The RWA Literacy Reception

Yesterday, I enjoyed two events that I’ve never attended before. First was the Bookseller’s Tea. I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I’ve heard rumors that many of the booksellers run and hide from authors trying to accost them. There were certainly more authors there, but they passed out a deck of cards to both booksellers and authors, and we had to find our matching person. I eventually found my bookseller, who was from a Dallas Barnes & Noble, and I gave her one of my books. I met another when I was talking with Sophia Nash, who is absolutely the nicest person. The bookseller was from Another Look Books in Taylor, MI. We had a nice talk, and apparently medieval historicals are doing well in her store.

After that, I attended my very first Literacy Signing where I was on the opposite side of the table. It was a surreal moment walking into a room with 450 other authors and seeing my name and seat waiting. Sadly, Harlequin hadn’t sent any of my books, so I had to bring my own. I felt very fortunate that many of my friends from eharlequin, myspace, and even FanLit stopped by to say hello or to get a signed copy. It’s funny how, as a reader I always felt awkward about approaching an author if I just wanted to say hello. Now, coming from the opposite perspective, it doesn’t bother me if someone comes by. I just love talking with people and visiting.

In the end, it was a successful night for me, in that I sold all of the books I brought with me, and many friends came to show support. So thank you to everyone who came! After my books were gone, I spent my last half hour visiting with favorite authors. I stopped to see Anna Campbell, Melissa McClone, Teresa Medeiros, Julia Quinn, and a new-to-me author JR Ward, who writes amazing books. She looked very cool in her black dress and sunglasses.

The only tough part of the night was getting dinner afterwards because the hotel kitchen staff apparently forgot that 2000 women would all want dinner at the same time. It took over an hour to get a hamburger. We felt bad for the wait staff, and secretly we think that Gordon Ramsey’s staff from Hell’s Kitchen was probably running the place.