Top Ten RT Booklovers Convention Moments (in no particular order)
1. Making a new friend on the shuttle from the airport. This then led to making many more new friends. By Wednesday we’d formed a posse. By Friday we made plans to all come back next year!
2. On Saturday I was walking through the bar when I happened upon Tamora Pierce, sitting alone and reading. I was all ready to keep going but my friend stopped me and persuaded me to ask for a photo with her. I am so glad I did. She told me about her process writing Alanna and her early days of trying to get published.
3. As I sat in the bar on Friday night, wearing my Princess Diaries tiara, I saw Meg Cabot. She noticed me too, called me a princess, and gave me a royal, princess wave.
4. Erica O’Rourke, a published author I met at the RWA Chicago North Spring Fling conference last year, offered to help me reach my goal of pitching a finished manuscript at next year’s conference. She said she’d be running registration the first night and would ask to see my book.
5. In one of the panels, an author made a careless comment that was potentially insulting to many of the audience members. Cherry Adair called her out on it and masterfully defended not only her own writing but that of all the writers everywhere.
6. Many of the panels surprised me by how good they were. In particular, the panel on writing LGBTQ characters and the BDSM panel blew me away. I heard from authors who were passionate and knowledgeable about their genre and their craft.
7. Heather Graham’s supernatural western party was fun, campy, and highly entertaining. I especially loved it when a little girl in a tutu and rain boots won the costume contest.
8. The comedy panel was everything I wanted and more. If I can write anything even half as funny as the women on that panel, I’ll be doing well. Any of their books I haven’t read yet are shooting to the top of my TBR list.
9. Being the crafty gal I am, I couldn’t resist making fascinators with Eloisa James. It was a delightful hour filled with ribbons, glitter, fake flowers, tulle, and historical romance authors!
10. I spent another spectacular hour with my favorite bloggers, the women from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, knitting and talking about Outlander. A knitting book chat with my favorite snarky bloggers? It honestly doesn’t get better than that.
I read Plus One by Elizabeth Fama for the RITA Reader Challenge that Smart Bitches, Trashy Books puts on every year. It’s a YA, urban fantasy book and, though I’m still working on my review, spoiler alert, I thought it was fantastic. My review will be up on the SBTB site sometime in the next few weeks.
I also read What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund. This is essentially a essay on what happens in our brains while we read. However, the book separates the essay into bite sized, manageable pieces and includes tons of illustrations. The unique construction made for an interesting and enjoyable read.
