sleepytime

I had a v. chill day at the romance conference, interspersed with bouts of extreme networking (and capped off by a latenight trip to Sephora). I had to get up early to have breakfast with two fairly-bigtime newer authors (Sarah Maclean and Sophie Jordan), and it was really lovely to meet them; I won the breakfast, so don't go thinking that I'm special, but they were totally friendly, really supportive, talked a lot about their publishing process, asked about my work, etc., etc. It was a great way to start the day, and I followed it by going to the free Avon signing directly afterward, where they each signed copies of their books for me. I escaped the free signing with only eight books (including getting books signed with Julia Quinn and Stephanie Laurens, yay) - I'd vowed to keep my book acquisitions under control this week since the move reinforced with brutal clarity just how many books I already have, but I couldn't pass these up.

After the signing, I sat in the lobby for awhile and wrote, and then decided to be a bad romance author and skip the luncheon/speech so that I could have some alone time. I wandered down a few blocks and had lunch at The Long Room, and "Irish gastropub" that sort of looks like Trinity College's library and serves up a mean shepherd's pie. I was playing with the voice/intro for my young adult book, and I stumbled across a voice that feels really good; I'm still playing, but it felt so good to get some work done and be happy with the first draft. I eventually did come back, though, and went to a workshop on writing historical series.

Immediately thereafter, I had the reception for this year's RITA and Golden Heart finalists. I got to accost and gush over Deanna Raybourn, who wrote that Victorian mystery series that I've been so thrilled by (including DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING, which I read a couple of weeks ago, and THE DARK ENQUIRY, which comes out tomorrow!). I also got my certificate for being a finalist (yay), and I saw the other finalists, etc. Then, I left the reception to go to my agency's cocktail party. That was super fun and an awesome opportunity to network; I met a woman who writes a great romance blog for Publishers Marketplace, and I also met the woman who was the first romance buyer for Waldenbooks way back in the day. I hung out quite a bit with my San Francisco chapter's president, who is represented by another agent at my agency, chatted with my agent a bit (who remains quite positive about my book and promised to follow up later), and connected with an awesome author who's writing a trilogy about Cleopatra's daughter - our agent insisted that we chat because she thought we'd love each other, and I think she was right.

After the party, though, I was wiped out (red wine will do it), so I took a nap rather than going out to dinner. I had to deal with some stuff I've been putting off when I woke up, but I left the hotel around ten p.m. in search of the nearby Sephora (which stays open until midnight - this place is heaven). I used their nail polish remover to take off my v. chipped manicure from last week, and bought a bottle of nail polish in case I want to put some on tomorrow. Then, I grabbed a late dinner at the diner across the street from the hotel, where I sat at the bar and was chatted up by both the guy who was sitting next to me and the bartender (named Sergio, apparently no relation to Jon Hamm's Sergio from SNL). Apparently, my shields were still down and I was in the "approachable" mode I've set myself up in for conference - I'll have to repair them asap. However, they were quite friendly, so I had no regrets. I also got to see a gigantic SUV trying to pull into a parking garage and yelling at the people trying to pull out claiming that the others had enough room to get around them - but the SUV backed out and left when one of the passengers tried to get out and accidentally shattered a half-empty handle of liquor on the sidewalk that had clearly been (illegally) in their lap. It would be funny if it wasn't so appalling.

And now that I've written a recap for the romance group blog I'm part of and talked to my roommate (who just got back from the Harlequin party), I need to get my beauty sleep in time for tomorrow. Goodnight!