Louisa Cornell, ladydawgfan, KateS and Kelly Ryan are the winners of Fun Contest Saturday!
Lori Austin's (aka Lori Handeland) An Outlaw in Wonderland has been named one of Publisher Weekly's Best Summer Books of 2013!!
A big CONGRATULATIONS to Goddesses Lori Austin (Lori Handeland) and Sabrina Jeffries for being named as RITA finalists for their historical romances BEAUTY AND THE BOUNTY HUNTER and A LADY NEVER SURRENDERS!
Sign up for our newsletter by filling out the JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER form in the right column of this page!
Madeline, Karen, Suzanne, Rachel, Sabrina, Claudia, Lori
It’s Traveling Day!! Well, not for me, but that’s because the annual Romance Writers of America Conference is being held about 7 miles from my house. But a great many romance writers are flying, driving, and boating (I don’t know that for certain, but it sounds romantic) in order to reach Anaheim, California. Officially the conference begins tomorrow, kicking off with the 400+ writer Literacy Signing at the Anaheim Convention Center, but it’s SO much easier to arrive a day early and not have to rush.
As usual, I will be rooming with Karen Hawkins (and quite possibly Hugh
Jackman, or his standee). Despite what you might hear later in the week, we do get along exceedingly well. In fact, I’m picking her up from the airport today.
Anyway, once we’re all there, there are workshops, luncheons, meetings with agents and editors and publisher dinners and cocktail parties. Best of all, I get to see my fellow authors. We tend to email each other all the time, but face-to-face meetings are much harder to arrange.
Have you been to a business conference? Do you find them as exhausting as I do? If you could meet any author, who would it be?
35 Comments on “Bring It On!”
You can track this conversation through its atom feed.
I want to meet all you beautiful goddesses and Laurell K Hamilton, Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love. Does that sound like a suck much at all? If it does I don’t mean it to. Ithe last conference style thing I went to I ended up dissociating through it which isn’t good really.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 5:23 am.
I think for those of us who spend much of the year alone and typing, suddenly jumping into a bowl with thousands of other people is a bit…much. Fun, but SO tiring.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:50 pm.
I am with Kelly, would love to met you all and Linda Hamilton, SEP and a bunch of others.
Work conferences suck the life out of me. I do medical billing and you can only listen to so much of that. LOL
Have fun
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 5:54 am.
LOL, Judy. SEP is a sweetheart!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:51 pm.
Apparently I am fortunate enough to have never attended a business conference! They sound hideous
I cannot wait to hear about you and Karen’s great live together adventure! If I could meet any author who would it be? Thats not fair. I assume that would mean other than you beautiful Goddesses? I would love to meet each of you. Oh, and I would love to meet Jill Shalvis and Robyn Carr. And… Lol. My list could go on and on! Have a wonderful time!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 8:10 am.
Oh, I’m sure Karen and I will get along famously. Ahem. Thanks, Kelly!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:52 pm.
I would like to meet Diana Gabaldon & Kristen Ashley.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 8:41 am.
Ooh, Gail, I’d like to meet Diana, too. That would be awesome.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:52 pm.
I have never been to a business conference but am looking forward to one day going to the RWA conference. I know it would be exhausting but I think It’d be a glorious exhaustion.
I would love to meet the Goddesses (goes almostt without saying), Eloisa James (whose life I want to have – teacher AND author? Fantastic!), Julia Quinn, and I would love to have met Jane Austen. I know that you all lead normal lives but it would be almost like meeting a rock star – but better because I think being an author takes even more work!
Wish I could be there to see you all but I hope it’s even more wonderful than you are all expecting.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:13 am.
Thank you so much, Liz! Yes, Eloisa has a very cool life, doesn’t she?
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:53 pm.
I have been to business conferences. They are exciting in some ways because you get to interact with people that you may not normally see, BUT they are also exhausting and tedious because there is usually SO much information packed into a relatively tiny about of time.
I would, of course, love to meet all of you. I have had the pleasure of meeting Julia, and she was a joy.
I guess you could say that I met Nora Roberts (she’s brilliant!)–my friend, Ginny and I were like little girls waiting in the seemingly endless line–LOL. Bless her, she looked like she was trying to be cheery, but was exhausted. It was when Tribute came out and we got it autographed. I don’t know how you ladies do all of that signing at once. I take notes when folks call in every day, and I feel like my hand is going to fall off at the wrist, and I take little breaks from it when I can. I don’t envy you!
Suzanne, you and Karen look so cute squeezing Daniel Radcliffe’s cheeks on his poster in that photo.
I hope you all have a great time!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:14 am.
Julie, that’s EXACTLY what’s good and bad about conferences. And I admit, my signature is a bit…loopy by the end of the week. *g*
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:55 pm.
In my marketing days I traveled to conferences and hosted them. They are terribly exhausting because you are “on stage” the whole time. Due of the industry I worked in I was usually one of the few women in the room. It sounds a lot more fun than it is, believe me! Especially when 90% of the men were old enough to be my Father.
