with the other Golden Heart finalists for the first time. Tamara Hogan, Jenn Bray-Weber, Amy Talley and Cate Rowan keep me laughing all night long.

I forgot my camera on Wednesday & Thursday during the day. On Tuesday night, I went to a midnight showing of Harry Potter with some old non-writing chums from DC. Got to bed after four. Then it was time for the Golden Network Retreat on Wednesday afternoon, where the editor & agent panel reviewed some query letters for us - so illuminating! Afterwards Kelly Fitzpatrick and I breezed through the Literacy Signing, but decided it was too overwhelming to wade through and we needed sustenance! We chatted with the lovely Elise Chidley (Rita nominee) well into the evening.

Thursday was conference, conference, conference! Opening session with Janet Evanovich, RWA Annual General Meeting (which lead me to muse that if you want to change the rules, it is important to actually know the rules and the legal procedures for changing them), Keynote luncheon with Linda Howard (cows and crazies!), workshops... it's a busy day. That night, I get gussied up for the Finally a Bride award presentation. Kelly goes along as my date when they give me my weaponry... er, engraved cake knife and server. Then it's off to the Golden Network Desert Reception.

Photo #7: Ain't we cute? Kelly Fitzpatrick and I in our Thursday Best.

Photo #8: The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood pose pretty, showing off those red shoes at the Golden Network reception.
We then retreat back to the bar (Mecca at a romance conference) where we chat up the marvelous Ms. Sara Ramsey and her cohort, Terry. We also run into Jess Granger and Angie Fox... the latter of whom inspires a fangirl moment where my brain evaporates and I turn into a blithering idiot. Sadly, I do not think Angie Fox was impressed by my inability to form a coherent sentence in her presence. We later hit the Moonlight Madness Bazaar briefly before calling it a night and admitting defeat...

Operating under the We Don't Need No Stickin' Sleep Theory, I am up early again on Friday. Breakfast, PAN Retreat, Workshops, Luncheon with speaker Eloisa James, pitch with Chris Keeslar, Golden Heart Reception thingy where they give me my certificate of Golden Heartiness (there was a dude taking pictures... where are those pictures? Your guess is as good as mine.), then on to the Samhain Wine Reception:

Photo #9: Shelli Stevens and a mystery guest (my memory for faces just sucks) at the Samhain Wine Reception.

Photo #10: Yes, I forced Kelly to come with me. Isn't she nice? She didn't kick or scream much at all!

Photo #11: Here I am chatting with Cate Rowan. Notice how I look like I've been run over by a cement mixer? I'm so tired by this point I can barely form a coherent sentence... or rather I can't form a coherent sentence, which meant bad things during my pitch earlier that day.

A Note on the Importance of Sleep: Sleep is necessary. Really really necessary. If you do not get sleep, your brain will start to shut off non-crucial portions. Luckily, this means it will keep you breathing and ambulatory. Unluckily, this means it will no longer allow you access to the part that comes up with pithy, clever answers when people ask you in depth questions about your books... say, at a pitch session. Or perhaps it will shut off the facial recognition function. And you'll forget who people are... say, editors you've met before. So yeah. GET SOME SLEEP.

After a late workshop Friday night, I give up on being social, go home and SLEEP. I sleep in late Saturday morning, making it to my second pitch with not a second to spare. I am brilliant (sorta). Afterwards, I head off to more workshops but then...

Photo #12: FIRE! It's an epidemic. This is the second conference I've been to where a workshop has been halted due to a sudden threat of incineration. We are just too hot to handle, baby.

Okay, I'm gonna have to break this into multiple posts. More photos from the RWA National Conference and specifically the Golden Heart Awards Ceremony tomorrow.