RWA Conference Report: Part III

2008 RWA National Conference (July 30 - August 2)

by Kate Garrabrant

Thursday's Calendar

My Thursday started pretty early, getting up at 7am and making sure to have breakfast, which I ate at Denny’s. Afterward, I went to the Harlequin Blaze signing. Four Blaze authors, Jill Shalvis, Thea Devine, Hope Tarr, and Leslie Kelly were autographing books. Because the line was so extensive and they hadn't expected such a big turnout, they asked that we take only two books each instead of the four. I took Leslie Kelly’s Heated Rush and Hope Tarr’s Bound to Please, which is the first historical romance under the Harlequin Blaze line (AAR posted its review in July). Hope mentioned she would write another historical for this line but it would probably be a Victorian romance this time.

I went to my first conference luncheon where historical romance author Victoria Alexander was the Keynote speaker. The lunch was a wonderful experience. I sat at a table with ten other people and the food was excellent. On my chair were two of Victoria’s books: A Little Bit Wicked and What a Lady Wants. Victoria’s hour long speech was funny and so very interesting.

The one panel I wanted to go to was the hour long chat with Nora Roberts. Nora opened the floor for anyone to ask questions. She talked about her writing method, rejection and the world of romance. She can’t go a week without writing because it is in her blood and her job where she writes six to eight hours, Monday through Friday. She was also very funny and her talk was very informative.

Afterward, I went back to the goody room, filled with promotional items from bookmarks, pens and magazines, but no free books by now.

Since the hotel bar was filled with many people I knew, I decided to relax and talk. I saw one author I wanted to talk with at the literacy signing but didn’t have the chance to on Wednesday night - Pocket historical romance author Meredith Duran, who wrote Duke of Shadows. We sat and chatted for almost an hour and she was a first time conference attendee like myself. She is also trying to get her Ph.D. in Anthropology and will have two back to back books out next year. Again, another lovely woman and author I had the pleasure to meet.

Since there wasn’t much planned on my end for the night, I went to dinner with some friends and hung around at the hotel where both authors and other conference attendees mingled. By midnight I decided to head up to my room and to bed to get ready for tomorrow, my last day the RWA...and my last night, which will be filled with publisher parties.

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