Haha — soooo, yesterday I napped, and got up, and then got super glam for the St. Martin’s Press party.
It started off super strong! I cabbed over there with Angie Fox! I met Super Wendy! I met Holly Root! And then I sort of ran out of people to meet for a bit and hid in the corner!
I was torn. I thought about leaving. But….there was really good food. And the waitstaff realized my predicament and brought me endless Diet Cokes so I could look meaningfully occupied. Last, but not least, it was a publishing party for my own publishing house goddammit I was going to stay there until the bitter end even if it made me cry. :P
(There was a small period of time where I was all, “I will just make sure to stay on the opposite side of this column from my editor so she will not realize I am a friendless dork.” God bless the lovely waitstaff, ha, who continued to seek me out.)
But after a bit of that, a bit of moping (and then encouragement ;)) on twitter, and hopped up on too many Diet Cokes to count, I went over and I bugged Angie, and then somehow we were eventually at the party until it ended with a table of people who were awesome and many empty wineglasses. I met Leigh Evans and Ellie James and eventually we came back to the hotel and sat around a table near the pool with some of the editors and gabbed until late.
It was pretty much the embodiment of my Writer’s Life dream. Hanging by the pool with people who are publishing rockstars :D. (EEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEE!)
I am so so so glad I stuck it out. (I also also also want to talk to my therapist about anxiety meds. Because clearly I need some. Sheesh. Reality test much?)
Today, I got up and did breakfast with Rachel and Mike, saw them off, and went down to do some workshops, and then got re-glam(ish) for the St. Martin’s Press signing.
May I present to you…FORT NIGHTSHIFTED:
That is what it appears to be. Half a table of copies of Nightshifted. There was another box and a half behind the table — and I almost got through the whole thing!
I didn’t realize, ’cause I didn’t have a book out last year, that publishers did signings with free books to give away. There were people outside…in line! To get in! To get free books!
It wound up being a great time — if you’re reading this, and you came by, thanks! :D
So! After that, dinner with some more friends, and then back to the room tonight, and I swear to god I changed to go back down for the RITAs, but upon discovering that it was another circular table situation where I’d need to mingle, this time I honestly let myself wuss out. Sometimes resting and refilling the well is good too.
It’s been a good convention, honestly. Highlights include getting to tell Yasmine Galenorn that I appreciate her being such a strong feminist on twitter, because it makes me feel like I have more leeway to speak my own mind — and Darynda Jones coming by today to grab a copy of Nightshifted because she’d heard it at the St. Martin’s spotlight last year! *swoonfalloverstandupreswoon*
Super highlights include dinner with my editor — because Rose is awesome and I love that she gets my books — and basically everything post me-psyching myself out last night ;). I’m excited to feel like I have some new friends here, and hopefully I’ll get to see everyone else again next romance con :D.
Tomorrow comes the long drive home, and then back to the real world on Tues ;).