– Airplane ride? Uneventful.
– Taxi ride and inevitable questions about my personal life? Not a problem.
– Check in? A snap, and I ran into the lovely and funny Alison Kent and her equally charming husband.
– Room? It ain’t much, but the bed is good and it’s a place to hide and sleep.
So, I’m here. I saw Barbara Vey right off the bat, and that woman is so sweet, she brought me Transformers stickers. You should have heard me squeal. “OPTIMUS PRIME” now graces my cellphone casing. Ha! Take that, you evil Decepticons.
Booksellers tea followed. I did not actually meet many booksellers, but I did run into some of my favorite authors and people: Pam Britton, Rosemary Clement-Moore (who is adorable and funny and has the cutest red shiny shoes with bows on top), Nalini Singh (finally!), Cathy Clamp, Jeri Smith-Ready, and loads more. Good times, man.
And then, the Literacy Signing. That was wild. None of the Dorchester authors had their books there. Apparently there was a mix-up and the hotel placed all our books in the Goody Room. All of them. Great free advertising, though it didn’t raise much money for literacy. There were also some people who wanted to get Soul Song and have it signed, but what I said to them stands for everyone. All you have to do is send your book to me with an SASE and I’ll sign it for you. Email me and I’ll get back to you with my mailing address. But to everyone who stopped by? Thank you for being so kind. And to Vibh (I hope I’m spelling your name correctly), who brought me issue #1 of the new Anita Blake comic book? Dude. So good.
Here, pictures!
The obligatory shot with my RITA flags.
Nalini Singh is so nice and sweet. I’m very glad I finally got a chance to meet her.
Yay!
And finally, that rascal Gennita Low, and the lovely Angela Knight.
Okay, so I finally get a chance to stop for the night. I haven’t eaten anything at all, not a bite, for the entire day—because I don’t eat when I fly and I didn’t have time to sit down once I arrived. When I finally get back to the room at nine or so, I’m starving. I order room service. The girl says, “How many people will we be serving?” And I was like, “One.” And you know what she did? She laughed and said, “Are you sure?”
Are you sure? What kind of question is that? So I told her that yes, I was sure and then she proceeded to argue with me. I kid you not. She listed all the food I had ordered, and told me that really, one person couldn’t possibly be eating all that, and couldn’t I just admit that there were two people in here?
Honestly, I don’t even remember what I said now. I think I was polite. Firm, but polite. But then the guy gets up here with my meal, and makes a similiar comment. For God’s sake, it was a salad and entree. And a fruit plate! What, are the girls here expected to starve or something? Gnaw on toothpicks?
I think not, fools!
So, there. My day. A very good day. I’ll report more tomorrow.