The Romance Writers of America’s annual conference is supposed to be a place where industry professionals meet, schmooze, and do business. And while I did all that, I realized that the RWA conference is really nirvana for die-hard romance readers.
First of all, most of the publishing houses give away free books at their signings for those who attend the conference. Those events can get a little crazy. The lines are long and the books go fast. I signed Red-Hot and Royal and the copies disappeared much faster than I had expected. Thank goodness I was sitting next to Maureen Child. She gave me helpful pointers on managing the high demand for autographed books!
We were also given free books at every luncheon. By this time I started to wonder if I would be able to fit my clothes in my suitcase.
And, of course, there was the “Readers for Life” Literacy Autographing. Imagine 500 authors signing books for 2 hours and all the money goes to ProLiteracy Worldwide. Is that not a great excuse to buy more books?
This year I decided not to sign books because I wanted to indulge in my die-hard romance reader side and say hi to some of my favorite authors like
Elizabeth Boyle
Shannon McKelden
Jessica Hart 
I wish I had been in the right frame of mind to take a picture of Harlequin Presents author Jacqueline Baird. She was the first author I saw and my mind went blank. I have no idea whyat I said to her, but I have a sneaky suspicion it was complete jibberish.
I almost missed seeing another favorite Harlequin Presents author. Fortunately I bumped into BadBarb as she was leaving the signing. She mentioned she got to see Carole Mortimer. I made a mad dash back into the book signing and was very happy to meet the author whose books I’ve been reading for decades.
So while this conference is technically business for writers, the organizers know how to tease and tempt the die-hard reader in all of us!
