Sunday, August 01, 2004

A Sea of Women

I knew I was in for it when I found the plane loaded with tons of woman; between the Romance Writers' Convention, a jewelry convention and a Mary Kay convention, Dallas was the place for guys who want to watch gals. Lots of us. I suspect there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 3600-5000 of us at the Adam's Mark. The Mary Kay folks were decked out in very colorful jackets (and, of course, their makeup was flawless.) The RWA folks were carrying bunches of books, muttering about GMCs (not a vehicle) and editor/agent spotting.

The hotel had a bit of a problem checking all of us in at once (about 1 to 1-1/2 hours, to be precise). Thank goodness for being a member of the GoldMark Club (Adam's Mark preferred guest program.) That helped. The room was very nice, the restaurant served good food and the company was excellent.

The charity booksigning raised $60k, half of which stays in the Dallas metro area. Lots of the big names were there (Nora Roberts, for one) and so there was a long line near her table. Given the NY Times Bestselling competition, I still managed to sell a few books. Readers were looking for fantasy. And I got to talk to a very cool British grandmother who pens erotica (Madeline Oh.)

Between reconnecting with friends from all over the country, attending panels and awards ceremonies (no, none of my books were up for an award as I didn't have one to submit) I also got to chat with Anna Genoese of Tor/Forge. She's editor of their new paranormal romance line which launches in November of this year. Anna's a neat lady with a wicked sense of humor and nifty tattoos. (Yes, I'm having tattoo envy. I've done about everything else I can to myself, but not a tattoo. I suspect there is one in my future.) Anna and I got to talk shop since I'm fighting through a paranormal manuscript at the present moment.

Getting home proved a bit difficult with the plane suffering a flat tire/a change of equipment and then a change of seating. Finally touched down in Atlanta at about 12:40 a.m. Wow. Made for a long day.

Another RWA Convention under my belt. I get to stay home for the month of August and then it starts to get crazy again. Hopefully, I can have the first draft of the book out by Dragon*Con (Labor Day weekend.) If not, soon after. It just requires nose to computer monitor, fingers on keyboard and not checking emails twenty-nine times a day.

Later folks --

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don't do the tattoo, gorgeous.
A)Can't get buried in a Jewish cemetary with one.
B)Few designs still look good by the time (A) is an issue.