Picture Post- RWA Literacy Signing Part 1

Alrighty, so almost two months later, I am FINALLY getting around to writing about RWA and it'll be in two posts. This one will deal with most everything before the literacy signing and the second will deal with the literacy signing.

The day didn't start off as early as I'd hoped. I had gotten up early because the friend I was staying with had to go to work and I just planned on checking email right quick and then heading back to sleep. Well, I made the mistake of turning on Yahoo IM and AIM and ended up chatting with people throughout most of the morning. My plan was to be at the hotel where the conference was taking place at around noon. I ended up leaving my friend's place at noon to go to the metro station near his apartment to get to the metro stop near the hotel. I got lost on the way to the metro which makes no sense since there are signs EVERYWHERE for the metro station. While on the metro itself, I texted Melissa Francis, author of Bite Me, to see if she had already headed out to lunch or anything. She replied that she and her friends were just at that time looking around for a place to eat, and would text me when they decided on where to eat. I could join them once I arrived, but the metro ride took way too long and by the time I got there, they had just finished.



Melissa introduced me to her two friends whose names I unfortunately don't remember and I feel really bad about that. We all went back to the hotel where it was nice and air-conditioned, and Melissa's friends left to go to their rooms while Melissa and I went to the bar area to chat for a bit. On our way in, I thought I saw someone who looked like Jennifer Echols, but she was on the phone so I didn't go over and say hi; I found out later that it was Jen and she had seen me too and wanted to say hi, but couldn't since she was on the phone, lol. But before we sat down, I saw what I thought was Diana Peterfreund's hair from behind, and it turns out that it was Diana! So Melissa and I went over to chat for a bit with her and that was fun, but sadly, Diana had to go after a few minutes. After that, we went back over to the lounge/bar area and found some comfy chairs to sit in; we talked about books, of course, and heroines in fiction as well as what's going on in my life and stuff about her book Bite Me. It was honestly one of the best afternoons ever. Unfortunately, Melissa had to leave and take care of a few things before the literacy signing that evening, which she wasn't signing at even though her book was just two weeks away from release. But next year, she'll have two books available to sign (I think)! But before she left, she signed my book which I showed off in a vlog that following weekend. I loved what she wrote and it was just so much fun hanging out with her for a bit.

After Melissa left, I decided to go out to lunch at McDonald's since I hadn't yet had a chance to eat and finished up reading Bite Me while I ate my meal. It was a glorious meal- everything made to perfection. Anyway, after that, I went back to the hotel and grabbed a table in the bar area to sit at while I read and waited for Tera Lynn Childs to come by. When I texted Tera about where I was in the bar area, I said "Look for the only male in a sea of women." She found me easily and gave me some swag, which was awesome, and we talked for a bit about writing (I still haven't taken her advice- sorry Tera!) and Texas, among other things. Tera got a text from Tina Ferraro that read "I am exhausted. Should I come down and chat?" (paraphrased from my horrible memory) and of course she wrote back that yes, Tina should come down, which she did! Tina is extremely awesome and hilarious, and is just amazingly hyper. Tera introduced us and then they both had to go by the Swag Room to drop off their stuff and get ready for the signing.



I went looking everywhere for Nancy and her friends who were waiting in line outside the signing area before Tera and I met up and finally found it after like 15 minutes of searching, so I went there after Tera and Tina wandered off. Her friends and I chatted about books and what we had done that day; one of them (Linda) even offered to send me her extra copy of Intertwined by Gena Showalter which I'm extremely excited to get. Now I just need to get My Soul to Take by Rachel Vincent; anyone want to send me a copy of that? No? OK, fine.

So we all chatted for a while, and then around 5:30, they handed out some things like pink bags to hold our books in, stickers to put on the books we're bringing in from home, and other things. There was this one lady near us who was leaving that night on a flight that was like two hours later and so she was like "LET ME IN! I JUST HAVE ONE BOOK TO GET SIGNED! GRAWR!!!" and generally jumping around and being annoying. But anyway, we got let in and the madness began...

Also, we got filmed being let in to the signing area. I should go find where that video footage is, lol. I found an article in the Washington Post with a picture but no video footage at any of the DC news stations. Here's a picture I took of what the inside of the signing area looked like; well, half of it, at least, lol.



So that's all for today. The next part should be up soon but first, I need to write it down, lol. That's mainly why this recap took so long. I am a very lazy, procrastinatory (is that a word?) person.

Photos: 1) Tera and me at the signing 2) Tina and me at the signing- she's holding her RITA Finalist flag that Jen Echols made for her since the real ones didn't arrive; they sat across from each other in their row and 3) View of the Literacy Signing area taken from about the mid-way point. Do you see all the people? It was PACKED.