RT 2013...Day Four...Speed-Pitching, Celeb-Spotting and Freaky Friday

Friday was busy!! It was the last day in Club RT, which by then had become a home away from home...away from home. Friday was also the phenomenon known at Pitch-a-Palooza, basically speed-dating for writers, where acquiring editors and agents from all over are gathered in one place, given one chair in front of them, and aspiring authors get in line with their faves to give them a 3 minute story pitch. And when I say three, I mean it. They had a stopwatch and everything! I was next to and across from NY agents, and that was very interesting, but didn't have much time to watch them since I had people throwing ideas at me left and right. Mostly paranormal for some reason, lol.


It was very cool doing that, and then we got to have more fun and draw the winner of our giveaway. The woman who won was a grandma from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was sweet as pie. I walked over to the Westin to deliver the prizes and she just kept thanking me and offering me refreshments. :) Loved her!

Loved our giveaway winner!

After that, TA and I went to the one and only panel I hit--Broken Wings, Writing Damaged Characters--led by Amy Lane, ZA Maxfield, Belinda McBride and Kate Pearce. I love them all, but it was especially wonderful to meet Kate, who really inspired me as a writer and I've always credited for my first exposure, so to speak, to the MM genre!

With Kate Pearce...my big fangurl moment!

TA with HER fangurl moment with Amy Lane!

Ethan and ZAM

Once we headed back to the elevator, we noticed signs advertising a room party the Whispering Cove series authors had put together. Since it was right down the hall from us, we headed in and got a yummy drink called Sex At My House--Amaretto, raspberry liquor and pineapple juice. Sweet but refreshing. There were a couple dozen people in the room while we were there and we finally figured out that the dark haired woman getting mobbed was actually EL James, the 50 Shades lady. So Ranae Rose and I went up to meet her and get a pic, right before she had to go to another engagement.

Ranae Rose and I with 50 Shades author EL James.

I later tweeted that I'd had Sex At My House with EL James. Hmm... somehow that didn't quite come out right.

After that we were bored and wandered around to find something to do. LOL! Just kidding! Oh man, there is sooo much to do! I needed ten more of me! We went to Avon's Red Slipper Lounge where the authors were giving away and signing loads of books. I grabbed a couple of YA titles and had them signed to my daughter for gifts. :) I also did an interview there on camera with the folks from RT, so we'll see if they use any of my shot at fame in their video!


We headed back up to, yep, Spectators and gathered as many of the TEB authors as we could find for some drinks and nibbles. No photos were taken, but I remember seeing Marie Sexton, Stephani Hecht, Amber Kell, Simone Anderson, Marie Haynes, Daisy Harris, Suzanne Graham and TA.


Heather Graham's Freaky Friday party was next. I'd been forewarned that it was a good night to be late to the event since a family skit was always part of the act, so I took the opportunity to spend a bit more time catching up with Ethan, who we dragged up to our room so we could continue talking while we got ready.

TaTa and Devo ride again! Yes that is a leash.

Once he saw us in our outfits, we all couldn't stop laughing. Really, it was insane. New nicknames were born that night--Devo and TaTa for us girls. Jury's still out on Ethan's. My vote was Teeth. He said he'd never get date again. Nibbles?

Duck lips. Quack!

Yeah, that was about as straight as we could keep our faces.

Freaky indeed! Wow, there are some seriously repressed souls who bust out all over when they get to conferences, evidently! We had a lot of fun and still managed to get to bed at a reasonable time! Well, one of us anyway.

Awesome photobomb, TA!

With Demon and Blade (aka Damon and Scott)

Leigh's fallen angel caught between Francesca's vampiress and Damon's demon.

Surprised a real smile out of him with a surprise kiss. :)

One of my earrings. The other's a wooden stake.

Smiles!!

Dancing with Mitch... Okay, so it's Heidi Cullinan in drag. Pretty convincing!

Can you tell I spent a lot of time with Leigh Anne? With Len Gunn.

Groovin with Damon.

After we'd got comfy in our new matching T-shirts!

More photos and a write-up on RT Book Reviews' site HERE.

Tomorrow I'll have Day Five...Book Fair and FAN-Tastic Excuses to Wear a Cocktail Dress