The Magic of RT

I hope you follow me on Twitter or Facebook – that’s where I’ve been posting the bulk of my pictures from RT12 (upper right hand sidebar if you need the links).  But after tonight’s events, I had to open up the laptop for the first time so I could capture this moment.

At the Ebook Expo, I got to sit by Monica Burns and Sharon Buchbinder and we talked and talked for two hours.  I got to meet my Samhain editor, Tera Kleinfelter, and Carina Press’s Executive Editor, Angela James (and my old Samhain editor) for the first time.  At the Samhain Stampede, I met dozens of other Samhain authors that I’ve seen online on Twitter or on groups.  It’s so funny to see these names over the years but have no real face or voice to match.  Now I do!

But here’s where the REAL magic happened.  Ann and I walked into the Scottish Fling dinner party and sat down at a table of strangers.  This table must have had some kind of cosmic energy drawing us all to this table.  I swear it was a weird convergence spot.

I sat by Kate Pearce, whom I’d heard at the “What’s Hot” erotica panel earlier in the afternoon.  We started chatting and I learned she’s a new Carina author.  We’re both going to the Award Ceremony tomorrow – which is when the private Carina author dinner is scheduled.  I was worried about finding my way alone (it’s not at the hotel) after the ceremony, and so was she.  We talked the entire evening about the business, our families, etc. and agreed to meet up tomorrow night after awards and walk together.

As the evening passed, I mentioned I was from MO.  Cecily White came around shortly after and said where at in MO?  Ironically, she’s from Springfield – only 8 miles away!  She’s also involved with the Ozarks Romance Authors group, which I’ve thought about joining several times but just never did.  Now that I’ve met her, I’m definitely joining and I plan to go to their conference in June.

Then she introduced me to the person with her and we both screamed (well, Noelle’s was a silent scream – she lost her voice) and hugged each other.  I met Noelle Pierce through Romance Biggest Winner last year and we planned to meet up at RT but it just hadn’t happened yet.  We’d been sitting together at that table all night and didn’t know it.

And earlier today, I finally met Larissa Ione in person – after “knowing” her online for years.

Maybe this sounds weird, but I think these connections I made tonight could be life changing – or at least career changing.  I’ve certainly made so many wonderful connections here at RT, meeting dozens of readers and authors face-to-face that I never would have met otherwise.  It’s been absolutely incredible.

There’s nothing better than walking around as a “nobody” and just having a wonderful time, when a fan walks up to you and says, “OH, I LOVE YOUR BOOKS!”  *beams*  It’s so cool!

RT has definitely hooked me and I’m already raving about how much I want to go next year in KC!