Saturday, August 02, 2008

Day Three of RWA and All Those Lovely Book Singings

**THE BLOGGER GALS OF SAN FRANCISCO!**

Greetings from New Jersey! I have arrived safe and sound back in my neck of the woods.
And let me get this out of the way...

AMAZON DID NOT SHIP BREAKING DAWN TO ME!!!! That means I won't have that book in my hands till Monday!! *SOB*. And er... I made the bad mistake of reading some of the reviews posted on Amazon already. I really deserve to be smacked! Some jackass reviewer wrote some major spoilers about the story. So, no all day Breaking Dawn Sunday reading. *SOB*

I assume everyone wants to know how I spent my final day in San Francisco! I went to all the signings they had which ranged from Avon, Grand Central Publishing, Berkley and Harlequin. I also went to the luncheon where Connie Brockway was the guest speaker and sat with Alys and the lovely Meredith Duran. Shameless plus for Meredith- if you haven't read Duke of Shadows, go forth and do so!! (Christine, give me back my copy! :P)

Without further ado, here are the pictures I took of the various authors at the signings I went to:

AVON:

Kathryn Smith/ Susan Elizabeth Philips/ Julia Quinn

Grand Central Publishing:


Carolyn Jewel/ Cheryl Holt also know as Vanessa Marlow/ Shari Anton

Luncheon with Connie Bro
ckway:

Yummy desert!/ Connie Brockway

Berkley


Meljean Brook/Robin D. Owen/ Chris Marie Green

Harlequin- Sorry, no picture where taken :(

After the various signings, Kristie and I were invited to Dorchester's author dinner which took place at a lovely Italian restaurant that has the habit of refilling your wine with glass every time you look away:

New author, Helen Scott Taylor & Gerri Russell/ Farrah Rochon

**Book Binge ladies, I met Farrah! NAH NAH :P. Farrah and I had a lovely chat about all of you. Holly, Casee, Isabel and Rowena, you are so loved!**


After the Dorchester dinner, Kristie and I met up with Wendy and Alys to go to the Harlequin party. An hour or so into the party, I crashed big time. The week long excitement became a bit too much for me and as I saw Jane from DA and SB Sarah, the waterworks started falling. I began to cry tears of happiness, which I must blame on my utter lack of exhaustion. I really don't think they realize how so very special they are to me. They probably hear this a lot from other fellow bloggers, but because of their advice and willingness to help in anyway, they gave me the strength to attend RWA and be able to hold my head high and feel as if I belong. (and they didn't run away from me when they saw me in the lobby :P)

Such a crazy, emotional fun week! And, tomorrow I hope to have a more insightful post about my thoughts about RWA and about everyone I have met. I will consider that to my final post about RWA.

Honestly, this week wasn't for me, it was for everyone who couldn't be there. I hope my words and pictures this week gave you joy and happiness just like it has done for me.

Now excuse me as I sleep in my own bed tonight. After only sleeping less than 25 hours over a 5 day period, I am due to sleep in on a Sunday. Also, I have lost 6 pounds in the last week and a half from nerves. For once, I didn't want to through the scale against the wall.

Katiebabs (KB)

one more to come...

6 comments:

TaraMetBlog said...

Thanks for the photos, especially of the one of my friend Farrah! :)

Ana said...

You took a picture with Julia Quinn! *dies*

Christine said...

Honestly, this week wasn't for me, it was for everyone who couldn't be there. I hope my words and pictures this week gave you joy and happiness just like it has done for me.

I'm so glad you had such a wonderful experience at RWA--you deserved this trip like no one else I know. Thank you for sharing so much of your week with us (and me with your daily phone calls) you made the RWAs very exciting for those of us who were not there.

I have to second Kate's recommendation of The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran. I read it recently and absolutely loved it!

Buffie said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time. I bet it was great to meet in person all those wonderful ladies you meet online. Hopefully one year I'll be able to make it to nationals.

Off to read the rest of your blogs.

meljean brook said...

The blogger girls! I met all of you but Wendy *sad face*

The signing was awesome, but it was especially fantastic with you ladies. I don't think I've squeed so much in years, or hopped and down so much to take pictures and give hugs. I'm so glad I finally got to meet you all.

Ciara said...

It was so much fun!!! You definitely made my week so much better. Thanks for showing me around and introducing me to folks and hooking me up with books! Hope to see you next year in DC..