Wednesday, August 06, 2008

RWA National Conference - The Book Signing

As stated in my previous post, I spent the past week in lovely San Francisco attending the Romance Writers of America's National Conference. I've attended the conference every year since joining the organization back in 2002, and I must admit this was my best conference so far.

In addition to attending fabulous workshops (everyone should check out Blake Snyder's Save The Cat, but more about that later), I also had the chance to catch up with friends I had not seen since last year's conference.


If I had to include everything about the conference in one post, it would take up an entire page. So instead, I'm going to break this down into chunks of fabulous fun. The first tantalizing event: The RWA Literacy Autographing, or as I like to refer to it, a romance reader's dream come true. There were over 500 authors signing at this year's event, and I was lucky enough to be among them.



At the literacy autographing, I had the pleasure of sitting next to debut author, Esri Rose. I first met Esri in Atlanta at the RWA 2006 conference when she was up for a Golden Heart. A few weeks ago, I noticed another author in the "R" section at my local book store, and was so excited to see she'd sold her book. It was great sharing space with her at the signing, and I look forward to being neighbors on the shelves of Barnes & Noble for many years to come.


I have to admit, I was a bit surprise by the number of visitors I had at the signing. If you'll recall, last year, about sixty of my nearest and dearest friends attended to see me at my first ever RWA signing. However, this year, only a few could attend.

The one thing I didn't expect was having fans whom I didn't have to cajole into attending. Yes, there were actually people who came to my table because they'd read and enjoyed my work! Fascinating! (Note to Jessica from San Francisco: Sorry for grabbing you and jumping up and down like a crazy person. I was just so excited someone recognized me from my website.)

If there could ever be a down side to finally having my own table at the RWA Literacy Autographing event, it's that I no longer have the chance to go around and meet some of my favorite authors. Luckily, I was seated a couple of seats from the fabulous Karen Rose, and was able to gush about her latest book, but that was just one author out of many whom I adore.

Does that mean I'd give up the chance to sign at RWA? Not on your life!

Next up: oodles of fabulous workshops!