I'm back! The RT report

Sorry for the delay in posting. I forgot that it takes me a couple of days to recover from RT!

Where to begin? I don't even know. I guess first I have to say that writing is the best job in the whole world. : ) I love the opportunity that RT provides to get together with people who experience the same joys and struggles...at least as it pertains to writing.

I arrived on Tuesday and thanks to Denise Swanson, who generously offered to give me (and Susan McBride) a ride in her rental car, I was able to get to Daytona Beach much earlier than if I'd tried to fly in directly. We flew to Orlando first and then drove to Daytona Beach. It was raining and sooo humid. My hair immediately turned into a giant frizzball. Oh, well. My suitcase was also about ten pounds too heavy, and I could barely lug it around with me. Thank goodness for suitcases with wheels!

Got to the hotel and met up with Linnea Sinclair in front of the registration desk, quite by chance, actually. My room was fabulous (look for a picture of the view from it--I hope to have it posted by tomorrow) with a huge sliding glass door overlooking the beach and ocean. I loved it. I was very tempted to leave the door open so I could hear the ocean crashing onto the shore, but there was no screen and there were a lot of pigeons and cranes flying around. With my bird phobia, I just KNEW that one of them would fly into the room if I left the door open. In fact, that very thing happened later in the week to Anne Groell/Kate Brallier. Anne/Kate is Linnea's editor at Bantam as well as an author (hence the double names). A pigeon apparently flew into her room in the middle of the night. When I asked Linnea how Anne/Kate got rid of it, Linnea said she threw a book at it and it flew away. My luck? I would have killed it accidentally with the book and then I would have had to deal with a dead bird and being a bird murderer. *shudder* Better for me to just keep the door shut, I think.

Now the problem with RT is the days begin to blur together. I think Tuesday night where Linnea, Bonnie Vanak (another of my very favorite people) and I went out with our drinks and sat on the terrace that overlooks the beach. We'd gone to the welcome luau earlier but found it very crowded and overly warm. So, sitting outside with cold drinks and just chatting was so much fun.

Wednesday morning I went to a session about perfecting an in-person pitch to an agent or editor. I suck at this. I've done a couple of times, but I get too nervous and stumble over my words. I'm much better when I can send a query letter or an email. Which makes sense if you think about it. But that's one of the best things about RT is meeting agents and editors in a non-intimidating setting. Well, RT is sort of intimidating, but it's hard to feel nervous around someone who has just been out on the dance floor doing the Time Warp...again. : )

Wednesday afternoon (I think) I skipped a panel and took a nap--so boring, I know--and then went for a walk on the beach. Wednesday night was the Ellora's Cave "What's Your Fantasy?" Party. Cover models and aspiring models are included in this event. I have photos, but they're not cooperating. So, I'll probably have to try this from home.

Hmmm. Okay, the rest of this post has been called on account of faulty technology (or possibly user ignorance!) I'll post more tonight/tomorrow as soon as I can get the photos working.