A place to visit an often bored mind.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

RT Highlights

RT Highlights~

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!! If you EVER have a chance to attend this convention—you simply must! It was beyond a blast.

Granted, when I first arrived, I wondered, as no one could locate my boxes with all my stuff in them for about two hours. I went to the front desk, who sent me downstairs to the ‘dugout’. Where I ran into several Ellora’s Cave authors and a really spunky and sweet editor, Brianna St. James. –However, there was still no boxes labeled: Jaycee Clark. Okay, it could still be worse, I could still be waiting in the lobby for a room. At least I had that. So back upstairs I went, and this time flagged a manager (or some other person who actually had an office). He found my lost boxes neatly stacked in his office. I told him I could have kissed him, but he didn’t seem too interested. *shrug*. So I hauled them up, unpacked, waited another ten minutes for the elevator. (No, I wasn’t walking down 12 flights of stairs carrying a mounted poster, a box of pens, magnets, bookmarks and containers—I’m lazy, I admit it. But you’d think with 27/8 stories they’d have had more than THREE elevators for God’s sake!)

Finally I was all set up in promo lane/alley. I met several great people—Monica, Eden, Shirley. J Then I went and cruised the hospitality suite. And FINALLY met my great friend, Jaci Buton! I have to say, after knowing her for years, it was wonderful to finally get to ‘see’ her! Dinner was an experience. I was sitting quietly, breathing, thankful my little plane-let hadn’t crashed into the ground, that I had a room, that my boxes were found, and that it was a really spectacular view of the arch from the wall of windows, when a woman came up and invited me to join them for dinner. Holly Jacobs is the sweetest woman! Cathie Linz and Erin McArthy were also there. The ladies were so nice and welcoming, making my first St. Louis and RT experience a great one.

Next up—the EC party! I just have to say, these people know how to throw a great party! I ran into some old friends I’d met at the Merritt Conference in San Antonio—Delilah Devlin and Elle James. I met several playmates—Babs, Dobby, Renny (and some I know I left out, sorry.) I also got to finally meet Melanie Blazer! Needless to say, I crashed that night.

Thursday morning dawned and so did my nerves. Hospitality suite. I met up with all the NCP authors there—Shirley Martin, Monica Burns, Eden, and Janet. Our editor, Madris also stopped in for a quick hello and some pictures! We had a great time and it flew by much too quickly in my opinion, because next up was the RT awards luncheon. I hardly ate a bite. I’m not the best speaker. Speaking makes me nervous. (Think the Princess Diaries nervous. I’m-gonna-puke nervous. Please-don’t-let-me passout nervous.) But then it was my turn and I didn’t even trip going up the stairs! :) Y’all I LOVE my plaque. It’s got my NAME on it and everything! There were several winners at the table I was sitting at. Holly Jacobs, Cathie Linz, Anna DeStefano, Debra Webb—and probably a couple I forgot. Great time! The afternoon was spent meeting more people and getting ready for the ball that night. The costumes were awesome! AND I finally met Missy Andrews of Genesis Promotions, and S.L. Carpenter—who is a fabulous guy—and the lovely Saraha Kelley. We waited a bit and then all headed up to congregate in the ‘meeting place’—read bar. J It was great. Had a wonderful time!

Friday. By that day I had NO voice and felt awful. I got up, had breakfast, think I said hello to a few people then went back upstairs and crashed for several hours. I did drop into Eden Robbin’s and Cheyenne McRay’s ‘Out of This World Cocktail’ for a few minutes. Heather Graham’s Vampire ball was interesting. Can’t wait to see what happens next year!

Saturday was another nervous day for me. Book signing. But it was LOTS of fun. I met so many people and signed books, took pictures, and my favorite part—STOOD IN LINE. Yes, after it was over, the authors got to stand in lines as well. I waited about an hour to purchase my books. Then hurried upstairs to throw everything I could into boxes to haul back downstairs to the UPS store set up in one of the rooms. OMG. I got in line around five and left at almost seven! I did meet Eloisa James, Jordan Summers, and Julia Templeton. I also met a fellow reader and contest winner: Rose Germano and her husband. It wasn’t a total waste of time. To be honest, it was one of the more relaxing moments—but then being in a small closed room with boxes and several tired authors/readers doesn’t lead to a lot of excitement. None of us really wanted to see the Mr. Romance Pageant anyway. Lol.

Our NCP editor, Madris Gutierrez, took all the NCP authors out to dinner. It was great chatting with Joy Nash, Angelica Hart, Monica (who I must say is a true promotional genius), Janet, Anne Manning, Shirley, and Madris. It was fun. At that point, I thought I’d just head up to the room, finish packing and call it a night, but I couldn’t very well do that. J There was one last party. So I put on my 1920’s outfit and met up with some friends downstairs. It was a wonderful time. Seeing the models perform YMCA yet again just put the finishing touches on my night. One last drink and good-bye to everyone at the bar and I called it a night. I had that plane-let to catch back home.

And can I just say—it is WONDERFUL to be back home. Now to get caught up, finish rewrites and start on several stories I came up with. Yes, I must thank Dobby for the idea of wicked villain and Mandy for brainstorming with me this morning/afternoon. Now to get caught up……………

Daytona~~~~~~~~ It’s a hope. We’ll see later if it’s possible. J

Hugs and chocolates,
Jaycee Clark

PS there was also the tatoo issue and meeting Tracey West, and Cindy and Charlie and more people than I can ever remember. I know next year to make a daily diary just so I can keep up for reports once I'm back. :)

2 Comments:

Blogger Cindy said...

Yeah, I'm late in replying, but I HAD to tell you AGAIN what a pleasure it was to finally meet you. LOL

And now to read your posts...well, it's just so much better 'cause I can add your facial expressions and voice too.

Cindy

5:43 PM  
Blogger Breezy said...

Ohhh Jayceee! You've been tagged. Check out the 5/22 entry on my blog.
http://breezyl.blogspot.com/

3:56 AM  

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