For those of you who don't know, "RWA" stands for Romance Writers of America, and the annual conference (attended by about 2000 of the 10,000 members) occurred last week in Washington D.C. There are workshops, publisher spotlights, booksignings, and general celebration of our industry. The photo on the left is from the Harlequin party last year. I've yet to download my photos from this year's conference because I came home to the aftermath of 5 hours of toilet overflow in the upstairs bathroom (it was fresh water, but damaged carpet upstairs and drywall downstairs, humidifiers and fans now at work, insurance is involved, and it's a bazillion degrees in my house in order to dry things out), but I also came home with some "Only at RWA" thoughts in mind...1. Only at RWA do upcoming book covers get more "oohs" and "aahs" than photos of kids. (Exception, real live babies, like Anne Mallory's son, who is the cutest little guy in the world. Romance writers cannot resist a hero in the making.)
2. Only at RWA can you mention something (lingerie tape, chocolate) on Facebook or Twitter and then find that someone brings that very thing for you to the conference (thanks Heather, Bella, and PJ).
3. Only at RWA can you attend a lunch for a favorite author (Robyn Carr) and sit across from a German publisher of a romance magazine who shares your taste in favorite reads...and loves one of your very own Silhouette Special Editions (it got her reading them again!)
4. Only at RWA can you not remember the title of the book she describes. "Something with 'Bachelor' in it," you say. Kris Alice, I remember now it is Bachelor Boss!
5. Only at RWA can you be lunching offsite when you learn that firetrucks are at the RWA hotel and the response from fellow lunchers is that they text friends to find out if the firemen are cute.
6. Only at RWA is it perfectly okay to ask a stranger hanging out in the lobby to get your back zipper unstuck so you can then go in the bathroom and change for the airport (thank you Colleen Gleason).
7. Only at RWA could you become insanely rich if you received a dollar for every bandage on every conference-goer's feet.
Do you have an RWA or other conference thought to share? Or how about an explanation of why we put our feet through shoe-torture?
p.s. If I can maneuver around the de-humidifiers and fans and get unpacked, I'll put up more photos later today.
15 comments:
Rats, Christie, I'm sorry you had to go home to such a mess!
To answer one point, however...no, the DC firemen can't hold a candle to the San Francisco firefighters we got pics of last year. From a purely objective writing perspective, of course!
Kylie: At my lunch, people were saying that the man was still lying on the floor when the romance writers were stepping up and getting photos of the firemen!
OMG - who was in Reno? There was a firemens convention downtown, but you had to venture from the conference hotel to find them. We found them! Oh-la-la!
So sorry you came home to such a mess. Water, clean or not, can do such damage.
I have to admit, I had twinge of regret over not attending the conference this year!
Helen: Hmm on the firemen convention in Reno. I didn't remember that, except maybe I did, because I wrote 2 books for Silhouette in which firemen at a convention meet librarians also at a convention in Las Vegas...
I was twinging a bit over =going= since so many were not, but I ended up having a great time.
Now I DO wish I had gone. There's nothing quite like the big one.
Lois: I think so much of what makes conference good or bad is individual. This year, my schedule was relaxed and so was I.
Christie: I'm so sorry to hear about the water damage!
Isn't Kris a doll? She attends RWA fairly regularly and I always enjoy running into her at conference.
Bummer about the water. Not fun to come home too. But firemen? Hmm...and here I just blogged about all the things I would not miss at RWA. Firemen would definately be on the 'can't miss' list!
Wendy: Kris is wonderful! I love talking fave books, so of course we really hit it off.
Christie - soooo sorry about the water damage. It would have sent me over the edge to come home to that after such an exhilarating but exhausting conference.
And OMG - they were actually talking about me - um, i mean some inconsiderate romance writer stepping over that poor man on the floor? In my defense - I didn't see him - all 450 pounds of him. I REALLY didn't. but i did see the firemen. Yikes. Cuuuutttte. And I have the photos to prove it. I think Kylie took them :o0
Okay, I wasn't going to out you and Kylie, Cindy, but now you did it yourself!!
And big congrats on your RITA win. It's so great.
And speaking of RWA, it wasn't that many years ago that someone introduced us at conference and I went fangirl on you. Now I try to restrain myself when we meet up.
Loved that! I so wished I was there! I've never been to one of these conferences but some day will for sure!
Caffey: They are a lot of fun. I think it's the mostly women aspect that gives it such a friendly feel. Also that we're all one in our love of the genre...
I envy you, Christie. I really wish I had gone-- but I had so much to do here. Next year it's Nashville, right? Well, I'm there with bells on!
Maybe I'll have time to sightsee there, too!
Heehee!! Christie, it was my pleasure to help you undress in the lobby. ;-)
A real pleasure to meet you at Robyn's luncheon and later, even when I was having a brain blast and couldn't remember your name!
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