RT--it's the big Kahuna of Romance cons and for good reason. Between the publisher representation and the attendance, it definitely takes top prize. So of course, I'd never been to it. LOL. My schedule had conspired against me and I had to wonder, was it worth it?
This year, though, I had the perfect excuse to go--my editing day job. I was there to rep my pub, so a bit of the pressure was off to make a good showing as either Devon or Stacey Lynn, and I could scope it out while experiencing the whole thing. Yes, I was a virgin this year!
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| Devon and TA--roomies forevah!! :) |
TA Chase--my partner in crime and all things con-related (and now my writing partner for that matter...we'll get back to that later)--was my roommate. Of course! Once having met her, she spoiled me for any other roomie. She's as anally neat as I am, she's quiet, doesn't mind when I'm up late working, and is a totally positive person. Awesome vibes to share a room with for 5 days. She also got the dubious honor of being "TA the PA", my personal assistant for the con. She remembered people's names, knew what to do when, and of course reminded me to grab my key every single time I left the room. She only forgot hers once (booya!).
We both got in separately on Tuesday and met up at the Sheraton. I had a nonstop from Portland to KC with two free checked bags (guess which airline), and that was a good thing since it seems every conference I pack more shoes. TA and Marie Sexton are a bad influence on me!
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| Disco Baby!! |
We didn't have anything specific planned for Tuesday, but there was enough to do unpacking, orienting ourselves and rounding up the publisher stuff that had been shipped to me there. At least most of it. The banners wanted to play hide and seek with us, so finding them ended up getting put off until Wednesday.
So Tuesday night we ended up catching up with old friends, readers and authors we knew. It wasn't hard to run into them considering how many attendees there were (thousands? anyone know exactly?). The hotel only had two options for food/drinks, and they were never open at the same time. Spectators, a rather small and somewhat lacksidasically staffed sports bar, was the only show in town during evening hours, yet wasn't open for lunch? And stopped serving food before midnight. So much missed revenue! (Shakes head) If people weren't congregated either in the lobby or along the mezzanine, they were in Spectators. Became the place to find people.
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| Ranae Rose, Daisy Harris, TA Chase, me, Marie Sexton and Alanna Coca at Spectators. |
We'd paid the negligible expense to upgrade to Club level, so had access to the hot evening snacks and breakfast. That the pretty much all we existed on for the first couple of days. :) There was a great view from both our room on 37th and the Club level 4 stories up.
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| Amazing Club level views, especially at night. |
That night was the very inventive and fun Cinema Craptastique, hosted by several authors and MC'ed by Damon Suede. He gave a hilarious running commentary on a screening of The Covenant, a film hardly anyone had ever heard of...not surprisingly, though TA had seen it!
Back with Day Two tomorrow--Kicking It Off and Disco Inferno!
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