Like all of us here at TGBs I would love to be there and meet all of you. I can’t imagine much more fun than rooming with you and Karen!! Enjoy your time with the other Goddesses.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:29 am.
Thanks, kez! We all wish every one of you could come and join us!!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:55 pm.
I go to a lot of conferences. I find them exhaustin but I also love them. I don’t get out much, which is probably the reason for both the exhaustion and the lovee.
I’ve been in Anaheim since Sat. Can’t wait to see everyone.
I would like to meet Stephen Kind. Do you think he’ll show?
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:34 am.
Um, sure he will, Lori. Yep. *g*
See you tomorrow!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:56 pm.
I love conferences! Yes, they’re exhausting but they’re also exhilarating, educational and FUN! I’m in a major funk this week because I want to be on my way to California too.
It just didn’t work out this year but I’ll be in Atlanta next year for sure! Meanwhile, I have the smaller (but terrific) Moonlight and Magnolias conference in Atlanta this October to look forward to.
I’ve been fortunate to have met almost all of my favorite authors and every single experience has been a delight!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 10:18 am.
Oh, we’ll miss you, pj!!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:57 pm.
I’m with Lori. They are fun but exhausting. I would like to meet Stephen King.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 10:26 am.
I’d like to meet him too, Julia. And don’t worry, I’m bringing you chocolate!!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:58 pm.
You are the best, Suzie!!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:35 pm.
Have a great time, guys! I will miss you. And be sure to send any good gossip my way. I want details!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 10:29 am.
We’ll miss you too, Madeline! We’ll definitely send you any good gossip.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:58 pm.
No, I’ve never been to a business conference, so I’m not sure if I’d find it exhausting.
If I could meet any author… well… there are several. There would be Jane Austen and Shakespeare for starters. But if you’re thinking of people that would actually be POSSIBLE for me to meet, then it’s a tossup between you, Sabrina Jeffries, and J.K. Rowling.
Oh, and does this conference happen every year or less often?
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 11:20 am.
Wow, Cheri, I’m honored! Me, in the same group with Sabrina and that other chick. Who is she again? *g*
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:59 pm.
I used to go to many conferences and I always had a good time. Yes, some break-out sessions could make you fall asleep, but for the most part I came away with so much information and new friends.
As for an author I’d like to meet? Well, I’ve already met everyone here either at RWA last year in NYC, or at one of the NJ conferences. The one romance writer that I read often that I have not met in person is Lisa Kleypas. For non-romance, it would be Stephen King.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 11:31 am.
Oh, SuzyQ, I don’t want to disappoint you, but I hate Lisa Kleypas. She’s beautiful, sweet, and friendly. Terribly combination, poor thing. *g*
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:00 pm.
oh, thanks for the warning
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 3:33 pm.
Last year I went to a jewelry workshop, which can be considered a business conference since I make jewelry. It was fun, but so mentally exhausting because I learned so much over the 2 days. While I made some great projects that weekend, getting all that information is just 2 days, really affected my creativity for a week, while I digested all that information. But it was SO much fun that I’d love to do another one.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 12:03 pm.
Now that you mention it, Janae, it does take a few days after the conference before I absorb everything I’ve learned during it.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 1:01 pm.
Have fun. I’m not attending this year, although my CP already misses me; she forgot her evening purse, and knowing her, I always carry extra accessories when we travel. (She’s the pragmatist so will have all the essentials. I’m the aesthetic and usually cover everything glitzy, glittery, and unconventional to pull everything together. *G*)
Maybe, if I really knuckle down, I’ll get so involved in the work I’ll forget to be so darned hanged-dog about missing everyone! (Yeah, I know. But it certainly SOUNDS good!)
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 2:30 pm.
I’ve been to many business conferences related to my career, but the ones I enjoyed most were the several RT conventions I was fortunate enough to attend. I met most of the Goddesses at RWA last year and had already met Madeline at an NJRW conference. I’ve also attended a class that Jenny Crusie gave in Ohio on writing and Nora Roberts’ book signing in Boonsboro, MD, that gave me the opportunity to meet them. I’d already met Nora at an NJRW conference where we sat down and had a beer together. A real thrill was meeting all the ladies I’d known through TGB for years. Although I’ve been fortunate to have met many authors, I still would like to meet Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 4:31 pm.
Work conferences? My old job, my gilded cage gripe about sales meetings was “96 hours of talking about nothing but Louis Vuitton”. Even dinner time with friends. Still have them (one in 2 weeks) but as the boss, I get to leave the room whenever I want. Yay me.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 6:50 pm.
I love work conferences and they completely exhaust me! In equal measure. Have fun this week!
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 7:12 pm.
Business conferences are exhausting (but, to be honest, I worked in insurance and those conferences are exhausting because they can be boring). If I could meet any author it would be Jacqueline Carey. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her books.
Posted on July 24, 2012 at 9:26 pm.