I'm not going to this year's RT doings in Daytona, and I'm feeling a little sad. Michele, Betina, and Lois will have to party on without me. For anyone who hasn't been to one of these events--held annually since the early 1980's and sponsored by Romantic Times magazine--it's always quite the show. Authors, booksellers, and scads of readers attend. Besides a ton of books, they come away with great stories.
I'll never forget the time my signing table was right next to Fabio's. This was before he got his not-butter gig. Women were lined up to get their pictures taken with him. He was wearing a flowing shirt, but he obliged when someone asked him to take it off. The shrieks hit the fan, and the packed crown swooned en mass. One poor woman fell across my table and knocked my water in my lap. She was so embarrassed! What the heck? It was only water.
Later I was seated with friends--Tami Hoag and Jill Marie Landis, as I remember--at a table next to the Fab, his handler and a reporter in the hotel restaurant. Very close table. And if you know writers, you know we make no bones about eavesdropping. It's called research. It's our bread and butter--real butter. We actually heard the Fab make his famous statement that no one remembers the author's name on the cover of a book, but everyone remembers Fabio. Didn't matter whether it was fact or fiction, there was not a straight face at our table.
Does anyone else have a fond RT memory to share?
2 comments:
I have another one. My husband often goes with me on the conference circuit, but we also took all 3 kids to the San Diego RT way back when. The conference site was gorgeous--all except for the book signing event. The room was too small and the crowd was literally crushing. We were lucky to get out alive.
But the cover model contest was the fun part for my daughter and me, especially the post-gala garden party. Daughter was about 15 at the time. The fun part was eavesdropping--my favoite sport. Acutally heard an author promising to get one young fellow on her next cover, uttering the words, "We'll make you a star." And there were the two fellows going for the Fabio look swapping hair tips. Daughter noticed an Indian guy hanging off by himself, and she went over to talk to him. Mama Eagle stayed close by and was eventually introduced. The poor guy was a fish out of water. Said he'd driven there from AZ and entered the contest on a dare. Somebody had told him Indians were popular on book covers. "But I didn't even place. One of the white guys had a better Indian costume."
I am RT as I write this. It's my first RT. It is everything I thought it would be and oh, so much more.
Congrats on your group blog! Welcome to the future.
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