I have one thing to say about Romantic Times: I loved it.
The fans were awesome, I had SO MUCH FUN with the League and the other authors, and the con, itself, couldn’t have been more well organized. I also adored Columbus and the actual location of the convention. There’s nothing worse, to me, than being trapped in the middle of nowhere in a hotel, but the Hyatt Columbus is in a great area, close to bars, restaurants, and even a farmer’s market where you could buy fresh produce and deliciously evil ice cream.
I arrived a day late, unfortunately, to find that things were already in full swing. And by full swing I mean most of the League already looked decidedly hung over. The rest of the con was a bit of a blur, but a blur of hilarity; loads of fantastic friends, both old and new; and, admittedly, a lot of food and booze. Here’s a wee RT in Pictures (some of which I’ve stolen from other people’s websites–with permission–as I’m rubbish at taking photos):
The Hyatt Columbus did some really smart customer outreach by having a Twitter Fairy: Basically, people were hashtagging #RT10 on Twitter, and if anyone said anything about needing hangers, for example, hangers would magically appear in their room, that night. Pretty soon people caught on, and I asked for dancing girls and champagne. I got the champagne, which was lovely. And the hotel, in general, was wonderful: clean, great service, and an absolutely marvelous location. The nearby North Market was my heaven.
I’m sure y’all have seen other pics of Diana Rowland’s Creepy Doll, but here are two from my own phone. In the first, Kat Richardson reacts with appropriate horror. In the second, Dakota’s maternal instincts extend even to Creepy Doll, whom Dakota teaches to play drums. Creepy Doll only tried to stab Dakota twice with the drum sticks. I love the look on Jeanne Stein’s face almost as much as I love Jeanne, herself. Classic! And you can just see Carolyn Crane peeping out behind Jeanne. She’s adorable! Carolyn, Jeanne Stein and I will be rocking Rom Com this summer, so look out for us, if you’re there.
Meanwhile, Diana took that damned doll everywhere. Here she is out with us for food (fried cheese curds!). That’s me, Jaye Wells, Tor’s Heather Osborne, and Zombie Joe (who made us lovely cupcakes). Meanwhile, I stole this picture directly from Lucienne Diver’s blog. Lucienne is an agent and writer and absolute bombshell who I really enjoyed hanging out with. Check out the rest of her RT pics at her site!
Here’s another couple of pics from Lucienne’s site:
Me with John Scalzi and my gorgeous critique partner, Diana Rowland.
I was rocking out my vampire heart fake tattoos, and for the final big night I went for something super subtle and classy. It’s about time the girls earned their keep!
Probably the coolest thing at RT was the League and our Passports to Snark. Mario Acevedo and Mark Henry cooked up the plan, and it worked a treat. And by treat, I mean I have never seen such foulness spewed onto a page as was spewed onto those passports. And everything said about me (especially by Mario!) is a foul lie. A lie, I tell you! A lie.
Here’s my little set up for the GINORMOUS signing on Saturday. I was sitting on the very end of a slightly extended row. So I watched as the doors to the signing opened, and hundreds of people came running towards me . . . and then past me, and on to J. R. Ward’s ticketed line. I had a good giggle, at that, once I came out from underneath my chair.
Another highlight of RT was the fact my wondrous editor, the Eye of Sauron herself, Devi Pillai, came to RT! She took Jaye Wells and me to  a lovely dinner, and here’s a picture Devi took of the two of us. I think I should get the tattoos for real. My mother would be thrilled.
My final night at RT (Saturday) meant only one thing: Suite party (hosted by the effervescent Michele Bardsley), featuring Erotic Readings by the League. Apparently it’s an old tradition, one that I was thrilled to enjoy. But before the readings, there were all sorts of shenanigans. Including the gifting of these Fetish Feet to Mark Henry, although the model in question is the absolutely fabulous Sophie Littlefield. I hung out quite a bit with her, Julie Goodson Lawe, and Rachael Herron. I am slightly obsessed with all three of them, as they are rockin’ ladies.
Here are some live action shots of Mark Henry and Stacia Kane reading their amazing, amazing smut. The word “glutinous” was used at some point, and not to describe Elmer’s Glue. I was transfixed and inspired. Look for “glutionous” in my next work . . . it will be hot. And sticky.
To round out my pictures, I’ll leave you with my favorite of the lot. The moment Stacia broke Mark. It was beautiful.
Enjoy! And I will definitely be seeing you at RT, next year, in LA. If I were any more excited, I could spit. Glutinously!
Awww. I'm reliving it through your post. (And feeling hungover again! Huh.)
So great to meet you. GOOD LUCK with your new job, and I can't wait to hear all about it the next time we meet up.
OMG I'm so glad you saw this and commented! I totally have a trinity of you, Julie, and Sophie, but I couldn't remember your last name! I've been unable to stalk you as effectively! I'm adding you to the blog role of Mah Ladeez, and I've successfully stalked you on twitter. 😉 You were awesome and I definitely want to hang out in SF!
This is great!!! I've never been so glad to be stalked in my life (well, there was that one time in college, but we won't go into that here)…and speaking of college, there weren't such effin' fabulous profs when I went to school! Those kids don't realize how lucky they are. Hope you get to show them your freaky side from time to time 😉
OMG woman,you have tattoos and freaking cleavage! How bold you are. *snort* I've seen that doll in so many pics now and it just doesn't get any less creepy when I see it. Yikes. I love that look on Jaye's face in that photo. LOL Thank you for sharing. It's cool to read about it:)
Julie: The freaky comes out, whether I want it to or not. 😉 It's got a mind of its own. And I'm thinking San Fran in winter . . . I've managed to make it the past two years right after New Years and I don't see why I shouldn't make it a tradition.
Moonsanity: LOL I know! So trashy! But I sort of want them for real. And Jaye's face is PRICELESS. And you're welcome! I need to get better about taking my own pictures.
Hi Nicole! Thanks for the taking us along on your RT10 adventure! I love the pics. Sounds like a fantastic time and what a great (and fun) community of writers! Your blogs always make me laugh out loud:)
ps- I just signed with Rebecca!
YAY Corinne! Congrats! I adore Rebecca and the rest of McIntosh & Otis. I'm so pleased for you! And RT was great. If you write anywhere near the Romance genre (and I mean ANYWHERE near) you should totally think of going. It's so great!
Thanks so much for the congrats, Nicole! I'm already loving working with Rebecca and can't wait to see what the future brings:) Hope to meet you along the way!
Diana's doll was so creepy!! It reminded me of a cross between Chuckie and the girl from the Exorcist. I even told her that at Club RT and she agreed. She said no one believed her when she said she had a creepy doll.
This was my first RT and was fabulous. I would love to go to LA, but I'm thinking it might not be possible. So I'm shooting for 2012. Hope to see you there again. And if Diana comes she might want to leave the creepy doll behind since New Orleans is rumored to be the place for voodoo–we don't want that doll coming to life! 🙂
Glad to see you had a wonderful time! I do have to agree that doll is C-R-E-E-P-Y! I would not be able to handle having it around. 🙂 Great pictures!