I had an entirely successful first day at the romance conference (although I suppose this is day zero, since it technically doesn't start until tomorrow). And now I'm thoroughly exhausted and need to get up in six hours to do it again, so I must keep this brief. But today was delightful and went mostly according to plan. I had breakfast with my friend Kristin, who lives in the far far east bay (like, basically in Nevada), and so I hadn't seen her since the last conference for a wide variety of reasons (not the least of which is that she broke her ankle in half this spring, which made the already-unlikely chance of us meeting up somewhere even more unlikely). We caught up over breakfast at the cafe across the street, and we gossiped about the industry (my favorite!), so that was all great.
Then, I came back to the hotel, finished drying my hair, and went to an event for librarians/booksellers - first, a roundtable discussion about how to work together as authors and librarians to do successful events, and then a lunch where Jude Devereaux gave the keynote speech. That was all interesting, although it mostly reminded me that I need to figure out the right way to get my books into the right kind of print/ebook setup so that libraries will buy them. More work for me, I guess, but it's worth doing (maybe, I think).
After that, I took ten minutes to drop stuff off in my room, and then I had afternoon dim sum with like sixteen authors. We somehow managed to get all of us to Chinatown, which was a bit of a trek, but the dim sum was super tasty. And the group was really awesome; I don't want to name drop too shamelessly, but it was mostly historical writers, and I spent some quality time sitting next to Sherry, who kept stroking my arm because I seem so tactile to her. However, the last time I saw her I told her about my Indian breast massage, so really, this was nothing. The whole thing was organized by Courtney, who has organized similar endeavors over the past couple of years, and it has become one of my favorite things at these conferences.
However, all good things end, so we scurried back to the hotel, where I was supremely glad that I chose not to sign books at the booksigning this year since all those fools had to go immediately to the ballroom while I came upstairs and took a nap. Then, I put on a party dress and went to a cocktail party hosted by Kathia (who is Kate for the duration of this week), where I randomly met the woman from Wattpad whom I'd already set up a meeting with for tomorrow (and whom I totally adored - I would like to be her friend if that didn't sound so creepy), as well as the head guy at Kobo, several awesome writers, etc., etc. I ended up spending five hours there, but since I limited myself to three glasses of champagne, I'm in decent (albeit slightly dehydrated) shape. I also got to spend some quality time with Kathia's husband and sister, and it was all totally lovely.
But now, after walking through the chaos that is Times Square at midnight, I need to sleep - tomorrow is more of the same, but I have high expectations for what I intend to get through. Goodnight!
Then, I came back to the hotel, finished drying my hair, and went to an event for librarians/booksellers - first, a roundtable discussion about how to work together as authors and librarians to do successful events, and then a lunch where Jude Devereaux gave the keynote speech. That was all interesting, although it mostly reminded me that I need to figure out the right way to get my books into the right kind of print/ebook setup so that libraries will buy them. More work for me, I guess, but it's worth doing (maybe, I think).
After that, I took ten minutes to drop stuff off in my room, and then I had afternoon dim sum with like sixteen authors. We somehow managed to get all of us to Chinatown, which was a bit of a trek, but the dim sum was super tasty. And the group was really awesome; I don't want to name drop too shamelessly, but it was mostly historical writers, and I spent some quality time sitting next to Sherry, who kept stroking my arm because I seem so tactile to her. However, the last time I saw her I told her about my Indian breast massage, so really, this was nothing. The whole thing was organized by Courtney, who has organized similar endeavors over the past couple of years, and it has become one of my favorite things at these conferences.
However, all good things end, so we scurried back to the hotel, where I was supremely glad that I chose not to sign books at the booksigning this year since all those fools had to go immediately to the ballroom while I came upstairs and took a nap. Then, I put on a party dress and went to a cocktail party hosted by Kathia (who is Kate for the duration of this week), where I randomly met the woman from Wattpad whom I'd already set up a meeting with for tomorrow (and whom I totally adored - I would like to be her friend if that didn't sound so creepy), as well as the head guy at Kobo, several awesome writers, etc., etc. I ended up spending five hours there, but since I limited myself to three glasses of champagne, I'm in decent (albeit slightly dehydrated) shape. I also got to spend some quality time with Kathia's husband and sister, and it was all totally lovely.
But now, after walking through the chaos that is Times Square at midnight, I need to sleep - tomorrow is more of the same, but I have high expectations for what I intend to get through. Goodnight!
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