Romantic Times Convention, 2005 Part One of Who Knows How Many.

Wow. Where to begin? I had the best time, due mainly to one Linnea Sinclair, who looked after me and introduced me to a bunch of other great writers and people. Linnea has always been a huge supporter of my writing (she gave me a blurb for The Silver Spoon) and she's really become a mentor for me, something for which I'm very grateful.

So, okay. RT, as they call it. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

I arrived in St. Louis a couple of hours later than I expected. After a few heart-pounding moments of "what the hell does that interstate sign mean?," I managed to find my way to the hotel. Unfortunately, I arrived at the hotel at the EXACT moment as the Ellora's Cave tour bus. Ellora's Cave is a growing publisher of erotica. Erotica is exactly what it sounds like, folks, and it's huge, no pun intended, these days. I'm not linking to their site here because I'm not sure what pops up (ha!) and I know some people read this at work. I don't want you to be surprised.

So, I managed to find a small parking space in the hotel turnaround and parked illegally to unload all my stuff. Now, keep in mind most of the conferences/conventions I've been to have been small to medium sized ones. This place was a ZOO from the second I walked in. All the bellmen were unloading the tour bus and the line to check-in was pretty freaking enormous. Not to mention this crazy air of energy just buzzing from person to person. As Linnea would say, and often did when something strange, crazy, messy or generally f*cked up happened, "Welcome to RT."

I finally got my room key--sweating the whole time about my car being towed--and proceeded to make three trips up to my room. I had no idea what to bring for this trip, so I ended up bringing too much. Clothes that I never even unfolded. Books that I never even cracked open. And hello, duh, Stacey, you BROUGHT books?!? Yeah, I know. Dumb, right? It's a book convention. But books are like my security blanket. I don't go anywhere without at least one and preferably three.

My room, which I'll hopefully have pictures of later to show you, was really cool. The Millenium Hotel consists of two towers. I was on the eighth floor in the North tower. So, my room was like, pie-shaped. Narrow at the doorway and circular at the wide end. Very modern looking furniture and a bathroom countertop that lit up! Yes, I am easily fascinated.

I got all my stuff upstairs and took a second to breath. Then I decided to go downstairs and get registered for the convention. I thought, I'm a big girl. I can do this by myself. I work for a big company, I can handle talking to a bunch of strangers.

Uh, yeah, right. See the thing is about RT is that's MASSIVE. Like, 1,000 participants. I left my hotel room went to the lower level to check it out. People were swarming around everywhere, tables filled with freebies and promotional items (hence the term, promo alley) lined the hallway, and not a single person in sight who seemed to be in charge. The inmates had taken over, y'all.

I finally found my way to the registration desk, only in time to see it closing. The website had said they'd be open until seven. The website lied. After pleading a bit and probably looking scared to death, the staff took pity on me and gave me my nametag and bag o'convention stuff (which included free books, of course).

So, there I am, with my little name tag and schedule. And I have no freaking idea what to do next. The only people I knew were people I'd never seen in person before--names from emails or chat groups. Everyone else is milling around me with purpose or at least, with a vague idea of purpose, which is more than I had. So what did I do?

I did what any sensible person would do in that situation.

I high-tailed it back up to my hotel room to curl in the fetal position and wait for it all to be over.

Well, that's almost what happened. I did go back upstairs. But instead of crying, which is pretty much what I felt like doing (I hate that helpless feeling of I don't know what to do or who to talk to, and I'm a naturally shy person [yes, I am!] so I'm not very good at sorting it out on my own), I did something kind of unusual for me. Linnea had given me her cell phone number before I left. I hadn't really intended to call her because I didn't want to be a pest, nor did I want to be that annoying person who you feel compelled to be polite to but you just want to be rid of--you all know someone like that, right? I didn't want to be that person.

But at that point, I was operating in crisis mode. I'd paid several hundred dollars for this convention and even more for the hotel, and I felt like crawling under the covers, eating the snack food I'd brought with me and watching The Simpsons.

But instead, I called Linnea, hoping when she gave me the number that she really meant for me to use it, instead of intending it as a polite gesture. Of course, with my timing, she had just gotten there, so I caught her in the elevator. But she immediately recognized my name and told me to call her back in fifteen minutes when she got to her room...and she called me "doll," I think. I LOVE that. Women with moxie call you doll.

I waited the fifteen minutes and called her back. I told her that I had no idea what I was doing and she was the only person I knew. She immediately told me that she would meet me and we could get a drink and dinner. Of course, we had to laugh when we realized that neither one of us knew what the other looked like.

So, she came to my door and we got to meet face to face for the first time. It's always strange when that happens, particularly when you know someone through their emails or books or both. You may like someone in emails or from their writing, but in person, you just don't click. But it was so NOT like that this time, thank goodness. Linnea's a total hoot--totally reminds me of her characters in some ways. I LOVED hanging out with her. She made me a little braver than I ever thought I would be at this kind of thing. If you haven't read her books, you should. Particularly if you read and liked mine. Finders Keepers is my absolute favorite of all of hers so far, and it was just released by Bantam last week. She's got a free sample chapter up at her site and also at barnesandnoble.com.

She's a petite blonde (shorter even than me) with just a hint of a New Jersey accent. She's also extremely funny and completely outrageous, which made me feel totally comfortable.

I think that's probably enough for one entry...I'll continue tomorrow!