This was my first RT and I learned a lot.  One of the biggest things I learned?  I was way too tired to do a daily blog post.  I really hope I get to go to RT next year, and if I do I’ll either have to employ better time management or just plan ahead on doing a highlights post like this one.  So… what was most memorable about RT for me?

 

I met Delphine Dryden, Cara McKenna, and Ruthie Knox – all sitting at the SAME TABLE!  It was almost too much for me.  I talked with each of them and grinned from ear to ear.  I walked away happy and then realized I’d forgotten to take a picture with them.  So I walked back and they were nice enough to stand with me for a picture.  

Lauren Dane writes some of my all time favorites, the Brown Siblings Series and the Delicious series.  And now that I’ve seen her in person?  I want to dress like her!  She’s my new fashion icon.

Here’s Kay and I with Jill Shalvis.  She and Helen Kay Dimon were a hoot!

 I didn’t get a picture of me with Jaci Burton, but here she is with Lauren Dane.  I like Jaci’s books, but I didn’t know how funny she was in person.  She took the time to appear on a lot of panels that were very entertaining!

 and then there was the author I was most looking forward to meeting and taking a picture with – Shannon Stacey!  I was so excited to meet her that I saw her 3 times (the Blogger pre-con, the Carina Press blogger/librarian lunch, and at the book fair) and spoke to her each time and never took a picture.  So, at the book fair I turned back around, bringing a friend and took this picture.  Finally!

• Meeting new-to-me authors who were so funny I now want to read them just to see if it carries over.  Damon Suede, Jade Lee, Helen Kay Dimon I’m thinking of you.  I also have a whole stack of cards and book marks by authors I now want to read!
  

  Did I take pictures of Jade Lee or Damon Suede?  No.  I was too busy laughing.  I was laughing at Helen Kay Dimon, too, but I remembered to take this picture!

• The BDSM reader panel.  Shayla Black, Lexi Blake, Kasi Alexander and Reggie Alexander (the last two write together as Cassidy Browning) held a panel to explain some basics of BDSM.  Tools and toys were explained and demonstrated.  
  

 

  

• The m/m panel called “Man, Oh Man: Why Women Love M/M”  I believe they said it was the very first official m/m panel ever held at RT.  This was a really interesting and entertaining conversation.  The authors on the panel were Z.A. Maxfield, Tara Lain, Amy Lane, Belinda McBride, and Damon Suede.  I haven’t read any of them so far, but I’m really looking forward to it now!

• The Spoons & Candy event hosted by Entangled was probably the most fun I had at an event at RT.  I like games, and it takes me a while to get to know people, so playing spoons with the same group of people for an hour was right up my alley.  And besides spoons and conversation?  Candy.  Tons of candy to eat and a takeout box to carry some back to your hotel room.  So you’d think I’d take some pictures at this awesome event, right?  Well, I DID!  I took one picture.  Of a deck of cards.  *sigh*  I mean it was exciting that Kay won this deck of cards, but I think a group photo of our table would have been a little more exciting.  Alas, I didn’t take one of those.  So please enjoy this picture of Kay’s deck of cards.  
  
  Well, you can see the top card on the deck, anyway.

• The weird sex panel and the research stories the authors shared!  When Sex Gets Weird: A Paranormal Love Scene Primer featured Jaci Burton, Alexandra Ivy, Shannon K. Butcher and Jade Lee.  These ladies were funny and interesting and that hour went by too fast!

• The other readers.  The woman who let me user her charger to charge my phone.  The lady who sold the shirts, who asked me personal questions that just made me laugh!  The woman who we stood next to in line many times whose name is NOT Coleen, though that’s what I called her.  I wish I could remember names or had taken pictures.  The many, many friendly readers and authors at RT really make the convention the wonderful event it is.

• All the give always.  The swag and the books we all got, but also the bigger prizes of bags and baskets of books, the eReaders and iPads and iPad minis.
  

 

• The wait staff was really friendly.  I can’t imagine the logistics of feeding 100s of people at the same time.  There were also events where people were mingling and getting books and things were just plain crowded.  The wait staff at the Sheraton were always polite and down right nice.  They helped make RT a great place to be.

• The disco party is a favorite in my memory, just because it was the first day and I didn’t realize how all out they would go.  It was awesome!  
  

  The Ellora’s Cave Bad Girls of Romance Disco Inferno.  All the other parties were good, too, but this one sticks out for me.  Mini lava lamps, disco caps and calendars for everyone to take home.  It was also the first time we got to experience the heaven that was the chocolate fountain!

  

• Staying up til 2am reading on Saturday night because I knew I could sleep in, and I just couldn’t put the book down. (A Prior Engagement by Karina Bliss)