check out the hook while my dj revolves it

RWA 2010 has come to a close; I've had a fantastic time, but I'm really looking forward to getting back to California and diving headfirst into my book. My day started far earlier than I would have liked, with a ten-minute pitch session at 9:20 with an editor from Harlequin. It went pretty well, but since I already have an agent, it wasn't a make or break scenario -- and, since I'm in a complete shake-up in regards to Ferguson's character, it was hard to be completely clear with the editor about where I'm going. But, since I promised to get the book done by October, I need to get cracking.

After the pitch, I did some manuscript work in my lobby, then came back to my room and packed so that I could see whether I would need to ship anything. I managed to fit about ten books into my luggage, only sacrificing two that I know I'll never read. I need to finish packing tomorrow morning, but I think I'm going to make it without having to stand in the insanely long line to ship things home. I met up with Grace and Tina for lunch, where I fortified myself with a cheeseburger before attending a two-hour rehearsal for the Golden Heart/RITA presentation. It was quite exciting to be sitting in a room with not just my fellow winners from last year who were presenting this year (five of us total), but romance superstars like Stephanie Laurens, Teresa Meideros, Meg Cabot, Victoria Alexander, Sabrina Jeffries, etc. I then dashed back to my room, took a nap, showered, blowdried my hair, carefully applied my makeup -- and just barely made it downstairs by six p.m. to walk over to the awards ceremony.

They seated presenters and finalists at six p.m. and started serving our food then, so we were done eating by seven, and the awards ceremony didn't actually start until eight. The dinner was pretty standard hotel fair -- an okay salad, a chicken breast entree, and a chocolate dessert. But, while most of the women at my presenter table were fellow Golden Heart finalists (Darynda, Jeannie, Kelly, and their dates), we were also joined by Roxanne St. Claire and Kresley Cole. Roxanne was presenting and Kresley was up for a RITA for paranormal (for a book I adored -- and she ended up winning!). Roxanne at some point had made friends with the hotel's general manager, and he sent several bottles of Veuve Clicquot to our table -- which I stayed away from before presenting, but hit liberally when I was done, since I adore good champagne more than virtually any other drink.

So my presenting went well -- I didn't fall, stumble, stutter, slur, or do anything else to embarrass myself. It's possible that I grimaced more than I smiled, since smiling is not my face's natural resting state and I was trying to force myself to smile while listening to the winner's speech, but I pulled it off regardless. Then, I drank several glasses of champagne while watching the rest of it (including Julia Quinn getting her third RITA). The lifetime achievement award went to Debbie Macomber, who has 75 million books in print, had one of her books turned into the Hallmark Channel's most-watched movie of the year, has a tie-in with a lot of knitting books and supplies, etc., etc. When she finally got up after all her many accomplishments were listed, she thanked like seven agents -- her fiction agent, her non-fiction agent, her merchandising agents, her tv and movie agents, and some other agent that I'm forgetting. Basically, she sounds like the sweetest woman, and she left me feeling simultaneously inspired and incredibly daunted by what she's accomplished.

After the awards ceremony was over, Grace, Tina and I met up with Sharon and Amy from Charleston and went over to a dance club at the Disney Boardwalk. It was a ridiculous, no-cover, all-ages-over-21 (although the door 'man' was 20) establishment, where the DJ was more of a VJ, since he played the videos for all the songs, which I found really distracting and wonderful. I had a blue hawaiian there, so while I'm not soused, I'm definitely lightly lubricated.

Unfortunately, I need to go to bed; my flight's a little after 3pm tomorrow, but since Orlando is full of screaming, overstimulated children, all of whom will likely trying to be getting home on Sunday (in addition to the squealing, overstimulated writers who are leaving the conference), my shuttle is picking me up shortly after 12pm. That means I need to get up and finish packing, and since I'd like to have breakfast with Grace and Tina before I go, sleep is imperative.

I shall leave you with two pictures: me in my fancy-pants dress before the start of the awards ceremony, and Kresley Cole's RITA award for best paranormal novel (with champagne in the background). Since a RITA award and a lot of champagne would be one of my biggest dreams come true, I'm going to take this photo above my desk until I get a RITA of my own. Goodnight!